The Finnish Parliament has confirmed that a part of the temporary legislative changes made to unemployment security will remain in effect until the end of the year.
The temporary changes apply e.g. to the waiting period before payment of earnings-related daily allowance, the length of employment condition, and the maximum payment period of daily allowance.
See the compilation of changes in the table below.
| Change | In effect/Concerns |
| Earnings-related allowance will be paid even for the five days waiting period starting from the first day of unemployment or temporary lay-off. | Concerns the applications where the waiting period would have been set from 16 March to 31 December 2020. |
| Earnings-related allowance can be granted already after three months of work (13 calendar weeks). One has to be a member of an unemployment fund during that time. * | Concerns the applicants, who would not otherwise fulfill the employment condition; have worked for at least one calendar week that accrues employment condition after 1 March 2020, and; would be granted the earnings-related allowance on 31 December 2020 at the latest. ** |
| Maximum number of earnings-related allowance days (300-500 days) will not be counted during temporary lay-off. | Lay-offs that started on 16 March 2020 or later. The lay-off days will not be counted between 16 March and 31 December 2020. |
| Maximum number of earnings-related allowance days (300-500 days) will not be counted (in any circumstances). | Maximum number of days will not be counted between 1 July and 31 December 2020. |
| Standard entitlement of earnings-related allowance is temporarily EUR 500 per month. | Concerns application periods that have started between 1 June and 31 October 2020. |
| Mobility allowance can be applied for after two hours return commute if you have started a full-time job. | Concerns employment relationships that have started between 12 June and 31 October 2020. |
| An entrepreneur can apply for labour market subsidy from Kela when the decrease in income is due to coronavirus epidemic. | Labour market subsidy can be applied for between 16 March and 31 December 2020. |
| Entrepreneurship or studies will not be investigated in the TE Office if you are temporarily laid-off. | In effect from 16 March to 31 December 2020. |
| Interviews of jobseekers in the TE Office are partly discontinued. | In effect from 16 March to 31 December 2020. |
Right to unemployment security will exceptionally remain in the following cases:
|
In effect from 16 March to 31 December 2020. |
| The TE Office can make exemptions to the jobseeker’s study progress requirement until the end of the year and give extra time if the studies have been delayed due to coronavirus epidemic. | In effect from 1 August to 31 December 2020. |
* For family members of an entrepreneur, the employment condition has been halved to 26 weeks.
** If the applicant still has unpaid basic unemployment allowance days left from Kela, the 13 weeks employment condition can be applied, when a working week has been counted in the employment condition after 1 July 2020. This is because those applying for basic unemployment allowance were now included in the later change of legislation.
Source of article: The Federation of Unemployment Funds in Finland (TYJ)