Applying for earnings-related allowance
When you become unemployed, you should register as a jobseeker with your local Employment and Economic Development Office (TE Office) no later than on the first day of your unemployment. Be sure to keep your jobseeker status valid. The unemployment fund can only pay an allowance for the period during which your job search was valid
The allowance is applied for online via our Openetti service(opens in new window, you move to another service). You can print out a paper application form in the Forms(opens in new window) section.
The unemployment fund processes the applications in the order of arrival. Please note that incomplete applications and missing attachments will delay the processing of both an individual application and all applications!
When do I fill out the first application?
You can submit your first application to the fund two full calendar weeks (Mon–Sun) after becoming unemployed. If your first day of unemployment is, for example, Thursday of week no. 22, you can submit your first application to the fund from that Thursday until Sunday of week no. 24.
If you have been laid off, please fill in your application for at least one full calendar week from Monday to Sunday, even if you are, for example, applying only for one layoff day. More information about layoffs can be found here(you move to another service).
Earnings-related unemployment allowance must be applied for within 3 months of the date on which it is requested!
Attachments to the first application
We receive salary and employment relationship information from the incomes register. As a general rule, payslips no longer need to be submitted to the fund. If all the information required for processing the application is not in the incomes register, this information is requested either from the payroll accountant or from yourself. If you are paid holiday compensation or holiday pay, submitting a payslip can speed up the processing of your application. You can read more in the news on our website in which situations we usually have to ask for more information about your salary.
Most common attachments to the first application
- termination/layoff notice or other account of changes in working time, e.g. change to part-time employment
- employment contract or commission. The employment contract or commission must indicate the key terms of the employment relationship (agreed weekly working hours, full working hours in that position, pay bases, duration of the employment relationship) If no written contract has been made, then submit a corresponding description of the main terms and conditions of the employment relationship
- decision on simultaneous pension or other benefit and the last notification of the amount of the benefit
- form for reporting child home care allowance if paid for your spouse
- the latest tax decision for a part-time entrepreneur
- payslip, if you are working as a light entrepreneur
- your employer’s certificate showing your actual weekly working hours (weekly working hours report, printable from the section Forms), if you have fulfilled your employment condition as a part-time hourly teacher whose wages have been paid according to the hours taught. A separate weekly working hours report should be completed for each employment relationship.
When do I send the follow-up application?
Earnings-related unemployment allowance is applied for either in periods of four calendar weeks or one month. The period of a month can be other than a calendar month, for example, the 13th day of the month to the 12th day of the following month.
Your future application rhythm will bw determined when the first application is processed. Once your first application has been processed, we will send you an e-letter explaining the rhythm in which follow-up applications should be submitted.
More detailed instructions for filling in the follow-up application can be found via the link below.
Attachments to the follow-up application
In many cases, no attachments need to be submitted to a follow-up application. However, examples of attachments that may be required for a follow-up application are described below.
Most common attachments to the follow-up application
- employment contract or commission. The employment contract or commission must indicate the key terms of the employment relationship (agreed weekly working hours, full working hours in that position, pay bases, duration of the employment relationship) If no written contract has been made, then submit a corresponding description of the main terms and conditions of the employment relationship
- an account of changes in child home care allowance and other benefits, if conditions change
- payslip, if you are working as a light entrepreneur
Reporting working hours on the application
You must report on the application all working hours you have completed during the application period even if the income received from the work is below the standard entitlement. Income received from part-time work or occasional work (full-time employment lasting not more than two weeks) is taken into account in the daily allowance primarily in accordance with the time of the payment date. However, you must report your working hours on the application for follow-up of the employment condition, even if the salary is paid later. You can enter employers on the application, specified by employer. The application provides different lines by employer, where you can enter the work for different employers for the same day on different lines.
If the salary is paid for a longer period than a month, the income will basically be divided to affect on the application period and as many following months accordingly. Situations when you have been laid-off reducing the weekly working hours and you are doing part-time work or a short term work, are still adjusted according to the time when the working hours actually have been done.
You can find more information about reporting working hours in the Instructions for Openetti -section. Notice that you do not need to enter working hours completed as self-employed on your application.
