If you work while unemployed, the work generally affects the payment of your earnings-related daily allowance when you get paid.
If you work part-time, you may be eligible for adjusted daily allowance. Adjusted daily allowance can be paid if:
- you receive income from part-time work (but not if your work is part-time due to your own request)
- your daily or weekly working time has been reduced due to a layoff or circumstances comparable to a layoff
- you receive income from a full-time job that lasts at most 2 weeks
- you receive income from full-time entrepreneurship that lasts at most 2 weeks
- you receive income from entrepreneurship that the TE Office has deemed part-time entrepreneurship.
In addition, you are required to be registered as a job seeker searching for a full-time job with the TE Office, the TE Office must have given the Fund a labor policy statement stating there are no obstacles for payment, and you must fulfill the general criteria for payment of earnings-related daily allowance.
The Unemployment Fund can pay you adjusted earnings-related daily allowance if you work at most 80 % of the maximum working time of a full-time employee. When working part-time or when working full-time for at most 2 weeks, the working time is examined in periods of 4 calendar weeks or one month. During layoffs, the working time is examined weekly. Time that has been saved into a working time bank and paid time off are also taken into consideration during the examination of working time.
Full-time work that lasts over 2 weeks is not included in the scope of adjustable income. No earnings-related daily allowance can be paid during full-time work that lasts over 2 weeks.
In addition, earnings-related daily allowance is not paid during full-time entrepreneurship that lasts over 2 weeks. There is, however, an exception to this rule that concerns entrepreneurship started while unemployed. In this case, earnings-related daily allowance can be paid for the first 4 months of entrepreneurship, after which the TE Office determines if the entrepreneurship is full-time or part-time. You must inform the TE Office when your entrepreneurship has started, and you must keep your job seeker status active to continue applying for earnings-related daily allowance. Inform the Fund of any income from entrepreneurship as this income will reduce the amount of daily allowance you are entitled to according to the rules set for adjusted daily allowance.
In the context of unemployment security, your so-called own work is work done for a reason other than to earn income, such as caring for a family member as an informal caregiver or grant-funded work. Inform the TE Office and Unemployment Fund when you start work like this. What kind of statement is necessary from the TE Office and how your own work will affect your earnings-related daily allowance depends on what kind of work is in question. For example, in the case of informal care allowance paid based on your status as an informal caregiver for your family member, the allowance will not reduce the amount of earnings-related daily allowance you are paid.