Register as an unemployed jobseeker at Job Market Finland
In a lay-off, based on the contract, the employer suspends work and salary payment for production and financial reasons temporarily. Suspension of work and salary payment can be either partial or full-time. At the employee's request, the employer must provide a written certificate of the lay-off, which at least states the reason for the lay-off, the start time, and its duration or estimated duration.
You can apply for an earnings-related daily allowance from the A-fund if you are our member and have been laid off.
If you have been laid off:
1. Register as an unemployed jobseeker in the E-services at Job Market Finland
2. Fill in the daily allowance application in the A-fund's eServices
3. Add attachments to the application
4. Submit your application at the end of the application period
5. Provide missing information
6. Notify us of any changes
The processing status of your application is displayed on the eService homepage and the Status Information tab. The up-to-date processing status of your application is available here.
Attach the necessary information to your application for processing. If there are any changes in your circumstances affecting your entitlement to daily allowance, please notify us promptly. You do not have to submit original attachments. Copies are acceptable. We will also accept, for example, a picture taken with a mobile phone of an attachment, if it is legible.
Send the attachments to us as soon as you receive them. Attachments sent through eServices will be received immediately. Our processor will contact you if we need more information to process your application.
Lay-off notice
At the beginning of the lay-off, submit the lay-off notice attached to the application.
Tax card
We receive your tax card information directly from the tax authority. We recommend that you apply for a revised tax card for the benefit, in which case tax will be withheld according to the information in the tax card. If you use your tax card for wage income when applying for a benefit, the withholding tax is always at least 25 per cent. You can order a revised tax card for the benefit from the tax administration's MyTax service. In the MyTax service, you can send the revised tax card electronically directly to us by selecting the Open Unemployment Fund as the payer of the benefit.
Personal tax decision
If you have a business, please provide us with a personal tax decision on the most recently confirmed taxation. Also submit the breakdown part of the tax decision if you are a shareholder in a limited liability company or cooperative, or a partner in a general or limited partnership. If you are a shareholder in an estate, in addition to the personal tax decision, also submit the tax decision for the estate.
Social benefits
If you receive a social benefit that affects the amount of your daily allowance (for example home care allowance, partial disability pension or partial care allowance), submit the decision on granting the benefit to us. Be sure to also report any changes in the amount of the benefit. If the social security benefit has been granted by Kela, a simple notification of the benefit, for example, in the additional information in the daily allowance application, is sufficient.
Salary information
You do not need to send a payslip, as we receive salary payment data directly from the Incomes Register. However, if the Incomes Register data is incomplete, we may ask you, for example, for a payslip or a salary statement.
Example If you are applying for a daily allowance for four calendar weeks from 5 April to 2 May 2021, you can send the application to the cashier no earlier than Sunday 2 May 2021.
Our processor will contact you if we need more information to process your application. Please submit any missing attachments or additional clarifications we have requested through our eServices.
Remember to notify us of any changes affecting your entitlement to daily allowance and any changes in your personal and contact information.
Notify us promptly of any changes affecting your entitlement to daily allowance and the payment of daily allowance in your situation. You should also keep your information up-to-date for the processing of your application. You can report changes through eServices, or by post. You can also provide some of the information by calling our service number.
If you or your spouse are paid child home care allowance, please indicate this in the application. If your spouse receives child home care allowance, include more detailed information on your spouse's possible employment and studies and on the person caring for the child. You should also notify us of any changes in child home care allowance or the discontinuation of the allowance. Decisions on child home care allowance do not need to be sent to us.
Send the decision on granting the pension to us either through the eServices, or by post. You do not need to send a new decision annually on the size of the pension resulting from indexation. The data is submitted to us directly from the Incomes Register. If you receive a partial early old-age pension, the decision on granting the pension does not need to be sent to us. A partial early old-age pension does not affect the payment of an earnings-related daily allowance
If your lay-off ends due to termination of employment, please provide us with a copy of the notice of termination. We will obtain your wage data from the Incomes Register. However, if the data in the Incomes Register is incomplete, we may ask you for your wage data until the end of your employment. You should also notify the TE Office of the termination of employment.
If your lay-off ends due to termination of employment, please provide us with a copy of the notice of termination. We will obtain your wage data from the Incomes Register. However, if the data in the Incomes Register is incomplete, we may ask you for your wage data until the end of your employment. You should also notify the TE Office of the termination of employment.
If you retire on an old-age pension or have been granted another benefit that prevents you from receiving the daily allowance, please notify us at the latest in connection with your last application for a daily allowance.
If you fall ill and your illness lasts more than ten days, you can claim sickness allowance from Kela. Report your illness via an application. Also indicate on the application whether you have claimed sickness allowance from Kela. The waiting period for qualifying for sickness allowance is the first day of illness plus the following nine days (including Saturdays). In the event of an accident or the same illness within 30 days, the waiting period is one day. We can pay an earnings-related daily allowance for the waiting period of the sickness allowance if you have received unemployment benefit just before the illness. Read more about falling ill when unemployed here.
Account number
You can provide a new account number in eServices, include it in your application or submit it in writing by post. You cannot provide a new account number over the phone.
Information on children
Please inform us of the dates of birth of your dependent children under the age of 18 for which you are applying for a child increase. You can receive a child increase retroactively for a maximum of three months. For a child under the age of 18 living in the same household (of your cohabiting partner or spouse), you are entitled to a child increase from the date on which you move. If you separate, please notify us without delay. You are entitled to a child increase for your own dependent child until the child reaches the age of 18.
Contact details
You can notify us of a change of address or a new phone numberin eServices by entering the information in the additional information section of the follow-up application or by calling the service number.
Notify us promptly of any changes affecting your entitlement to daily allowance and the payment of daily allowance in your situation. You should also keep your information up-to-date for the processing of your application. You can report changes through eServices, or by post. You can also provide some of the information by calling our service number.
If you or your spouse are paid child home care allowance, please indicate this in the application. If your spouse receives child home care allowance, include more detailed information on your spouse's possible employment and studies and on the person caring for the child. You should also notify us of any changes in the child home care allowance or the discontinuation of the allowance. Decisions on child home care allowance do not need to be sent to us.
Send the decision on granting the pension to us either through the eServices, or by post. You do not need to send a new decision annually on the size of the pension resulting from indexation. The data is submitted to us directly from the Incomes Register. If you receive a partial early old-age pension, the decision on granting the pension does not need to be sent to us. A partial early old-age pension does not affect the payment of an earnings-related daily allowance
If your lay-off ends due to termination of employment, please provide us with a copy of the notice of termination. We will obtain your wage data from the Incomes Register. However, if the data in the Incomes Register is incomplete, we may ask you for your wage data until the end of your employment. You should also notify the employment authority of the termination of employment.
If your lay-off ends due to termination of employment, please provide us with a copy of the notice of termination. We will obtain your wage data from the Incomes Register. However, if the data in the Incomes Register is incomplete, we may ask you for your wage data until the end of your employment. You should also notify the employment authority of the termination of employment.
If you retire on an old-age pension or have been granted another benefit that prevents you from receiving the daily allowance, please notify us at the latest in connection with your last application for a daily allowance.
If you fall ill and your illness lasts more than ten days, you can claim sickness allowance from Kela. Report your illness via an application. Also indicate on the application whether you have claimed sickness allowance from Kela. The waiting period for qualifying for sickness allowance is the first day of illness plus the following nine days (including Saturdays). In the event of an accident or the same illness within 30 days, the waiting period is one day. We can pay an earnings-related daily allowance for the waiting period of the sickness allowance if you have received unemployment benefit just before the illness. Read more about falling ill when unemployed here.
Account number
You can provide a new account number in eServices, include it in your application or submit it in writing by post. You cannot provide a new account number over the phone.
Information on children
Please inform us of the dates of birth of your dependent children under the age of 18 for which you are applying for a child increase. You can receive a child increase retroactively for a maximum of three months. For a child under the age of 18 living in the same household (of your cohabiting partner or spouse), you are entitled to a child increase from the date on which you move. If you separate, please notify us without delay. You are entitled to a child increase for your own dependent child until the child reaches the age of 18.
Contact details
You can notify us of a change of address or a new phone numberin eServices by entering the information in the additional information section of the follow-up application or by calling the service number.
Your membership fees must be up-to-date before we can pay the daily allowance. Read more about membership fees.
During the lay-off period, the payment of an earnings-related daily allowance depends on the provisions of the collective agreement.
The employer's obligation to pay wages for midweek holidays also depends on the collective agreement. You can check the provisions of the collective agreement on midweek holiday compensation, for example, with your trade union.
There can be a maximum of five compensation days in a calendar week. Therefore, earnings-related daily allowance can be paid for a maximum of five days per week. For example, if you are laid off from Monday to Friday (5 days) but receive a midweek holiday compensation for a holiday that falls on Saturday, the fund can only pay you the unemployment allowance for four days.
Reasons comparable to lay-offs
A reason comparable to a lay-off means that the employee's obligation to work and the employer's obligation to pay wages have been completely interrupted. Reasons may for example include:
It is also possible to apply a reason comparable to a lay-off to fixed-term employment.
Example: fire at the workplace: In the event of a fire, the employer's obligation to pay wages ends after 14 days. In this case, employees do not need to be separately laid off. In this case, remember to register as an unemployed jobseeker at Job Market Finland. You can contact the employment authority even before you are laid off. It is worth mentioning to the employment authority that the labour policy statement they have submitted to the unemployment fund mentions a reason comparable to lay-off due to a fire. After the seven-day waiting period, an earnings-related daily allowance will be paid to you normally, as in other lay-off situations.
Postal address:
Hakaniemenranta 1
PL 116, 00531 Helsinki
