Does your fixed-term job end in the summer?

Topics

• Income security
• Job seeking
• Unemployment
• YTK

Summer is typically the peak season for fixed-term employment. The hotel and restaurant industry and the construction sector in particular attract large numbers of people during the summer. However, in some sectors, the flow is reversed. For example, schools close for the summer. At that point, many fixed-term jobs in the education sector may come to an end. The situation may be uncertain, even if it seems likely that the work will continue in the fall. How does this affect income security?

Fixed-term contract ends

When a fixed-term contract ends, there is no need for labor policy clarification. This means that you can apply for earnings-related daily allowance immediately without a waiting period, provided that the other conditions are met. This differs from a situation where, for example, you resign from your job. In that case, the employment authority may impose a penalty in the form of a period without benefits. When a fixed-term employment relationship ends on the agreed date, there is no penalty.

When your fixed-term employment ends, apply for earnings-related daily allowance from us two weeks after the end of your employment. However, remember to register as a jobseeker with the employment authorities no later than on your first day of unemployment. You can, of course, register as a jobseeker earlier if you do not want to leave it to the last minute.

Even if you know that your work will continue in the fall, you are still required to look for work in order to receive unemployment benefits. Discuss your job search with the employment office.

Conditions for daily allowance

To be eligible for earnings-related daily allowance, you must be a member of an unemployment fund and have been a member for at least 12 months. In addition, you must have fulfilled the working condition during the calendar months in which you were a member.

The working condition is met when you have accumulated a total of at least 12 working condition months during the 28 months preceding the month in question.

We count as one working condition month any calendar month during which you have been paid at least 930 € in wages. We also count as one working condition month two separate calendar months during which you have been paid less than 930 € but at least 465 €.

In addition to the conditions, there are a few restrictions on earnings-related daily allowance, which you can read more about in our information bank.

Waiting period and duration

When we start paying you earnings-related daily allowance, there is a waiting period at the beginning of the allowance period. We cannot pay you earnings-related allowance during the waiting period. The waiting period ends when you have been registered as an unemployed jobseeker with the employment authority for a total of seven full working days during a maximum of eight consecutive calendar weeks.

We can pay you earnings-related daily allowance for the maximum payment period.

The maximum payment period is:

• 300 payment days if you have a total work history of no more than three years before your entitlement to unemployment allowance began;
• 400 payment days if you have a total of more than three years of employment history before the start of your unemployment allowance entitlement;
• 500 payment days if you have fulfilled the working condition after reaching the age of 58 and you have at least five years of employment history during the last 20 years when you fulfilled the working condition.

If the maximum period begins at the start of summer when a fixed-term employment relationship ends, it will not expire by the end of autumn. We pay earnings-related daily allowance five days a week, so even the maximum payment period of 300 days is sufficient for a period of unemployment lasting almost 14 months.

Staggering

Even if the maximum duration is sufficient for the summer, the staggering of the earnings-related daily allowance may reduce the amount of earnings-related daily allowance payable to you during the summer.

Staggering means that the amount of earnings-related daily allowance decreases as unemployment continues.

The staggered payment system works as follows: first, we pay the full earnings-related daily allowance for 40 full days of unemployment. After that, we pay the earnings-related daily allowance reduced to 80% until we have paid a total of 170 days of unemployment. After this, we pay the reduced earnings-related daily allowance at 75% until the end of the maximum payment period.

The first reduction will take effect after approximately two months. If your fixed-term employment ends at the beginning of June and your next job does not start until mid-August or later, it is likely that we will pay you 80% of your earnings-related daily allowance towards the end of the period. If your full earnings-related daily allowance is, for example, 80 euros per day, it will be 64 euros per day after the first step. You can estimate the amount of your earnings-related daily allowance using our earnings-related daily allowance calculator.

Work continues

When work continues in the fall, you can stop looking for work and applying for earnings-related daily allowance.

If the situation remains the same and your fixed-term job ends again next summer, check the instructions and follow them.

When the working condition is 12 months, you will not necessarily be able to accumulate new working conditions during the academic year. In practice, this means that we will not recalculate your earnings-related daily allowance for the following summer. Your maximum payment period will not start from the beginning either. This means that you will not have a new waiting period. On the other hand, it also means that we will pay you earnings-related daily allowance in accordance with the staggering, reduced by 80% immediately.

By the third summer, you will probably have fulfilled the working condition again, in which case we can pay you full earnings-related daily allowance after the waiting period.