Key changes on 2 September 2024
• Membership requirement: Extended from 6 months to 12 months.
• Employment requirement: Extended from 26 calendar weeks (approximately 6 months) to 12 calendar months.
• Accumulation of employment requirement: Based on paid wages (previously based on hours worked). The requirement is met within a month if at least 930 euros have been paid in wages. If wages are less than 930 euros but at least 465 euros, 0,5 months of the employment requirement is accumulated.
• Level of earnings-related unemployment benefit: Decreases gradually as unemployment continues.
• Protection rule for the benefit level for those over 58 years: Removed.
• Employment obligation: Removed. The TE Offices and municipalities will no longer be obligated to arrange employment or services that promote employment to certain 57- and 60-year-olds.
• Wage subsidy work: Employment requirement starts accumulating only after 10 months of wage subsidy work and even then only in rare cases.
Application date
From 2 September 2024, the employment requirement is accumulated based on paid wages. The employment requirement will be monitored in calendar months instead of calendar weeks. The changes will fully affect you when you meet the employment requirement after 1 September 2024 and at least 465 euros have been paid in wages for work done after 1 September 2024 (which equates to half a month of the employment requirement). When transitioning to the new legislation, the weeks accumulated before 2 September 2024 will be converted to months according to a specific transitional provision.
Examples of applying the law changes
Full-time employment ends on 15 September 2024, September's wages paid in September
Your long-term full-time job ends on 15 September 2024 and you receive your final salary of 1800 euros during September. Since you have received at least 465 euros in wages for work done after 1 September 2024, you will be subject to the law changes immediately at the start of your unemployment. You will be required to meet the 12-month membership and employment requirements. Additionally, your benefit level will decrease as your unemployment continues, and the protection rule for those over 58 years old will no longer apply.
If you do not have at least 12 months of work history during your unemployment fund membership at the start of your unemployment, you will need to apply for unemployment benefits from Kela.
Full-time employment ends on 15 September 2024, September's wages paid in October
Your long-term full-time job ends on 15 September 2024 and you apply for benefits immediately after the job ends. You have always received your wages at the beginning of the month following the work month. Therefore, the salary for August is paid in September and the salary for the period 1 September - 15 September 2024 is paid at the beginning of October.
You will not receive wages for work done after 1 September 2024 during September. Therefore, you are still under the old legislation. You are required to meet the six-month membership requirement and the 26-week employment requirement, and your benefit level does not decrease as unemployment continues. You are also covered by the protection rule for those over 58 years old.
However, the employment requirement will start accumulating according to the new rules as soon as you receive wages for work done in September. When you next meet the employment requirement, you will also be subject to, among other things, the rules for the gradual reduction of the benefit level.
Part-time work and adjusted benefit
You work part-time and receive adjusted earnings-related unemployment benefits. By 1 September 2024, you have accumulated 24 weeks of work towards the employment requirement. You always receive your wages at the end of the work month. At the end of September, you receive 1200 euros in wages for the period 1 September - 30 September 2024.
Since you have received at least 465 euros in wages for work done after 1 September 2024 and it is paid during September, you will transition to the new law's application. This means that your employment requirement will be met when you have received enough wages over at least 12 months.
Your employment requirement has accumulated 24 weeks by 1 September 2024, which does not meet the old law's 26-week requirement. Therefore, the weeks will be converted to months. According to the transitional provision, the accumulated weeks correspond to 6 months of work. You will accumulate an additional month of the employment requirement for September. Thus, at the end of September, you will have a total of 7 months of the employment requirement. You will meet the employment requirement again when you have accumulated an additional 5 months. When your employment requirement is next met, you will also be subject to the rules for the gradual reduction of the benefit level.
Application of changes to employment obligation and wage subsidy work
If your maximum period for unemployment benefits ends no later than 1 September 2024 and you are at least 57 years old, the employment authority will arrange employment or services for you according to the old rules.
If you meet the employment requirement through work or services arranged based on an obligation that arose before 1 September 2024, the employment requirement is six months. Additionally, you can receive benefits during the obligation service until it ends, even if the maximum period for earnings-related unemployment benefits is reached during the service. The benefit level will not be recalculated after the obligation service, even if the service ends on or after 2 September 2024.
If you are employed in wage subsidy work not arranged based on an obligation, and the wage subsidy work began no later than 1 September 2024, 75% of the wage subsidy work will count towards the employment requirement. The employment requirement is met when six months of the employment requirement have accumulated. From 2 September 2024, however, the employment requirement will accumulate based on paid wages instead of hours worked.
If the wage subsidy work begins on or after 2 September 2024, in most cases, the wage subsidy work will not count towards the employment requirement. If the wage subsidy is granted for employing a person with reduced work capacity or a long-term unemployed person over 60 years old, the employment requirement will start accumulating after 10 months of work.
Further information on the law changes
More detailed information about the law changes can be found on the unemployment fund's website.