We have continued to receive inquiries regarding the application of the
reduced employment condition, even though the possibility for the 13-week
employment condition ended at the turn of the year. Unemployment periods
beginning in 2021 are again subject to the normal 26-week employment condition.
Here you can view our summary of the
legislative amendments that ended at the turn of the year.

One of the temporary amendments brought about by the coronavirus
situation to the conditions for claiming earnings-related allowance under the
Act on Unemployment Security was that in certain situations a person could be
eligible for earnings-related allowance after 13 weeks of fund membership and
work.

The reduced employment condition could be applied in a situation where
the applicant’s first payable benefit date fell between 16 March and 31
December 2020. Another condition was that the person’s maximum period was not incomplete.

What does this mean in
practice? What maximum period?

In practice, the application of the temporary act can be perceived so
that the amendment was, in principle, intended to apply to new periods of
unemployment that started during the coronavirus spring 2020 by the end of the
year. The main idea was that the coronavirus situation has had a negative
impact on a person’s work situation. A person could not be subject to the
application of the fixed-term act if his/her earnings-related allowance period
had already begun due to an unemployment period that had started earlier and
the maximum period of his/her earnings-related allowance was incomplete.

When the applicant first fulfils the employment condition and other
conditions for receiving earnings-related allowance, his/her earnings-related
allowance period begins, and the maximum period of earnings-related allowance
is reduced according to the payment days. The maximum period is either 300, 400
or 500 days, depending on your work history and age, the most common maximum
duration is 400 days. When a person re-fulfils the employment condition, i.e. after
26 weeks of employment, the maximum period of earnings-related allowance begins
to run from the beginning, in other words, the days spent are reset.

What does it mean that
the maximum period is incomplete?

Example: By 12 April 2020, the applicant with a maximum period of 400
days has been paid earnings-related allowance for a total of 358 days. The
applicant does not have any weeks of employment. The applicant gets a full-time
job from 13 April 2020 to 2 August 2020. During this work, a total of 16 weeks
is accumulated that meet the employment condition. The applicant does not
re-fulfil the 26-week employment condition, so the payment of earnings-related
allowance continues from the 3 August 2020 date of unemployment from where it
was left off the previous time.

The next payment day would therefore be day 359/400 for this
earnings-related allowance period. The maximum period does not start from the
beginning until the 26 employment-condition weeks are filled again. Our example
person is therefore about to fall out of entitlement to earnings-related
allowance to labour market subsidy paid by Kela. It is not relevant that, in
the example case, 16 employment weeks were accumulated. The person is already
receiving earnings-related allowance and his/her maximum period is incomplete.
An additional 10 weeks meeting the employment condition must be accumulated
within the 28-month monitoring period for the right to earnings-related
allowance to start again.

From basic unemployment
allowance to earnings-related allowance

If a person has not been a member of the fund 26 (or during the period
of application of the reduced membership and employment condition, 13) weeks
before unemployment, he/she is first covered by Kela’s basic unemployment
allowance. For applicants transferring from basic unemployment allowance to
earnings-related allowance, the 13-week employment condition could be applied
if the person had worked for one week meeting the employment condition after 1
July 2020 until 30 December 2020 and 13 weeks are fulfilled. With the temporary
act, those transferring from basic unemployment allowance to earnings-related
allowance were added to the scope of the reduced employment condition later, in
summer 2020.

For more information on meeting the normal 26-week employment condition,
see Conditions for claiming earnings-related allowance on our website.