Are you out of work this summer? Read this!
In the summer, the number of applications received by the fund multiplies, which inevitably affects processing times. The staggered payment of holiday compensation, which came into effect at the beginning of the year, may also impact processing times. However, by filling in your application and including necessary attachments, you will speed up the processing of your application. If you are affected by summer unemployment, please review these instructions to ensure your application is processed as smoothly as possible.
Before unemployment
Before your unemployment begins, you can make sure that the following things are in order:
Register as a jobseeker
You should register as an unemployed jobseeker with the TE Office no later than on the first day of your unemployment. For example, if the last day of your full-time employment is 1 June 2024, you should be registered as an unemployed jobseeker by 2 June 2024. You can register as an unemployed job seeker in advance, but you can’t do it retroactively.
Update your contact information
Check in Openetti that your contact information at the fund is up to date (email, phone number, address, bank account number). If you wish, also subscribe to email reminders of requests for additional information and text messages about payment notifications.
Reviewing attachments
Before your unemployment begins, find out what attachment files are usually needed for the application and whether it is possible to obtain them in advance. Obtaining some attachments may become more difficult when the holiday season has started.
What is different in summer 2024?
Throughout the year, several legislative changes have come into effect that will impact the daily allowance during the summer. The following changes will specifically affect this summer:
- The waiting period increased to 7 working days
- Holiday compensation earned from full-time work will be periodised
- Child increases have been abolished
- The standard entitlement of adjusted daily allowance has been abolished
You can see all the legislative changes on our Legislative Changes page. You can access the page using the button.
What does holiday compensation mean?
Holiday compensation (lomakorvaus) means compensation that is paid if you have not taken the accrued annual leave during your employment. It can also be referred to as “vapaajaksokorvaus”.
Please note that holiday compensation is different from holiday pay (lomaraha)! Holiday pay from full-time work does not affect earnings-related daily allowance.
Periodisation of holiday compensation
No benefits are paid for the period that holiday compensation earned from full-time work is periodised. The periodisation postpones the start of the right to earnings-related daily allowance. The periodisation for holiday compensation generally begins from the end of the employment relationship. The periodisation for holiday compensation and the waiting period cannot overlap, so a waiting period may still be imposed after the periodisation time, during which no daily allowance is paid.
Holiday compensation is periodised if it is paid for full-time work lasting more than two weeks and ending on or after January 1, 2024.
This will also cause changes to our summer guidelines, as the payment date of holiday compensation affects when the application can be processed. Apply for the daily allowance according to when your holiday compensation is paid.
If you do not receive holiday compensation, please indicate this in Openetti when filling out the application.
You can read more about the periodisation of holiday compensation through the button below.
First application when full-time employment ends
Submit your first application according to when you receive your holiday compensation. Please note that you must apply for the daily allowance within three months!
The last day of employment is June 1, 2024
- the first day of unemployment is June 2, 2024
- The first application can be submitted no earlier than June 16, 2024, for the period from June 2, 2024, to June 16, 2024.
- Instructions for submitting follow-up applications will be provided separately through a message on Openetti once the first application has been processed.
The last day of employment is June 1, 2024
- the first day of unemployment is June 2, 2024
- The first application can be submitted no earlier than June 30, 2024, for the period from June 2, 2024, to June 30, 2024.
- Instructions for submitting follow-up applications will be provided separately through a message on Openetti once the first application has been processed.
The last day of employment is June 1, 2024
- the first day of unemployment is June 2, 2024
- The first application can be submitted no earlier than June 16, 2024, for the period from June 2, 2024, to June 16, 2024.
- Instructions for submitting follow-up applications will be provided separately through a message on Openetti once the first application has been processed.
When filling out the application, remember to report any strike days in addition to other unpaid absence days! Strike days should be reported in the section of the application that asks about unpaid leave days (Employment data -> I have had unpaid periods during the above-named employments -> Yes. State the reason as a strike).
You can read more instructions on how to fill out the earnings-related unemployment allowance application on our website under the section “Applying for Earnings-Related Allowance,” which you can access through the button below
First application when part-time employment ends
Holiday compensation and holiday pay from part-time employment are adjusted according to the payment date. They are not periodised, unlike holiday compensation earned from full-time work.
Anna has applied for adjusted daily allowance for the period of part-time employment. The employment contract ends on June 1, 2024.
- Completely unemployed from June 2, 2024 onwards.
- The application for earnings-related daily allowance continues according to the regular application rhythm even after the employment contract ends. If the application rhythm has been, for example, on a calendar-month-basis, Anna should submit the application as usual for the period from June 1, 2024, to June 30, 2024, even though the employment contract ends during the application period.
When submitting your application in Openetti, remember to check that the start date of the application period is the first day of your unemployment!
If the application form suggests an incorrect start date, you can correct the date by clicking the “Edit application period” button.
Attachments
It is impossible to provide a comprehensive list of all necessary supporting documents in advance, as the circumstances of our applicants are different and the necessary attachments often only become known as the application process progresses. However, here is a list of supporting documents that are most commonly needed:
- employment contract of the employment that has ended. If you do not have a written employment contract, please enclose your employer’s description of the general terms of your employment. For example, the fund needs information on the duration of the employment relationship, the reason for termination (fixed-term/dismissal/resignation), agreed weekly working hours, grounds for determining the wages or salary, and your duties. Check that the report you submitted includes this information.
- If you have been dismissed, include the notice of termination. If you have been laid off, include the lay-off notice.
- If you are paid a pension or other benefit affecting earnings-related daily allowance, submit the benefit decision and the latest notification of the amount of benefit
- If your spouse is paid child home care allowance, submit a report form on the child home care allowance paid to the spouse
- If you are self-employed part-time, submit the latest confirmed personal tax decision and itemisation
- If you work through an invoicing service, submit a calculation of fees paid during the application period
- If you have been paid wages based on hours worked, submit a weekly report on the hours worked. The report on weekly hours must cover at least 26 weeks before your unemployment that meet the employment condition
- If you receive holiday compensation for unused vacation days at the end of your employment, providing that payslip can expedite the processing of your application!
If we find that additional information is needed during the processing of your application, you’ll receive a message through the Openetti service. You’ll also receive a text message notifying you that a new message has arrived in Openetti. So, please make sure that your phone number is up to date and that there are no outdated details in the fund’s records, such as an old work number.
Follow-up application
The suitable application rhythm for each applicant will be examined during the processing of the first application. Once your first application has been processed, you will receive an informational message via Openetti about the upcoming application rhythm.
Check out the news published on our homepage about submitting the follow-up application.
Additional instructions can also be found here:
Are you starting work in the autumn?
If you start a new full-time job in the autumn, apply for earnings-related unemployment allowance until your work begins. Check the date on which the payment of wages begins in the employment relationship and apply for earnings-related unemployment allowance until the previous day. Remember to also notify the TE Office that you are starting work.
If you start in part-time work in the autumn, you can continue applying for earnings-related unemployment allowance based on your application cycle in the summer. Include your employment contract in the application.
Example 1: Your previous application for earnings-related unemployment allowance was from 17 June 2024 to 14 July 2024.
- You start working full-time for more than two weeks on 8 August 2024, and the payment of salary also starts on 8 August 2024
- Submit your final application for the period 15 July 2024 – 7 August 2024. In this case, the application form asks for a reason for a shorter application period than usual, to which you can answer “yli kaksi viikkoa kestävä kokoaikatyö” (full-time work lasting more than two weeks)”
Example 2: Your previous application for earnings-related unemployment allowance was from 17 June 2024 to 14 July 2024.
- You start working full-time for more than two weeks on 8 August 2024, but the payment of salary starts already on 1 August 2024
- Submit your final application for the period 15 July 2024 – 31 July 2024. In this case, the application form asks for a reason for a shorter application period than usual, to which you can answer “yli kaksi viikkoa kestävä kokoaikatyö” (full-time work lasting more than two weeks)”
Your previous application for earnings-related unemployment allowance was from 17 June 2024 to 16 July 2024.
- You start part-time work or full-time work lasting no more than two weeks on 8 August 2024
- You can continue to apply for earnings-related unemployment allowance according to your normal application rhythm even after the employment relationship has started. Submit your next application for the period 17 July 2024 – 16 August 2024. In your application, include a copy of the employment contract and remember to report your hours worked.
Processing time
In the summer, the number of applications received by the fund is many times higher, which inevitably lengthens processing times. We have prepared for this by hiring additional processors and with other scheduling arrangements.
You can check the current processing status of the fund on our front page of the www.opetusjatiede.fi website. Unfortunately, we cannot estimate when your application will be processed as the number of applications received by the fund inevitably affects processing times. For this reason, we are also unable to give an estimate of the processing time over the phone or message.
We also make announcements about the progress of the processing situation on the fund’s Instagram (@opetusjatiedekassa) and Facebook pages (Opetus ja tiede työttömyyskassa).
You will receive a notification of the payment date via SMS once we have processed your application. This requires that you have subscribed to SMS notifications in Openetti.
