Employment and membership requirement
You are entitled to earnings-related daily allowance if you meet the employment and membership requirements. This means that you need to have been in paid employment for 26 weeks while a member of the fund. Each calendar week (Monday to Sunday) during which you have worked or received pay for at least 18 hours (including paid sick leave or annual holiday) count towards the employment requirement.
The employment requirement does not need to be from consecutive weeks. The employment requirement must be met within a period of 28 months. Under the Unemployment Security Act, the 28-month period may be extended for acceptable reasons by up to seven years. Acceptable reasons include full-time studies, illness and care for a child up to 3 years old.
Your pay must be in accordance with the collective agreement. If there is no collective agreement, your pay for full-time work must be at least the minimum wage of 1,331euros per month (in 2023). Your daily wages must be at least 61.91 euros. This is calculated by dividing the minimum monthly pay by the average number of workdays (1,331/ 21.5).
Losing the right to earnings-related allowance
If you do not meet the employment requirement or membership requirement, you may still be entitled to basic unemployment allowance or labour market subsidy from Kela. In this case, you need to be in touch with Kela directly.
KELA
| You will lose the employment requirement and your right to earnings-related allowance if |
|
You are out of the labour market for more than six months without an acceptable reason listed in the Unemployment Security Act |
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You have been self-employed full-time for 18 months |
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You have switched unemployment funds with a break of one month in membership in any fund |
In these situations, you cannot receive earnings-related allowance until you have met the employment requirement in full.
Accumulation of employment requirement weeks from pay subsidy work and during employment obligation
Pay subsidy work also counts towards the employment requirement, but only by 75%. Instead of 26 weeks, you need to be employed for 35 in pay subsidy work in order to meet the employment requirement. If your pay subsidy work is provided on the basis of a municipal employment obligation, all weeks are counted towards the employment requirement.