If you are laid off temporarily
On this page:
Temporary lay-off means that the employer ends the employee’s work and wage payment temporarily but the employment relationship is still in force. The temporary lay-off may be for a specific period of time or until further notice.
Where can you get financial assistance during temporary lay-off?
If you are laid off temporarily, you can get unemployment benefits from your unemployment fund or from Kela. To receive an unemployment benefit, you must register as a jobseeker with TE Services. The registration as jobseeker must be valid at the latest as from the first day of temporary lay-off.
If you are a member of an unemployment fund and meet a specified work requirement, follow the instructions of your unemployment fund (tyj.fi) to apply for an earnings-related unemployment allowance. In this case, you do not need to contact Kela as regards your unemployment benefit.
If you are not a member of an unemployment fund or if you do not meet the work requirement, you should apply for benefits from Kela.
How to apply for unemployment benefit from Kela if you are temporarily laid off and you are not a member of an unemployment fund
You can apply for unemployment benefit either on a form or in the OmaKela e-service. OmaKela is currently only available in Finnish and Swedish. Kela’s forms are also available in English.
Apply in OmaKela
- Register with TE Services in their e-services (tyomarkkinatori.fi) as an unemployed jobseeker by the first day of the lay-off. You can only get an unemployment benefit if you have registered as an unemployed jobseeker. TE Services or the municipality issue a statement to Kela on your right to unemployment benefits.
- Apply for unemployment benefit in the OmaKela e-service (available in Finnish and Swedish).
- Unemployment benefits cannot be paid before the date on which you registered as an unemployed jobseeker.
- Take photographs of the supporting documents and send them in OmaKela. The application form includes information on which supporting documents you need.
- Documents that you have sent to TE Services are not available to Kela.
- Kela obtains information on wages and salaries from the national incomes register. We use this data when processing claims and applications. We may ask for additional information, if necessary.
- Visit the OmaKela e-service to see if your application has been decided, how much you will get and when your benefits will be paid. You can also see possible reminders concerning any documents that may be missing from your application. You will also get a decision by post if you have not given up paper mail.
Apply on a form
- Register with TE Services in their e-services (tyomarkkinatori.fi) as an unemployed jobseeker by the first day of the lay-off. You can only get an unemployment benefit if you have registered as an unemployed jobseeker. TE Services or the municipality issue a statement to Kela on your right to unemployment benefits.
- Fill in and print out the form Application - Unemployment benefits TT1e (pdf).
- Enclose additional documents in support of the application as necessary. The application form includes information on which supporting documents you need.
- Send the application and any supporting documents by mail. The address is Kela, PL 10, 00056 KELA.
- Visit OmaKela to see if your application has been decided, how much you will get and when your benefit will be paid. You will also see reminders of, for instance, supporting documents missing from your application. The decision notice will also be sent to your home address unless you have opted out of paper mail.
The decision notice is only in Finnish or Swedish. If you need help with something, you can call one of our English language customer service numbers.
What to do if the temporary lay-off continues
If the temporary lay-off continues, you must file an unemployment status report with regular intervals. For the days of temporary lay-off, write that you have been unemployed. If you work during the temporary lay-off, you must indicate the days and hours of work in the report. Always complete the report for a period that has ended.
If the period for which you are temporarily laid off changes, or your employment relationship ends, report this to TE Services.
If you work part-time for another employer during the temporary lay-off, the unemployment benefit is adjusted to the wage or salary for the part-time work. This means that the unemployment benefit is reduced by your wage or salary. If you start working full-time for another employer, you can no longer receive unemployment benefit. Remember to inform Kela and TE Services about the new employment relationship.
The way the temporary lay-off is carried out affects the benefit
If you are temporarily laid off full-time from a full-time job, i.e. you do not work at all, you can receive the full amount of unemployment benefit after the waiting period.
Complete an unemployment status report in periods of 4 weeks and indicate for the days of temporary lay-off that you have been unemployed.
Employees can be fully or partially laid off from part-time work. Part-time lay-off means that, due to the temporary lay-off, you work part-time with lesser hours than usually. During a full-time lay-off you do not work at all.
The unemployment benefit for part-time work is always adjusted to the wage. It may be that your full-time lay-off has already started but you are still paid wages for part-time work you did previously. This affects the amount of the unemployment benefit in the month that the wage is paid.
If you work part-time during the temporary lay-off, indicate the days and hours of work in the unemployment status report. We obtain information on wages and salaries directly from the national incomes register.
If you are temporarily laid off for one or several days per week but you work full-time the rest of the days, you receive unemployment benefit to the full amount for the days of lay-off. For the days of work, you receive no unemployment benefit. The wage does not affect the unemployment benefit because the benefit is paid for full days of work.
Indicate the days and hours of work in the unemployment status report. For the days of temporary lay-off, write that you have been unemployed.
If you have shorter daily working hours because of temporary lay-off, the unemployment benefit available to you is adjusted to your wage or salary. This means that the unemployment benefit is reduced by your wage or salary.
Indicate the days and hours of work in the unemployment status report. We obtain information on wages and salaries from the national incomes register.
The temporary lay-off can also be a mixed lay-off, meaning that you work both shorter weeks and shorter work days. In such cases, we investigate in connection with your first application how we will adjust the unemployment benefit to your wage or salary. You will subsequently receive the decisions so that the same manner of adjustment is used.