Unpaid Autumn Break and Earnings-Related Daily Allowance – What You Need to Know?
Many employment contracts include periods during which work and salary payments are temporarily suspended, for example during school holidays. In unemployment security, these periods are called periods comparable to lay-off, and under certain conditions, you may be entitled to earnings-related daily allowance for these times.
When can you receive earnings-related daily allowance during unpaid leave?
Earnings-related daily allowance can be paid for a period comparable to layoff even if the employment is full-time. The key requirement is that the unpaid leave periods have been agreed upon when the employment contract was made and are written in the contract.
If such an entry is missing, there is no entitlement to earnings-related daily allowance for periods comparable to layoff. Your job search must also be active during these periods.
Applying for and payment of the earnings-related daily allowance
Earnings-related daily allowance paid for a reason comparable to layoff may be either full or adjusted, depending on whether your employment is full-time or part-time.
If you also have a part-time job alongside your full-time position or run a small-scale business, the allowance can be paid as an adjusted benefit.
If you are unsure about your entitlement to earnings-related daily allowance, we recommend submit an application to the fund – we will review your situation and make a decision accordingly. Remember that your job search must be active and valid for the fund to pay earnings-related daily allowance, including periods equivalent to a layoff. Therefore, register as a jobseeker with the employment authority no later than the day from which you apply for the allowance.
Remember that your job search must be active and valid for the fund to pay earnings-related daily allowance, including periods equivalent to a layoff
Unpaid autumn break in part-time work
If you work part-time, you have probably already been applying for adjusted earnings-related daily allowance since the start of your employment. Continue applying as usual even if your application period includes an unpaid autumn break. When calculating the adjusted allowance, all wages paid during the four-week or monthly adjustment period are taken into account.
If you apply for earnings-related daily allowance only for the autumn break, wages are still adjusted within the same adjustment period. Full allowance is generally not paid even if you apply only for the unpaid week and the salary payment date does not fall within it.
Read more about application period, adjustment period, and payment period in our article on the website:
Unpaid autumn break in full-time work
If you work full-time, earnings-related daily allowance can only be paid for weeks comparable to layoff. Submit your application for the entire unpaid week, for example 13–19 October 2025. The application can be submitted at the earliest on the last day of the week.
Remember to attach your employment contract if you have not previously sent it to the fund. If you have part-time work alongside your full-time job, attach that contract as well. In such cases, the earnings-related daily allowance is usually paid as an adjusted allowance for the unpaid week.
