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Oikopolut

Lay-off

Oikopolut

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.

Apply for earnings-related allowance for the period of lay-off

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 with the TE Office as an unemployed jobseeker

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.

Time limits to keep in mind

Important time limits when applying for earnings-related unemployment allowance. Infographics.

Read also: How do different forms of lay-off affect the daily allowance?


More detailed instructions for the layoff situation

Waiting period of the lay-off

1. Register with the TE Office as an unemployed jobseeker

  • You can register with the TE Office as an unemployed jobseeker even before the start of the lay-off or at the latest on the first day of the lay-off.
  • Your job-seeking is valid from the date of the enrolment.
  • You can start your job-seeking in the TE -services' My TE -services with your online banking credentials.
  • Keep your job-seeking valid as agreed with the TE Office throughout the lay-off.
  • If your lay-off covers several periods or you receive a new lay-off notice, remember to register separately as an unemployed jobseeker for each lay-off.

2. Fill in the daily allowance application in the A-fund's eServices

  • You can fill in the first application for two full calendar weeks from Monday to Sunday.
  • If your lay-off starts midweek, fill in the application until the end of that week and also for one full calendar week.
  • Fill in the follow-up application retrospectively for four calendar weeks or in periods of a calendar month.
  • If you work part-time with a monthly salary during the lay-off, apply for daily allowance for a calendar month. Read more about applying for an earnings-related daily allowance during part-time work here.
  • You can also fill out a paper application, which you can find here.

 

3. Add attachments to the application

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.

 

Send as an attachment to your first application

 

Lay-off notice

At the beginning of the lay-off, submit the lay-off notice attached to the application.

 

In addition, where appropriate

 

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.

 

Child increase

We receive information on children under the age of 18 living in Finland from the Population Information System. However, please indicate in your application the dates of birth of dependent children for the purpose of paying the child increase. Also report the dates of birth of the spouse's children living in the same household.

 

4. Submit your application at the end of the application period

  • For example, if you fill out an application for four calendar weeks, you can submit it no earlier than the Sunday of the fourth calendar week.

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.

  • Remember that the application must be received by us no later than three months after the start of the lay-off. The three-month application period also applies to applications for further daily allowance, child increase and reimbursement of expenses.
  • You can send a paper application form to the following address: Open Unemployment Fund, P.O. Box 116, FI-00531 Helsinki.

 

5. Provide missing information

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.

 

6. Notify us of any changes

Remember to notify us of any changes affecting your entitlement to daily allowance and any changes in your personal and contact information.

 

Changes affecting the daily allowance

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.

 

Child home care allowance

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.

 

Partial disability pension

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

 

End of lay-off

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.

 

End 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.

 

Old-age pension or other benefits

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.

 

Illness

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.

 

Changes in personal information

 

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.


Payment of membership fees

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.

  • If the day is a paid local midweek holiday in your collective agreement, select midweek holiday as the day of the application, otherwise you can mark laid-off.

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.

 

Paid absences and midweek holidays when completing an earnings-related unemployment allowance application


Special situations in lay-offs

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:

  • Fire at the workplace
  • An exceptional natural event
  • Other reasons beyond the control of the parties to the employment.

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 with the TE Office. You can contact the TE Office even before you are laid off. It is worth mentioning to the TE Office 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 five-day waiting period, an earnings-related daily allowance will be paid to you normally, as in other lay-off situations.


Decision and payment of daily allowance

Processing status of the earnings-related allowance and eService messages

  • You will receive a decision once your first application has been processed. The decision usually states the commencement of entitlement to a daily allowance, the amount of the daily allowance and the waiting period.
  • You will also receive a payment notification of the amount of payment and the date of payment. You can choose the delivery method of the payment notification in eServices. For example, you can receive the notification as a text message.
  • The processing status of an earnings-related daily allowance applications and the payment schedule can be checked here.