Skip to content
Find
Login to Openetti
Find

Waiting period


When you apply for earnings-related allowance for the first time, an earnings-related allowance will be paid for the time following a five-day waiting period. The waiting period equals five weekdays of unemployment that must be met in 8 consecutive calendar weeks. For example, if you work every day for 50% of the hours of a full-time employee, it will take 10 days for your waiting period to be spent. During a suspension period, no waiting period can be applied.

The waiting period is set by the unemployment fund (compare: the TE Office decides on suspension periods). If you participate in an employment promotion measure arranged by the TE Office, the earnings-related allowance can be paid during the waiting period. A waiting period may also be applied when you meet the employment condition again.


The waiting period is set when:

  • you become unemployed for the first time, or
  • you re-fulfil the employment condition before you have received an
    allowance for even a single day after the previous waiting period, or
  • you re-fulfil the employment condition within a year from the start of the payment of your allowance, but no waiting period was set when your employment condition was last met, or
  • you re-fulfil the employment condition more than a year after your allowance
    payment began.

A waiting period will not be set, if you have fulfilled the employment condition (26 weeks) again and the new maximum payment period for an
earnings-related allowance (300, 400 or 500-day maximum) will start within a year from the start of the previous maximum period and the waiting period was set for you at that time.