Who can claim partial sickness allowance
You can be paid partial sickness allowance if you are between 16 and 67 years of age and were employed or self-employed when you became unfit for work.
Employees
In order to get partial sickness allowance, you must work full-time. Full-time work usually means gainful employment with the employee having a regular work schedule of at least 30 hours per week. The working hours can be shorter than this if the work schedule corresponds to the work schedule for a full-time employee in the industry in question.
If you work two or more part-time jobs at the same time, your work schedule must be at least 30 hours per week in total.
Make an agreement with your employer to reduce your working hours to 40–60 percent of what they were before. Also agree on the salary you will be paid while in part-time status.
The work you do on a part-time basis can consist of the same tasks you currently perform, or they can be tailored to your existing work capacity. The reduction in working hours can be implemented on a daily or weekly basis, and it must be based on a recommendation from your doctor.
If you have a second job along with a full-time job, you may be entitled to partial sickness allowance even if you continue in your second job without changing your working hours. In such cases, partial sickness allowance is determined on the basis of the annual income for each job separately. This means that only the salary or income under YEL/MYEL from the full-time job you are now unfit for is taken into account.
An occupational health doctor or other doctor familiar with your circumstances at work draws up either a medical certificate A or a medical statement B for the purpose of the partial sickness allowance. If you have a medical certificate A, the general rule is that you can get partial sickness allowance for up to 60 days. A more detailed medical statement B is needed after that.
The doctor evaluates your fitness for work and your potential for returning to work on a part-time basis. The part-time work must not put your health and recovery at risk.
Several part-time jobs
Talk to your employers about reducing your work schedule and about part-time pay. You can make an agreement about reducing your schedule that affects just one job or several, with the end result that your total working hours are reduced by 40-60%.
You must make the partial sickness allowance arrangements with all of your employers regardless of how your working hours are reduced. Kela must have information on the job or jobs in which the work schedule is reduced and the total working hours in all your jobs.
Your claim must be accompanied by a medical certificate on form B, which includes an evaluation of your fitness for all of your jobs. You may have to provide several certificates to cover all of your jobs.
Reduced working hours
You can be paid partial sickness allowance even if you made a reduction in your working hours before you became unfit for work. Working hours can be reduced temporarily for the duration of a partial care leave or for health reasons, as well as on other grounds.
You can be paid partial sickness allowance if you reduced your weekly working hours to 30 hours or less before you became unfit for work.
If your reduced hours are less than 30 hours a week, you can get partial sickness allowance if you originally worked
- at least 30 hours a week
- at least the number of hours considered full-time in your particular industry.
The reduction can be made either from a working time that has been temporarily reduced but meets the requirements for full-time work (at least 30 hours a week), or from preceding full-time hours.
Self-employed persons
Persons who are self-employed on a full-time basis and insured under the Self-Employed Persons' (YEL) or Farmers' (MYEL) pension schemes can get partial sickness allowance.
An occupational health doctor or other doctor familiar with your circumstances will evaluate your fitness for work and your potential for working on a part-time basis without risking your health and recovery.
Discuss with your doctor which tasks you must give up and which you can still do while reducing your hours to 40-60% of what they were. Provide a plan for reducing your working hours for example on the claim form. The plan for the part-time arrangement must cover a continuous period of at least 12 working days.
If you have a second job besides full-time self-employment, you must reduce your hours in your work as entrepreneur in the manner described above. You can continue in your second job, however.