Temporary changes to unemployment security has been made due
to Covid-19 pandemic throug the year. All the legislative changes will remain
in effect until the end of the year.

Check the table below, which includes all temporary changes
to unemployment security and their expiration dates.

EMPLOYMENT CONDITION 13 WEEKS

13 calendar
weeks of work that meets the employment condition during the period that the
employee has been a member of the unemployment fund may be sufficient to
fulfill the required employment condition to receive earnings-related
allowance.

The 13-week employment and
membership condition can be applied to an employee if 

• the ordinary 26-week
  employment condition is not met,
• the employee has accumulated
  at least one calendar week that fulfills the employment condition after 1
  March 2020,
• the employee is not currently
  in the middle of a maximum allowance payment period and 
• the payment of
  earnings-related allowance starts between 16 March – 31 December.

If the
applicant still has unpaid basic unemployment allowance days left from Kela,
the 13 weeks employment condition can be applied, when a working week has been
counted in the employment condition after 1 July 2020. This change was included
later to the change of legislation.

For family
members of an entrepreneur, the employment condition has been halved to 26
weeks.

BENEFITS ARE
PAID DURING THE WAITING PERIOD

With the
temporary amendment to the law, the waiting period is five (5) weekdays. Usually, it is the equivalent of
five days of unemployment. All days for which unemployment benefit can be paid
are included in the waiting period.

The unemployment
benefit to which the applicant is entitled to (adjusted or full) is paid
during the waiting period.

The temporary
amendment applies to all applicants of unemployment benefit whose first day of
the waiting period is between 16 March and 31 December 2020.

MAXIMUM
PAYMENT PERIOD WILL NOT BE COUNTED IN ANY CIRCUMSTANCES

Maximum number of earnings-related allowance days (300-500
days) will not be counted in any circumstances. Maximum number of days will not
be counted between 1 July and 31 December 2020.

Earnings-related
allowance paid on the basis of a temporary layoff does not accrue the maximum
payment period of unemployment allowance between 16 March and 30 June 2020. The temporary amendment concerns
new temporary layoffs that begin on or after 16 March 2020. 

CHANGES IN THE ADJUSTED DAILY ALLOWANCE CONCERN BOTH
INCOME AND EXEMPT AMOUNT

The
provisions on the special adjustment periods and the calculated
earned labour income based on the special periods do not apply during
the daily allowance application period starting between 11 May and 31 March
2021. Therefore, earned labour income is not calculated to reflect the
monthly income in situations where the application period includes a period of
time during which daily allowance is not accrued. The adjustment period is
always either 4 calendar weeks or a month. Any income affecting the amount of
the daily allowance accrued by the applicant during the adjustment period is
considered income. 

Business
income can be taken into account based on the applicant’s own declaration if their income has decreased due
to the coronavirus pandemic. Concerns application periods starting at the latest 31 March 2021.

The exempt
amount of the adjusted daily allowance will increase to EUR 500 pcm from the previous
amount of EUR 300 pcm. The exempt amount is EUR 465 for a period of four
calendar weeks. The higher exempt amount is applied to payments of
earnings-related daily allowances over the application period starting between
1 June and 31 March 2021. 

ADVANCE PAYMENT ALLOWS PAYMENT OF UNEMPLOYMENT
BENEFITS WITHOUT A DECISION FOR A MAXIMUM OF SIX MONTHS

Unemployment
benefit may be paid for a maximum of 6 months without a decision as “advance
payments”. The fund may use advance payment if there is a risk of unreasonably
long application processing times. 

EASED CONDITIONS FOR RECEIVING COMMUTING AND
RELOCATION ALLOWANCE

With the
amendment to the law, the two-way commute time requirement for receiving
commuting and relocation allowance is reduced to 2 hours from the
previous 3 hours. A shorter commute time will also apply if you move from a
location within a similar distance due to work. The amendment only applies to
those starting in a full-time position, since the time limit for part-time
positions is already 2 hours. The shorter 2-hour commute time requirement
applies to employment contracts commencing between 12 June and 31 March
2021.

LABOUR MARKET SUBSIDY FOR THE ENTREPRENEUR

An entrepreneur can apply for labour market subsidy from
Kela when the decrease in income is due to coronavirus epidemic. Labour market
subsidy can be applied for between 16 March and 31 December 2020.