Special temporary layoffs

You may be temporarily laid off from part-time employment.

If you work part-time and are laid off, your daily allowance will be paid as an adjusted allowance.  The income you receive is taken into consideration in the adjustment according to the time of payment.

Example: You have an employment contract that specifies your working hours as 60% of the maximum. Your working hours are organised so that you work full-time from Monday to Wednesday and are off for the rest of the week. You are temporarily laid off on shortened weekly working hours: you work a full day only on Monday and are temporarily laid off or off from work for the rest of the time. You will be paid an adjusted daily allowance for 5 days per calendar week. The income you receive is taken into consideration in the adjustment according to the time of payment.

When you are laid off from part-time work, your working hours are reviewed per each adjustment period. An adjustment period can be 4 consecutive calendar weeks or a calendar month, depending on your pay period. Read more about the adjustment periods under Adjustment period.

If you are a managing director, you are not entitled to a daily allowance during a temporary layoff, because a managing director is not considered to be in an employment relationship. In order to qualify for a daily allowance for the duration of your temporary layoff, you would have to be temporarily laid off as per the Employment Contracts Act, as referred to in the Unemployment Security Act.

According to legal practice, the temporary layoffs of managing directors of limited liability companies and cooperatives are not considered to be such temporary layoffs, because their employment contracts are not governed by the Employment Contracts Act.

Shop stewards, employee representatives and occupational health and safety representatives enjoy higher protection and may only be temporarily laid off for particularly weighty reasons.

If you are such an elected representative, you may not be temporarily laid off unless your work ends completely for financial and production-related reasons or because of a reorganisation of your employer’s functions. In addition it is required that your employer cannot provide you with employment that corresponds to your professional skills or is otherwise suitable. You may only be temporarily laid off if all the employees that you represent, and are engaged in the same work as you, are temporarily laid off at the same time.

However, an elected representative may agree on a fixed-term temporary layoff with the employer in the case of an agreed temporary layoff.

Generally, a temporary layoff is unilaterally announced by the employer, who also sets its time period. However, you and your employer may also jointly agree on a need for a temporary layoff.

In order for you to qualify for a daily allowance, your temporary layoff must be for a fixed term and justifiable for financial or production-related reasons. An agreed temporary layoff may only be agreed upon while the employment relationship is in force, and only on a case-by-case basis. Agreed temporary layoffs are only possible in indefinitely valid employment relationships.

A situation where your obligation to work and your employer’s obligation to pay you wages have been completely suspended but your employment relationship has not been terminated is tantamount to a temporary layoff.

Reasons comparable to temporary layoff include the following:

• you are prevented from working because of a fire, extraordinary natural event, or similar occurrence at your workplace that was due to neither you nor your employer,
• under certain circumstances, the suspension of work and pay is agreed upon in your employment contract (because your employer operates during specific established periods in the year),

Example: A teacher settles in their work contract, that on fall and winter holidays they do not work and no salary is paid. Daily allowance may be paid for those weeks, since it is a reason comparable to temporary layoff. You need to fulfil normal conditions for the allowance to be paid.

• in some cases, involving suspension of a government employee from office, or involving family care providers.

For reasons comparable to a temporary layoff, you will be paid a full or adjusted daily allowance as in the case of any actual temporary layoff.