Frequently asked questions

You should register no later than on the first day of your unemployment.
You can also register as a jobseeker before the start of your
unemployment or layoff. More information: www.te-palvelut.fi.

Your
entitlement to an earnings-related allowance can begin or the first day
of the waiting period (if applicable) can be set no earlier than on the
day on which your job search becomes valid.

Our postal address is: Opetus ja Tiede -työttömyyskassa (Unemployment Fund for Education and Science), Rautatieläisenkatu 6, 00520 Helsinki

Our street address is: Opetus ja Tiede -työttömyyskassa (Unemployment Fund for Education and Science), Kellosilta 7, 00520 Helsinki

3)
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.

Please check whether any other attachments are needed from the section Application attachments.

A
certificate from your employer showing your actual weekly working hours
(weekly working hours report) for the above-mentioned period is needed
if you 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 is completed for each employment
relationship (Forms).

To
enable the fund to monitor the fulfilment of the employment condition,
you should also provide us with an account of the periods for which you
are not claiming an allowance, such as employment that continues for
more than one month, sickness, study, parental leave etc.

Please check whether any other attachments are needed from the section Application attachments.

If you have applied for an adjusted allowance from us for the
duration of a school year, we do not need a weekly working hours report.
If you return to claim an allowance from us after your employment has
ended or been reduced, we need the weekly working hours report to
determine the fulfilment of the employment condition.

No, you do not. If the employer’s account shows the same information as
is required on the unemployment fund’s form, the employer’s form serves
as a weekly working hours report. 

A tax decision is required as an attachment to your allowance
application if you are engaged in part-time business activities. In the
adjustment of your allowance, we will base your income from your
part-time business activities on the earned-income portion of your
business income as confirmed in your personal taxation, plus any salary
you may have received from your business.

You do not need to send your tax card to the unemployment fund, as we usually receive our members’ tax information for tax withholding directly from the Tax Administration. 

You can request a revised tax card for benefits to be sent directly to the unemployment fund through the Tax Administration’s online service MyTax, for example. Select “Opettajien Tk” (Teachers’ UF) as the payer of the benefit. This way we receive the tax information automatically to our system usually during the following business day. If you request the revised tax card in another way, please send it to us either by Openetti or by post.

Please note that the tax withholding information that becomes valid on 1 February is requested from the Tax Administration on the basis of membership. If you joined at the turn of the year or later, please check from Openetti in Personal information – Tax data whether we have received information on your tax withholding rate. If there is no tax data, please order a revised tax card for earnings-related allowance in MyTax. 

The withholding tax for an earnings-related allowance is the basic
rate on a tax card determined for employment income, however, no less
than 25 %. 

If you provide the unemployment fund with a
revised tax card determined for benefits, the tax withholding percentage
indicated on it is not increased. You can request the revised tax card
for benefits to be sent directly to the unemployment fund through the
Tax Administration’s online service, for example.

More information on the taxation of earnings-related allowance is available on the website of the Tax Administration at vero.fi.

If you are applying for daily allowance in the Openetti service, submit an application until the beginning of your full-time employment. The application asks you to answer why you are applying for a shorter period of time? Here you can enter the start date of your full-time employment.

Your full-time employment begins on the date from which you receive
a salary based on your full-time work. For this reason, we may ask you
to provide a copy of your employment contract/commission/decision on
being accepted for a public office, as this document specifies the first
date of your employment or public service relationship and, hence, the
date from which you will be paid. This is especially relevant for
teaching work at educational institutions.

Example:

NN
starts work as a classroom teacher. The first day of employment is on
10 August , but the salary is paid from 1 August . NN is not
entitled to an unemployment allowance between 1 and 9 August.

If you are applying for daily allowance in the Openetti service, submit an application until the beginning of your full-time employment. The application asks you to answer why you are applying for a shorter period of time? Here you can enter the start date of your full-time employment. If your employment starts in the
middle of the calendar month, you should append a copy of your
employment contract/commission/decision on being accepted for a public
office, as this document specifies the first date of your employment or
public service relationship and, hence, the date from which you will be
paid.

You can submit a follow-up application (fill in the application for 4 weeks), even though the first application has not yet been processed. Openetti / the application directs you to apply by filling in more limited information than when filling in your first application.

You are entitled to an earnings-related allowance if you have been
insured as a member of the unemployment fund for at least 26 weeks
immediately preceding your unemployment and you have fulfilled the
condition regarding previous employment during your membership with the
fund.

In the education sector, i.e. in teaching work in educational
institutions, the condition for previous employment is met with weeks
during which your working hours were at least half of the lowest weekly
hours of a full-time hourly teacher in the relevant education sector
(e.g. 8 h in comprehensive school and upper secondary school). In
education sectors in which there are no full-time hourly teachers, the
required working hours are 8 h per week. 

Please note the following exceptions to the employment and membership conditions:
If
your last week of employment that counted towards the employment
condition was before 30 December 2013, the membership and employment
condition is 34 calendar weeks. 

If your last week of
employment that counted towards the employment condition was before 31
December 2009, and you have never received an earnings-related or basic
allowance, the membership and employment condition is 43 calendar weeks.

The
28-month review period may be extended by a maximum of seven years for
an acceptable reason. Acceptable reasons for the extension include
full-time studies, sickness or maternity leave and military service. 

The earnings-related allowance is calculated on the basis of your
established pay over a period of at least 26 weeks preceding your
unemployment. Certain pay components are deducted from the established
pay, such as the holiday bonus and holiday compensation. In addition, a
percentage is deducted from the pay equivalent to 60 per cent of the
total amount of the employee’s employment pension, unemployment
insurance and sickness insurance contributions. In 2022, the deducted
percentage is 4.29%. The daily pay is established by dividing the monthly
salary by 21.5.

The amount of your earnings-related allowance is calculated when your first allowance application is processed. You can use the allowance calculator to calculate an approximate estimate of your earnings-related allowance.

Unemployment allowance can only be paid after a waiting period. The waiting period is spent when you have been registered as an unemployed jobseeker with the Employment and Economic Development Office for five fully unemployed days or an equivalent period. For example, if you work every day for 50% of the hours of a full-time employee, it will take about 10 days for your waiting period to be spent. 

The waiting
period must accrue during a maximum of eight consecutive calendar weeks.
The waiting period is not counted during weekends. It cannot include
days during which you would not be eligible for an allowance for some
other reason (for example, during a suspension period or before your
membership condition is met). 

The waiting period is
set when you are applying for an allowance for the first time. When the
employment condition is re-fulfilled during your unemployment (part-time
employment or periods/days of full-time employment), the waiting period
may have to be set again. A waiting period is always set if more than a
year has passed from the start of the previous maximum payment period
(first day of payment) to the first possible payment day for a new
maximum payment period. If the previous first possible payment date was
within a year of the first possible payment date for the new maximum
payment period, and a waiting period was set at the beginning of the
previous maximum payment period, no new waiting period is set. If the
dates are within one year of each other, but no waiting period was set
the previous time, it is set now.

The most typical maximum payment period for an earnings-related allowance among our members is 400 payment days. The allowance is paid for five days a week. If you are fully unemployed and your allowance can be paid without any interruptions, this amounts to 80 weeks of allowance. Another way to calculate the duration is to use the average number of days per calendar month, 21.5 The entitlement to an allowance would then continue for just over 18 months.

However, members of the Teachers’
Unemployment Fund rarely receive an uninterrupted allowance; it is
common that they are employed in between allowance periods. This can
result in the re-fulfilment of the employment condition. When you
re-fulfil the employment condition, you are entitled to another maximum payment days. See Re-determination of the earnings-related allowance.

There
are special provisions in the Act on Unemployment Security regarding
the maximum payment period of an earnings-related allowance for young
and ageing allowance recipients. See Payment period of earnings-related allowance.

The amount of the allowance is only recalculated in some of the situations in which the employment condition has been re-fulfilled. If your previous first earnings-related allowance payment date was within one year of the first possible payment date in the summer of 2019, and the amount of your allowance was recalculated in the summer of 2018, your allowance remained the same in year 2019. This practice is based on
the Act on Unemployment Security and is described in more detail here.

Example:

NN’s entitlement to an allowance in the summer of 2018 began so that the employment condition had been met at the end of NN’s fixed-term employment on 31 May 2018. A new waiting period was set, and NN’s first allowance payment date was on 8 June 2018. NN went to work again for the 2018‒2019 school year. The employment ended on 31 May 2019, and NN registered as an unemployed jobseeker from 1 June 2019. 1 June 2019 is the first possible date for which earnings-related allowance is paid, and it is within a year of the previous first payment date, which was on 8 June 2018. As the amount of the allowance was calculated at that time, it is not recalculated now, even though NN’s salary in the school year 2018‒2019 was better than in the school year 2017‒2018.

You may be able to claim an adjusted allowance if

• you are working part-time (however, not if the working hours have been reduced at your own instigation), or

• your daily or weekly working hours have been reduced due to a lay-off, or

• you have accepted full-time employment lasting no more than two weeks while being unemployed, or

• you receive income from business activities or self-employment, if this is considered part-time by the Employment and Economic Development Office

• you receive royalties, writer’s fees, etc.

The payment of an adjusted allowance requires that your working hours do not exceed 80% of an employee’s maximum full-time working hours in that sector during the allowance claim period (4 calendar weeks or one month). You must also have a current application for full-time employment at the TE Office.

More information: Adjusted earnings-related allowance  

One half of the income paid during the adjustment period, i.e., one month or four consecutive calendar weeks, is deducted from the full allowance.

Example: 

A is in part-time employment during an adjustment period of one month and receives earnings amounting to EUR 800. Half of this income, i.e. EUR 400 is deducted from the full daily allowance.

The income and adjusted allowance may total be no more than 100 per cent of the pay on which the allowance is based.

More information: Amount of adjusted earnings-related allowance  

The unemployment fund has an obligation to monitor the fulfilment of your employment condition when you are working occasionally or part-time so this is why the working hours must be reported according to when they are actually done even if the salary was paid later and it would be adjusted according to the payment date. The allowance is recalculated when you have re-fulfilled the employment condition of 26 weeks and less than a year has passed since the allowance was last recalculated. The allowance is also recalculated if it was not done when the employment condition was last fulfilled. 

If you re-fulfil your employment condition during the maximum period of earnings-related allowance, your new full allowance will be at least 80 per cent of your previous full allowance. Any child increases are excluded from the comparison. If you re-fulfil your employment condition after the maximum period of earnings-related allowance, the 80 per cent protection rule does not apply.

The allowance is determined on the basis of your actual earned income. For example, wages from part-time work are considered according to the actual pay amount and not increased into wages for full-time work.

More information: Membership and employment condition and Adjusted allowance

Apply for the adjusted allowance according to the payment periods of your part-time employment, in application periods of one calendar month, one month or four calendar weeks. Enter your working hours for your working days.

If the salary is not paid during your application period,  please inform the estimated payment date, your employer and task in the application.  You should also send the unemployment fund a copy of your employment contract. Be sure to keep your job search valid with the TE Office.

More information: Applying for adjusted earnings-related allowance

Part-time employment with a monthly salary

If you are in part-time employment and your working hours vary by week/course, but you receive a fixed monthly salary during the term/school year/temporary post, enter your actual working hours on which your monthly salary is based for each calendar week. You can enter the total weekly working hours on the line given for Sunday. However, you can enter no more than 24 hours for one day so divide the hours between Saturday and Sunday, if necessary. If you have worked overtime or as a substitute teacher for your own employer, please enter these hours on the line for the days on which the work was performed. If you receive pay during holidays, be sure to complete the working hours that form the basis of the salary also for holiday periods.

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.

Hourly-based part-time employment

If your salary is paid according to completed working hours, enter your actual working hours for each working day on your application.

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.

Monthly-paid and hourly-paid employment simultaneously

If you hold several jobs with different grounds for payment, please enter the weekly hours that form the basis of the employment with a monthly salary on the line given for Sunday (and if necessary, distributed to Saturday) on your application. If you have worked overtime or as a substitute teacher for your employer, please enter the overtime/substitute hours for the days on which you have worked. In addition, enter your actual working hours for which you are paid by the hour on the lines for all the other working days.

Why do I need to report my working hours?

Employment income is principally adjusted with the earnings-related allowance in the period in when the salary is paid to you. However, all working hours always need to be entered in the application according to your actual work in order for us to be able to follow your employment condition. Inform also an estimated payment date and the name of the employer.

More information: Applying for adjusted earnings-related allowance

The TE Office will issue a binding statement to the unemployment fund on
whether you are self-employed in business activities and whether your
business activities should be considered full-time or part-time. The TE
Office assesses the nature of your business activities on the basis of
the amount of work, not the amount of earned income.

If you are a
part-time entrepreneur, you can receive an adjusted earnings-related
allowance after the TE Office has issued a statement that your business
activities are part-time. Whenever possible, your last confirmed tax
decision will be used as the basis for adjustment. The income from your
business activities according to the tax decision is divided on a
monthly level, so if you are a part-time entrepreneur, you should apply
for an allowance in one-month periods.

You can read more information on entrepreneurship on our fomepage in the section Entrepreneurship.

You should inform the TE Office that you are starting business activities. For the first 4 months of business, the TE Office will not assess the full-time or part-time nature of business activities you have started while unemployed. Thus, you have the right to earnings-related allowance for at least 4 months after starting your business activities, if you keep your full-time job search valid at the TE Office. When your business activities have lasted 4 months, the TE Office shall assess whether your self-employment is full-time or part-time employment and provides a labour policy statement to your unemployment fund.

If you are starting a part-time entrepreneurship and you have income during the first 4 months, you may receive an adjusted earnings-related allowance. The income that you are making in your business activity will be adjusted to your earnings-related allowance. At the beginning of your business activities, you should report the income for the first 6 months using a monthly bookkeeping account that shows the business income and expenses. When the business activities have continued for at least 6 months, the average of the reported 6 months is used as the basis for calculating the adjusted earnings-related allowance for the following 6 months. After this, the average from 12 months’ bookkeeping is used. Later, your income from part-time business activities will be adjusted on the basis of tax decisions. 

Whenever possible, your last confirmed tax decision will be used as the basis for adjustment. The income from your business activities according to the tax decision is divided on a monthly level, so if you are a part-time entrepreneur, you should apply for an allowance in one-month periods.

Fill in an application in Openetti and enter in the application 1 hour on the date on which the invoicing service fee is paid to you. Attach a copy of the invoicing service fee/pay slip to the application.

You may be eligible for an extended earnings-related allowance period
after the 500-day maximum payment period in the following circumstances:

Extended allowance for people born between 1957–1960

If
you were born between 1957 and 1960 and turn 61 before exhausting your
500-day maximum payment period, you are entitled to an extended
earnings-related allowance period on top of the 500 days until the end
of the calendar month in which you turn 65. You must also have been
working for at least five years during the past 20 years.

Extended allowance for people born in 1961 – 1962

If
you were born 1961 – 1962 and turn62 before exhausting your
500-day maximum payment period, you are entitled to an extended
earnings-related allowance period on top of the 500 days until the end
of the calendar month in which you turn 65. You must also have been
working for at least five years during the past 20 years.

Extended allowance for people born in 1963

If
you were born 1963 and turn 63 before exhausting your
500-day maximum payment period, you are entitled to an extended
earnings-related allowance period on top of the 500 days until the end
of the calendar month in which you turn 65. You must also have been
working for at least five years during the past 20 years.

Extended allowance for people born in 1964

If
you were born 1964 and turn 64 before exhausting your
500-day maximum payment period, you are entitled to an extended
earnings-related allowance period on top of the 500 days until the end
of the calendar month in which you turn 65. You must also have been
working for at least five years during the past 20 years.

The right to extended allowance is gradually being abolished.

If you were born between 1950 and 1957, you can retire on an
old-age pension from your extended earnings-related allowance period at
the age of 62 without a reduction in the pension payments. 
The entitlement to such an old-age pension applies to unemployed person who meet all the following conditions:

• you were born between 1950 and 1957
• you have turned 62 years of age
• you
  have received an extended earnings-related or basic allowance for at
  least one day in the month preceding the start of your pension.

Please
request a certificate from the unemployment fund for retirement. The
certificate can only be issued when your allowance has been paid for at
least one day in the month preceding the start of your pension.

Check with your pension company when you should submit the pension application. 

You do not need to separately apply for an extended allowance period;
the unemployment fund will automatically check your eligibility in
connection with processing your application when you have reached the
500-day maximum payment period. You can send your application according
to your normal application rhythm as before.

If you have received an extended earnings-related allowance, ask
the unemployment fund for a certificate on the additional allowance days
paid. We can provide this as soon as we have paid you an allowance for
at least one day in the month preceding the start of your pension. For
example, if you apply for a pension from 1 October, we can issue the
certificate after having paid you an allowance in September.

If
you have not received an extended allowance, you can apply for an
allowance normally up to the end of the month preceding the start of
your pension and inform us on the application from which date you will
be applying for a pension. Send your pension application to the pension
company in advance. They can provide you further instructions
regarding your pension.

You should first discuss the job alternation leave with your employer.
Your employer commits to replacing you with an unemployed jobseeker from
the Employment and Economic Development Office. If your employer agrees
to the job alternation leave, you should make a job alternation leave
in writing. The job alternation leave should be submitted to the TE
Office before the start of your job alternation leave. The TE Office
will help your employer in finding a suitable substitute, if needed. 

You can send the application to the fund in advance or when you have
begun your job alternation leave, however, no later than within three
months of the date on which your job alternation leave began.

In addition to the application, the unemployment fund needs a copy of
the job alternation agreement and a pay certificate for 52 weeks or 12
full months preceding the job alternation leave. The unemployment fund
will check your accumulated employment history from the Finnish Centre
for Pensions.

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. Sending a pay certificate with your application
can possibly speed up the processing of your application at least in the
beginning of the year 2020. This is because the incomes register is a
new system and the use of this system has just started.

If you or your family member are engaged in
business activities,  please send us a copy of the last confirmed tax decision. We also need 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.

If you have been working for 20 years so that the employment history
according to the employment pension acts clearly meets the requirement,
you do not need to have your employment history separately checked.

If
there are breaks in your employment history due to, for example, family
leaves or military or non-military service and you are uncertain
whether your employment history is sufficient, you should have it
checked in advance. See Job alternation compensation.

We usually receive our members’ tax rates determined for earned income
directly from the Tax Administration at the beginning of the year.
According to the Tax Administration’s instructions, the withholding tax
rate determined for a salary is at least 25% for job alternation
compensation. 

If we have not received the information directly
from the Tax Administration, please send us a revised tax card for
benefits. If you wish, you can request a revised tax card for benefits
from a Tax Office in any case, and we will withhold your taxes
accordingly. 

The job alternation compensation is always paid retroactively, and
the decision and first payment can only be made once your job
alternation leave has begun. Each payment period is four calendar weeks
(or one calendar month if, for example, you have earned income that
needs to be adjusted or you receive a child home care allowance from
Kela). At the start of your job alternation leave, your first
compensation may be paid for a shorter period, for example, two weeks.
The same applies at the end of your leave.

You can view the processing status of your job alternation compensation in our Openetti service.

After
receiving a job alternation compensation for the first time, you can
calculate the next payment dates as follows: if the payment rhythm is
four calendar weeks, the payment date is the Wednesday following the end
of the period, and, if the payment rhythm is one calendar month, the
payment date is two banking days from the last day of the month.

A holiday bonus or holiday compensation do not affect the job
alternation compensation, so you do not need to inform the unemployment
fund about them.

If you receive pay for annual holidays during
the job alternation leave, the job alternation compensation cannot be
paid for the period for which you receive holiday pay.

Mobility allowance is only simultaneously paid for one employment relationship and training related to it.

The travelling time is calculated from your home address to the address of your workplace. Time spent on changing means of transport is also taken into account, including any waiting times for connecting transport. Any waiting times due to public transport schedules before or after your work shift are also included in the travelling time. However, deviations from the fastest route are not taken into considerations. For example, the time that it takes to take a child to day care is not counted into the travelling time.

To start with the travelling time is calculated using the fastest possible public transport connection. If you have a car at your disposal, the travelling time is calculated based on the use of the car if commuting by car is even faster than commuting by public transportation. So if the commute based on using your car means that you have the right to receive mobility allowance, then you can decide to use public transportation or even carpool instead of you own car. 

If the distance between your original home address and your new workplace entitles you to mobility allowance, you can receive the allowance even if you move closer to your workplace before your employment begins. However, the move must be related to accepting a job. This also applies to moving because of work-related training.

If the preconditions
for receiving mobility allowance are met, the allowance can be first paid on
the basis of the training, and its payment may be continued after the training
on the basis of the employment relationship. The total duration of the
allowance period is 60 days from the start of training. 

Mobility allowance from the Unemployment Fund is only for members who start at a new job. TE-office, however, can reimburse travel expenses if you attend a job interview, for example. For more information about reimbursements by TE-office, please see TE Office website.

The duration of the mobility allowance period depends on on the duration of the employment relationship. The allowance period is 30 days, if  your employment lasts at least 2 months, 45 days, if your employment lasts at least 3 months and 60 days, if your employment lasts at least 4 months.

The changes will only take effect with a delay so they are not updated immediately in Personal information.

The applications are updated in the system in automatic runs executed
four times a day. This is why the application may not be displayed as
having arrived immediately after you have sent it. If you receive a form
identifier (such as archive id: 123456) when submitting the form,  your application
was sent successfully to the system. This also applies to individual electronic attachments that you have sent using the ‘Send attachments ‘  function.

The applications are updated in the system in automatic runs executed few times a day. This is why the application may not be displayed as having arrived immediately after you have sent it but there may be a delay. If you receive a form identifier (such as archive id: 123456) when submitting the form, the application was sent successfully to the system. This also applies to individual electronic attachments that you have sent using the function Application attachments. You can see the documents that you have sent next day the latest. 

You can see the submitted applications and the attachments through the e-service Openetti (from 26.4.2018). Paper applications sent by post will not be found in Openetti. Applications appear on the service 12 months after their arrival (starting from 26.4.2018 at most).

This can be caused by one of three reasons:

1. You have submitted your application without attachments and indicated on the application that you would send them separately. Your
   application will remain pending until you send the attachments and we
   will not send you a request for additional information. Please submit
   the attachments that you have indicated in your application.
2. You have not given permission for e-mail notifications and you have not chosen E-letters in Personal information.  This is why
   you will not receive an email message about the request for information.
    You will receive the request
   for additional information by post at your home address.
3. Your application is waiting for additional information that will not be requested from you. 
   If
   alternatives 1 or 2 do not apply to your situation, you do not need to
   do anything. Your application is waiting for additional information that
   we have requested directly from another authority or your employer.
   This may refer to, for example, information from the time of your
   membership in a previous unemployment fund (if you have reported that
   you have previously been a member of another unemployment fund on your
   application). We may also be checking information on an attached
   document regarding your employment from your employer.

The quickest way to be informed of a request for additional information is as follows:
Ensure
that your email address is up to date in the service. In Personal information, select Permit e-mail notification. Select also E-letters. 

This
will allow you to receive an email message about the request for
additional information and then read the electronic letter in Openetti
concerning the request for additional information. Please note that you
will not receive a separate paper letter about the request for
additional information.

This can be caused by one of three reasons:

1. You have submitted your application without attachments and indicated on the application that you would send them separately. Your
   application will remain pending until you send the attachments and we
   will not send you a request for additional information. Please submit
   the attachments that you have indicated in your application.
2. You have not given permission for e-mail notifications and you have not chosen E-letters in Personal information.  This is why
   you will not receive an email message about the request for information.
    You will receive the request
   for additional information by post at your home address.
3. Your application is waiting for additional information that will not be requested from you. 
   If
   alternatives 1 or 2 do not apply to your situation, you do not need to
   do anything. Your application is waiting for additional information that
   we have requested directly from another authority or your employer.
   This may refer to, for example, information from the time of your
   membership in a previous unemployment fund (if you have reported that
   you have previously been a member of another unemployment fund on your
   application). We may also be checking information on an attached
   document regarding your employment from your employer.

Please inform us about the problem by sending a message to us: asiakaspalvelu@opetusjatiede.fi. Inform your name and date of birth in your message.

If you have previously filled out an application in Openetti and saved a draft, there can be problems when you return to fill up application again. In these situations, correct the dates in application.

For example, you have saved the draft 26.02.21. The application period is one month and the days are filled until 26.02.21. When you try to send application for the February, application is submitted in accordance with the draft. The system does not correct the application period, you must change the dates until 28.02.21.

You can access the calendar section of the application period by clicking the Edit button in the upper-right corner of Application period information. You can first select your application period.

The other option is delete the draft. If necessary, the draft can be cleared by selecting disable draft saving. Openetti suggest an application period for the correct time. For a month, if this is the application period.

There have been technical problems sending e-mail notifications for some members. The problem is being investigated and efforts are being made to solve the problem as soon as possible.

If your application should already be processed, you should check Openetti to see if you have been sent a letter of request for further information. It’s also a good idea to check Openetti’s Personal Information -section to make sure that the email address is up to date. In addition, it is a good idea to make sure that the e-mail notification has not drifted into the junk e-mail folder.

We have noticed that recent updates of some antivirus programs (such as Avast!) now block access to Openetti. Nonetheless, the Openetti service continues to be a trustworthy website. You can adjust your antivirus settings to allow access to Openetti by setting our website as a trusted site. If you are using Avast!, you should untick ‘Enable HTTPS scanning’ in the browser protection settings.

Clearing the browser’s cookies and cache may also resolve the login problem.

The maximum size of the file attachments is 10 MB, which cannot be exceeded. When scanning documents on your computer, note that they must be saved in .pdf-, .jpg-, .jpeg-, .png-, .gif- or .tiff  format. You should also check the settings of your scanner. You do not need to use photograph quality resolution or colours for scanning documents. We recommend that you select black-and-white document/text as the source material for scanning. If you scan the source material using the option ‘text’ (black-and-white file), this will reduce the file size and allow you to add several attachments to your application.

The size of an individual file will increase if you scan several pages, such as several pay slips, into one file. You can try splitting the documents into two or more files.

You need the Adobe Reader program to use the printable forms. The forms can be used with version 6 or later of the program. You can download the latest version free of charge from Adobe’s website.

The service works best with the Firefox or Chrome. If you use another browser, you may experience difficulties. If you have problems opening the forms, this may also be caused by your internet browser settings. You should make the necessary changes.

This may be avoided by updating your browser and Adobe Reader to the latest versions.

If you have selected that you have been employed, the application form must contain the hours you     worked. You can not mark zero hours. If you are working full-time and weekends is your free time, choose ”Unemloyed”. If you are working also on weekends, put the correct working hours. For example, if you have a part-time job on the weekends.

If you don´t want to mark unemployed on the weekends, follow the instructions below. You can access the calendar section of the application period by clicking the Edit button in the upper-right corner of Information for the application period. First, you have to select what your main activity has been during the application period. In addition to this, you can select several other options for the application period. You can choose ” Employed”. Also choose ”Other reason, what”. You can write here: Free.  When you go futher, this option will be included and you can choose this option for the weekends.

Always report a reason for breaks in the application. The system will not allow you to submit an application without an explanation for the missed time. The time between your applications has to be complete.  Select reason for break from the drop-down menu and also put the correct dates.

Example: Your last application was for the August. Now you are making an application for the Chistmas break. The system directs you to also fill the section: Report a reason for break between the applications.

Follow the instructions below:

1. Press Apply for earnings-related allowance from Openetti’s front page.

2. Change the dates, if necessary (for example 22.12.2020-6.1.2021)

3. Select what your main activity has been during the application period. Select Unemployed.

4. You are applying for a period that is under 4 weeks, please select one reason: Full-time employment for more than two weeks.

5. Starting from: put 07.01.2021 (if you start a full-time work)

6. Report a reason for break between the applications, choose Employed and mark dates 12.08.20 to 21.12.20.

7. Please answer the Pay day -question.

This is an informative notification of the system. This does not prevent your application from being sent. Please continue to fill application in a normal way. If you have not yet registered as a jobseeker, you should register as soon as possible.

You can try to send application only. After that, send the attachements separately using  Send attachements -function. The files need to be in .pdf, .tif, .png or .jpg file format. File name cannot contain  any special characters.

Please check the forms and have you answered all required fields. Usually the programme will   notify you of any missing information in a message appearing on the page. An incomplete application cannot be submitted. You can also try to switch browser.

System also saves the draft automatically.  Sometimes the draft ”gets stuck” and the only way to go futher, is to delete the draft and to start all over again. Deleting the draft can be done by choosing x disable draft saving from the top right of the page. After this we recommend unchecking this option again so that the new drafts continue to be saved. By doing this, the possibly stuck draft will be deleted and applying should work again as normal.

If you still have problems with the application, please contact our customer service. You can send email and ask for guidance : asiakaspalvelu@opetusjatiede.fi.