Applying for job alternation compensation and payments

You can claim job alternation compensation from your unemployment fund via the Openetti online service or by posting a form that you can obtain from the Employment and Economic Development Office or the fund’s website in the section Forms.

The application must be submitted within three months of the start of the leave. In contrast to earnings-related allowance applications, you can send the application for job alternation compensation to the unemployment fund in advance, before the start of the leave. The decision on your eligibility for a compensation and its amount can only be issued once your leave has started.

You do not need to submit follow-up applications after your first application, as you would for claiming an earnings-related allowance, but you must immediately inform the fund of any changes that affect the job alternation compensation (such as employment).

The application attachments must include a copy of your job alternation agreement and a pay certificate for 52 weeks or 12 full months preceding your leave, with your holiday bonuses and any unpaid periods and periods with partial pay due to an illness listed as separate items. You can only send your pay certificate when your salary for the month preceding your job alternation leave has been paid. If you or your family member are engaged in business activities, a copy is needed of the last confirmed tax decision and a statement from the Employment and Economic Development Office that you are eligible for the compensation despite the business activities. If a tax decision is not yet available for the period of business activities, you must provide a copy of your bookkeeping for the period.

We will
receive information about the salary and employment from the incomes
register
starting from 1.1.2020. This means that we will receive primarily
information
about the salary from the register. Basically, you do not need to send
us a pay certificate with the application. Please
notice that, if the register does not have the relevant information
about your salary
and employment,
we will ask more information from your accountant or you about your
salary and
employment.

The Employment and Economic Development Office will issue a labour policy statement to the unemployment fund, which will make a written decision on the matter and pay the compensation. Please contact Te-office and find out what attachments you need to supply to Te-office.

Payment of job alternation compensation

Job alternation compensation is paid retroactively in periods of four calendar weeks. The first payment period can be for a shorter or longer period, depending on the processing situation. The compensation payment date is on the Wednesday in the week following the end of the payment period.

A payment period of one calendar month is used if you receive a monthly social benefit or you have earned income from part-time work or income from part-time business activities. In this case, the compensation payment date is two banking days after the last day of the month.