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Legislative changes on April 1, 2024: child supplements are no longer included in earnings-related allowances on April 1, 2024 and the standard entitlement of €300 will be abolished.

The phone service is closed on March 29, 2024, and April 1, 2024.

 

School counsellor: do you also work as a teacher?

Many school counsellors also work as substitute teachers when needed. From the point of view of unemployment security, it is good to remember that the working hours and employment requirement of school counsellors and teachers are viewed differently.

School counsellors and teachers are covered by different collective agreements and have different weekly working hours. For this reason, their situations are viewed differently under the Unemployment Security Act. The average weekly working hours of a school counsellor are around 38.33 hours per week. Depending on what they teach and at what grade level, a teacher's teaching obligation is approximately 24 working hours per week.

In other words, there are already differences in the weekly working hours, and the Unemployment Security Act also calculates working hours differently for school counsellors and teachers. However, all comply with the rule that you are not entitled to earnings-related allowance if your hours exceed 80% of the maximum full-time working hours in the sector.

Many school counsellors also work as substitute teachers. If you are applying for earnings-related allowance, your working hours are calculated separately for your work as a school counsellor and a teacher, using the maximum working hours for each job. If the total working hours of these jobs exceed 80%, you will not be entitled to earnings-related allowance since your working hours are exceeded. Please note that wages only affect earnings-related allowance when the wages are paid, i.e. the payday determines when wages and hours are taken into account. However, the working hours must be marked in the application for earnings-related allowance for the days when the work was actually performed.

Remember to separate your work as a teacher and any other work in the application. Payroll statements must also be sent to the fund, as we cannot see the necessary information from the Incomes Register (tulorekisteri).

Example 1:

You work part-time as a school counsellor. The working hours of your part-time job are 80% of full-time work in the sector. You work as a substitute teacher for one hour in March. The wages for your work as a school counsellor will be paid at the end of March, and an hour has been deducted from your wages as a school counsellor which you worked as a substitute teacher. However, the substitute teacher's wage will not be paid until April.

In March, you are entitled to earnings-related allowance and you will be paid adjusted daily allowance. In April, you will be paid the substitute teacher wage and the school counsellor wages. Your working hours exceed the maximum working hours of 80% and you are not entitled to earnings-related allowance.

Example 2:

You have worked 120 hours as a school counsellor in March, or 73% of the maximum working hours in the sector, and 10 substitute teacher hours, or 10% of the maximum working hours in the sector, if the teaching obligation is 24 hours per week. The school counsellor wages and the substitute teacher wages will be paid in April. For March, you will be paid full daily allowance if no paydays fall in March. In April, your daily allowance application will be rejected because your working hours are 83% of the maximum working hours.

 

Example 3:

You work part-time 120 hours a month in March, or 73% of working hours. In addition, you work 10 hours as a substitute teacher. The wages are paid to you in March. The 10 hours you have worked as a substitute teacher have been deducted from your wages as a school counsellor. In addition, you are paid 10 hours in March for working as a substitute teacher.

Thus, in March, you are paid 110 hours of school counsellor’s wages, or 67% of the maximum working hours in the sector, and 10 hours of teacher's wages, or 10% of a teacher's maximum working hours. In this situation, your working hours are be exceeded because your total working hours are 77%.

How the employment requirement is met for teachers

For teachers, the employment requirement is met when you have worked eight (8) hours per calendar week, while in other jobs the limit is 18 hours per calendar week. If you mix teaching and other work, the employment requirement week is counted separately for each type of work. It is then calculated whether the employment requirement week is met.

Example 1:
You work five hours as a teacher and eight hours as a school counsellor in one calendar week. 5/8=0.63 and 8/18=0.44  0.63+0.44=1.07*100= 107%, i.e. the employment requirement week is met.

Example 2:
You work five hours as a teacher and perform four hours of other work in one calendar week.
5/8=0.63 and 4/18=0.22  0.63+0.22=0.85*100= 85%, i.e. the employment requirement week is not met.