As summer arrives, it is important to remember how annual holiday accrues and affects the daily allowance and filling out the application.
Our website provides instructions on filling in your first application, whether you are laid off, entirely unemployed, or working part-time.
If you are entirely unemployed, the daily allowance will be paid as normal, even on midweek public holidays. On the other hand, if you are laid off or working part-time, remember to enter your annual holidays and midweek public holidays in your application.
Right of a laid-off employee to annual holidays and daily allowance
If you have been laid off, you are also entitled to a paid annual holiday in the holiday season from 2 May to 30 September if you accrued days of annual holiday in the previous holiday qualifying year. You can ask your employer whether you have accrued any days of annual holiday.
Any earned annual holiday, up to 24 days of holiday, must be taken during the holiday season from 2 May to 30 September unless you reach a separate agreement with your employer to postpone the annual holiday. The way in which the holiday pay or holiday compensation is paid has absolutely no effect on your entitlement to a holiday. In other words, you may receive the pay for your holiday before you actually take it.
The entitlement to a paid annual holiday is determined according to the collective agreement or the Annual Holidays Act. During each holiday qualifying year, you earn days of annual holiday for the calendar months in which you work 14 days or 35 hours. The first 30 days of temporary lay-off also count towards the annual holiday accrual period. The holiday qualifying year starts on 1 April and ends on 31 March the following year. For example, from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.
Annual leave accumulates the employment condition – the number of days entitling you to an earnings-related unemployment allowance will not decrease
You are not entitled to an unemployment daily allowance during a period of paid annual holiday if the holiday is based on full-time work. However, paid annual holiday is considered equivalent to time at work, and it accrues a new employment requirement if
- you take at least three days of holiday earned in full-time work during a calendar week.
- for part-time work, your holiday pay corresponds to at least 18 hours of work during a calendar week.
Paid annual holiday will not count towards the maximum period for which you can be paid a daily allowance (300–500 days) unless it is a part-time annual holiday, and the fund pays you the agreed daily allowance during the holiday.
The employment condition will double and become euro-based at the beginning of September
The employment condition accrues based on the hours worked until September 1, 2024. Every calendar week during which work has been done or wages have been paid for at least 18 hours accumulates a new employment condition by one week. Now, the employment condition is met when such weeks have accrued for 26 weeks during a 28-month reference period.
Starting from September 2, 2024, the employment condition will accrue according to the euros earned. Starting from September, work that has been done after September 2, 2024, and for which a salary of at least 465 euros per month has been paid, will accrue the employment condition. The entitlement to earnings-related allowance is based on a salary for insurance purposes. For instance, holiday compensation and holiday bonus are excluded.
In addition to euro-based employment condition, the length of the employment condition will change from 26 calendar weeks to 12 paid calendar months, i.e. in the future, the employment condition will be fulfilled when 12 full employment condition months have been accrued during the 28-month reference period.
Read more about the euro-based employment condition
Entering annual holiday in the application
If you have been on annual holiday during your lay-off and your employer has paid you a salary or wage for the duration of your annual holiday, you should enter “annual holiday” alongside the days when you were on annual holiday and enter the number of working hours corresponding to your normal working time. For example, if your working time is 8 hours per day, enter “annual holiday” under the annual holiday day and add “8 hours” under the number of working hours.
If you work part-time, in the annual leave section of the application form, enter “annual leave” and the number of hours for which you will be paid for annual leave. You may be paid an adjusted allowance if the pay you receive during your annual holiday is based on part-time work.
Entering midweek public holidays in the application
If your employer pays you compensation for a midweek public holiday or the public holiday does not reduce your salary, enter “paid midweek public holiday” in the application for these days. In addition to church and national holidays, Midsummer’s Eve and Christmas Eve are often holidays according to the collective agreement. For example, Midsummer’s Eve always falls on a Friday, which makes it comparable to a public holiday, if it is a paid day off according to the collective agreement.
Your holiday bonus for full-time work does not affect the daily allowance
Holiday bonuses paid for full-time work do not affect the payment of daily allowances. However, a holiday bonus determined for part-time work is taken into consideration when calculating the adjusted allowance.
Periodisation of holiday compensation at the end of the employment relationship
From the beginning of this year, the Periodisation of holiday compensation came into effect. This means that when your employment ends, the fund calculates how many days’ worth of holiday compensation you have accrued and deducts the resulting number of days from your earnings-related allowance. In practice, this means periodisation postpones the start of your earnings-related allowance.
Periodisation applies to full-time employment relationships that lasted at least two weeks and have ended. Holiday compensation paid for part-time employment is not subject to periodisation and is instead adjusted upon payment of your allowance.
When your employment relationship ends, any unused annual holiday days postpone the start of your earnings-related unemployment allowance by the number of holiday days the holiday compensation is equivalent to at your average daily salary. The period of holiday compensation only includes weekdays.
Periodisation of holiday compensation does not apply to temporary lay-offs, as these do not involve ending the employment relationship.
Your waiting period does not elapse during days on which holiday compensation is payable. The waiting period only begins after the paid period of holiday compensation. The waiting period is seven days.
Remember to keep your job search active at the TE Office
Earnings-related unemployment allowances can only be paid to unemployed jobseekers registered with a TE Office. So please remember to keep your job search active all the time you are unemployed, laid off or in part-time work.
