What to Do if Your Work Is Interrupted during a Holiday Period
You may apply for earnings-related unemployment allowance from your unemployment fund if your employment contract includes an agreed work interruption or if you are laid off — this applies to both part-time and full-time employees. Such situations may occur, for example, for school assistants or after-school activity instructors during school holidays.
A work interruption or unpaid school holiday period equivalent to a layoff means that your employment contract remains in force, but you have no obligation to work, and your employer has no obligation to pay wages during that time.
The initiative to suspend work and salary payments must come from the employer — this is different from a voluntary unpaid leave requested by the employee.
The interruption must be agreed upon in the employment contract or its appendix
You can receive earnings-related unemployment allowance only if the work interruption has been agreed upon in advance in your employment contract or in a separate written appendix to the contract.
Any known unpaid holiday periods comparable to a layoff, as well as interruptions in work and salary payments, must therefore be agreed upon beforehand. The stated reason should be that the employer has no work to offer for that period.
What must be included in the appendix?
If your employment contract does not already specify a so-called summer interruption, you and your employer must prepare a separate appendix to the employment contract. The appendix takes effect from the date of signing — retroactively signed appendices cannot be accepted, so it is important to complete this documentation well before the interruption begins.
The appendix must include the period during which the employer has no work to offer, the signatures of both you and your employer, and the date of signing. The document must be clearly titled as an appendix to the employment contract. A simple certificate or statement confirming the work interruption is not sufficient.
How and where to submit the copy of the employment contract and appendix
A copy of your employment contract and any separate appendix must be submitted electronically through Nettikassa together with your unemployment allowance application. If you do not already have a digital copy of your contract or appendix, you can scan the documents, or alternatively, a clear JPEG photo is also acceptable. In your application, you should also indicate how you will take your annual leave.
What if the employer offers other work during the summer?
If your employer offers you other work during your layoff or work interruption period, you must accept it, or you will lose your right to unemployment allowance. The work offered does not have to be equivalent to your usual duties — for example, if your employer offers you a position in early childhood education, you cannot refuse it without losing your entitlement to the allowance.
What happens to earned annual leave?
If you have accrued annual leave during the holiday credit year, you will not lose it. In most cases, annual leave is taken either before or after the summer interruption.
Holiday compensation is not periodized in situations involving a layoff or comparable work interruption, since the employment relationship remains in effect.
Do you work part-time?
If you work part-time, you should be aware of the so-called payment-based principle in relation to unemployment allowance. This means that, for example, if your May salary is paid in June, it will affect your June unemployment allowance. The same applies to August — unemployment allowance for days of unemployment in August cannot be paid until the fund has received information about all income paid during that month. Did you know that if you work part-time not by your own choice, you should apply for adjusted unemployment allowance also during the school year?