Which law applies to me? The new one or the old one?
The conditions for paying out and receiving earnings-related allowances changed on 2 September 2024. From September onwards, you can accrue your entitlement to an earnings-related allowance by earning €930 per calendar month for 12 months. If you earn at least €465 per month, you will accrue half a calendar month towards the employment requirement.
Income of €930 or more = one month towards the employment requirement
Income of €465–€929.99 = half a month towards the employment requirement
What is changing?
From September onwards, the accrual-based employment requirement will end, and the entitlement to a daily allowance will no longer be based on the number of working hours before unemployment. In the future, the employment requirement for an earnings-related allowance will depend only on your income.
Earned income of at least €930 per calendar month can accrue one calendar month of the earnings-related employment requirement. Earned income of at least €465 can accrue half a calendar month of the employment requirement. Therefore, the entitlement to an earnings-related allowance could arise from 10 full calendar months and four half calendar months, fulfilling the total of 12 calendar months of the employment requirement.
When the amended law takes effect, the accrual of the employment requirement will be determined according when the wages or salary are paid. The earning period (the time when the work was done to accumulate the income) is only relevant to the fulfilment of the employment requirement when wages, salaries, or bonuses are paid for a long period or the payment is delayed for a reason attributable to the employer.
Transition to the new employment requirement
From 2 September 2024, the employment requirement will be fulfilled when you have a total of 12 months counting towards the employment requirement within a 28-month review period. The earlier employment requirement weeks will be converted to correspond to the new law. Therefore, it is not necessary to accrue the full employment requirement either before 2 September 2024 or after 2 September 2024.
Old employment requirement: 26 weeks
If you fulfil the current employment requirement of 26 calendar weeks by Sunday 1 September 2024, we will apply the old law. We will check whether you have worked for 26 weeks that fulfil the employment requirement within 28 months. In this situation, you will fulfil the employment requirement entirely according to the old law.
New employment requirement: 12 calendar months
From 2 September 2024, we will apply the provisions of the new law in full and determine whether you fulfil the 12-month employment and membership requirements over 28 months.
Combination of the old and new employment requirements
During the transition period, the employment requirement may be fulfilled according to the old and new laws. In this case, we will convert the calendar weeks you have already accrued towards the employment requirement into calendar months according to the new law. In other words, if you have not completely fulfilled the employment requirement when the new law takes effect, we will convert your earlier employment requirement weeks so they correspond to the employment requirement months required under the new law.
The conversion is as follows:
- 1–2 employment requirement weeks = half an employment requirement month
- 3–4 employment requirement weeks = a full employment requirement month
You must fulfil the employment requirement within 28 months unless you have a valid reason to be out of the labour market.
If you fulfil the current employment requirement of 26 calendar weeks by Sunday 1 September 2024, we will apply the old law. We will check whether you have worked for 26 weeks that fulfil the employment requirement within 28 months. In this situation, you will fulfil the employment requirement entirely according to the old law.
You applied to the unemployment fund for a daily allowance from 1 June 2024 and have accrued eight weeks towards the employment requirement.
You apply for a daily allowance for 1 September 2024 to 30 September 2024 according to your normal application period, and you are paid €1,000 for part-time work done in September on the payday, 30 September 2024.
Your previous employment requirement weeks are converted according to the new law, so eight weeks = two employment requirement months. In addition, September also counts as a month towards the employment requirement because you surpassed the income threshold for the employment requirement. Therefore, you accrued three months towards the employment requirement in the period from 1 June 2024 to 30 September 2024.
You have not fulfilled the employment requirement, and you are paid the normal daily allowance.
You worked full-time from 1 January to 15 September 2024, and you joined the fund on 1 January 2024. Your last salary was paid on 30 September 2024. You apply for a daily allowance from 16 September 2024. You accrued 35 weeks towards the employment requirement according to the old law (1 January to 1 September 2024). And you accrue a full employment requirement month for September.
Your previous employment requirement weeks are converted to correspond to calendar months: 35 / 4 = 8.75, which becomes nine calendar months after rounding. You also accrued a month towards the employment requirement in September, so you have accrued 10 calendar months towards your employment requirement.
As your employment ended on 15 September, you are covered by the new law, and you have not fulfilled the 12-month employment requirement. You will fulfil the employment requirement when you have worked for 12 calendar months while being a member of the fund.
You worked full-time from 1 November 2023 to 15 September 2024, and you joined the fund on 1 September 2023. Your last salary of €1,000 was paid on 30 September 2024. You apply for a daily allowance from 16 September 2024. You accrued 44 weeks towards the employment requirement according to the old law (1 November 2023 to 1 September 2024). And you accrue a full employment requirement month for September.
Your previous employment requirement weeks are converted to correspond to calendar months: 44 / 4 = 11, i.e., 11 calendar months. You also accrued a month towards the employment requirement in September, so you have accrued 12 calendar months towards your employment requirement.
As your employment ended on 15 September and you were paid a salary in September, you are covered by the new law. You have fulfilled the 12-month employment and membership requirements, and you can be paid an earnings-related allowance.
You have registered as an unemployed jobseeker, and you apply for a daily allowance from 1 February 2025. You were on parental leave from 2 September 2024 to 31 January 2025. Up to 1 September 2024, you worked at least 26 calendar weeks while you were a member of the fund.
You are covered by the old law because you were on parental leave from 2 September 2024 to 31 January 2025, which is a valid reason to be out of the labour market. You fulfilled the 26-week employment requirement by 1 September 2024.