There is a waiting period before payment of earnings-related daily allowance may begin. The KOKO unemployment fund will count the days of your waiting period, so you do not need to take account of them when filling in your application.
The waiting period equals to 7 full working days. The waiting period may accrue at a maximum rate of 5 calendar days per week, and it must be fully accrued during no more than 8 consecutive calendar weeks. If the 7-day waiting period does not run in its entirety during that period, the waiting period starts from the beginning.
The waiting period may only accrue while your jobseeker status is valid. Your unemployment is considered to begin on the day on which you register as an unemployed jobseeker at the TE Office.
Example
Your employment terminates on Tuesday, and you register as an unemployed jobseeker at the TE Office on Wednesday. Your waiting period is from Wednesday to Friday in that week and from Monday to Thursday in the following week, 7 working days in all. Payment of your daily unemployment allowance can then begin.
However, if you have been in part-time employment and not working full days, your waiting period in calendar days is extended by the difference between your working hours and the maximum working hours.
Example
You are in a job where the maximum working hours are 8 hours per day. You are working half a day, or 4 hours per day. Your waiting period accrues by half a day per every working day, meaning that it will take 14 weekdays to fully accrue your 7-day waiting period.
Calculation: 8 hours * 7 working days = 56 hours. 56 hours / 4 hours = 14 days.
Example
You are in a job where the maximum working hours are 8 hours per day. You work 3,5 hours per day, and your waiting period accrues by 4,5 hours per day. It will take 13 weekdays to fully accrue your 7-day waiting period.
Calculation: 8 hours * 7 working days = 56 hours. 56 hours / 4,5 hours = 12,44 days. The number of days in the waiting period is always rounded up, in this case to 13 days.
Days in which you are not entitled to daily unemployment allowance for instance because of a suspension period, periodisation of the holiday compensation, periodisation of a financial benefit, or exceeding of a working hours limit do not count towards your waiting period.
Example
You are an unemployed jobseeker, and the TE Office has imposed a suspension period on you until 31 March 2024. The waiting period for your daily allowance is 1 to 9 April 2024, and payment of your daily allowance begins on 10 April 2024.
When you participate in a service that promotes employment by agreement with the TE Office, there is no waiting period.
New waiting period
Please note that the information and examples below have not yet been updated to reflect the changes in the law. Read more about the changes in section Conditions for earnings-related allowance. We will update the information as soon as possible.
A new waiting period is set when you again meet your employment condition and
1. more than 1 year has elapsed from the beginning of the maximum period of daily allowance. ‘Beginning of the maximum period’ means that you have been paid daily allowance for at least 1 day.
Example
You are unemployed for February 2024. The first 7 payment days in February comprise your waiting period, and thereafter you are paid daily allowance. You are next unemployed in April 2025, and in the meantime you have met the employment condition. More than 1 year has elapsed from the beginning of the previous maximum period, and thus a new waiting period is set in March 2025.
2. daily allowance was not paid after the previous waiting period, i.e. the maximum period did not begin.
Example
In March 2024, you are temporarily laid off for 7 working days. This is wholly taken up by your waiting period. You are temporarily laid off again at the beginning of September 2024. In the meantime you have met the employment condition. A new waiting period is set, because daily allowance was not paid after the previous waiting period, i.e. the maximum period did not begin.
A new waiting period is not set if your new daily allowance maximum period begins within 1 year of the beginning of the previous daily allowance maximum period and you had a waiting period at that time.
Example
You are temporarily laid off for March. The first 7 payment days in March comprise your waiting period, and thereafter you are paid daily allowance. You are temporarily laid off again in October. In the meantime you have met the employment condition. A new waiting period is not set, because you have been paid daily allowance after the waiting period. The maximum period began in March, and the new maximum period began in October, less than 1 year after the beginning of the maximum period with the waiting period.