Job alternation leave is agreed with the employer, but job alternation compensation is applied for from the unemployment fund. The TE Office will provide the fund with a statement on your right to job alternation leave.

How to proceed

1. Find out if job alternation leave is possible for you

Access to job alternation leave requires, among other things, that:

you are working permanently full-time and that your working hours are at least 75% of the full-time employee’s working time

you have worked for the same employer for at least 13 months before taking job alternation leave

Unpaid absence is a maximum of 30 calendar days during the previous 13 months

The TE Office examines the fulfilment of the above employment conditions. The TE Office also examines other labour market policy requirements, such as the upper age limit, the duration of the job alternation leave, the requirements for job alternation leave and the business activities of the alternator. You can find more information about these requirements from the TE Office.

In addition, a prerequisite for job alternation leave is that you have at least 20 years of work history.

The unemployment fund examines whether the 20-year work history requirement is met. You can check the sufficiency of the work history in advance from the fund. Send a written request to Openetti to check your work history, and mention the planned start date of the job alternation leave and your valid home address in the message.

2. Agree on job alternation leave with your employer

Job alternation leave is primarily a contractual matter between you and your employer. Agree on the leave in writing with the employer by filling out a job alternation leave -agreement (vuorottelusopimus). You can find the form on the TE Services’ Job Market -website.

3. Contact the TE Office

Contact the TE Office well in advance about job alternation leave. The TE Office will examine your right to job alternation leave and issue a statement to the fund. Make sure which attachments must be submitted to the TE Office in order to issue a statement. Also make sure that all the necessary attachments are at the TE Office a couple of days before the start of the job alternation leave.

Please remember to notify the TE Office if you or your spouse have any business activities (including ownership of a farm or forest holding). In its statement, the TE Office must comment on business operations. If the TE Office considers a business to be full-time, there is no right to job alternation compensation.

4. Submit an application to the fund

An application for job alternation compensation can be submitted to the fund even before the job alternation leave starts. However, submit the application within three months. The fastest way to submit an application is in Openetti. The application must be accompanied by a job alternation agreement. If you or your family are engaging in business activities, please also attach your most recent confirmed personal tax decision.

As a rule, it is not necessary to submit a payslip to the fund, because we receive income data from the Incomes Register. In some cases, it may be necessary to submit payslips if the Incomes Register does not reveal all the necessary information.

5. Wait for a decision

An application for job alternation compensation will be processed at the earliest when the job alternation leave has lasted for two calendar weeks. The decision on the job alternation compensation will be issued in connection with the handling of the application. A decision on job alternation compensation cannot be given in advance.

If there are any changes in your situation during the job alternation leave, notify the fund without delay, for example by sending a message or a job alternation application change request Openetti.

You can estimate the amount of job alternation compensation from the table on the TYJ website(opens in new window, you move to another service).

Read more about job alternation compensation from the link below.