Temporary lay-offs

If you have been laid-off for whole days, you will receive a full benefit

During a temporary lay-off, work and salary payments are interrupted until a certain date, or for certain days or hours.

• If  your working days have been reduced due to a temporary lay-off, you will receive a full earnings-related allowance for the days in which you are laid-off.
• If your working hours have been reduced due to a temporary lay-off, you will receive a daily allowance relative to your salary.

As soon as you are laid-off, register as a job-seeker via the TE Office’s online service. You will be registered immediately. You can not, however, register retrospectively, for example, for the previous day. Earnings-related allowance can only be paid during days in which you are registered at the TE Office.

You can calculate the estimate for the earning allowance using the daily allowance calculator.

In most cases, earnings-related allowance is payable for a maximum of 300 or 400 days. In order for the maximum 400 day payment to be applied, you must have been employed for more than 3 years before registering as unemployed. If you are at least 58 years old and have been in work for at least 5 years out of the previous 20 years, you are eligible to receive a maximum of 500 days daily allowance. More info: Terms and duration

Claiming the allowance

Instructions on how to claim the earnings-related allowance can be found here. If you are laid-off, remember the following:

• Your initial application must be accompanied by copies of the lay-off notice and the employment contract.
• Claims must always be completed using entire calendar weeks.

If the time in work has been reduced by less than 20 % per week, you can not receive unemployment benefits

Earnings-related allowance can be paid during a lay-off if your working hours do not exceed 80% of the maximum working hours in your industry. During lay-offs working hours are calculated per calendar week. This means that if your working hours exceed the 80% limit during a calendar week, you can not receive allowance for that week.

No daily allowance is paid for the first seven days of a lay-off

When a person becomes unemployed, a so-called personal liability period is applied, and daily allowance is not paid for this period. The personal liability period is seven working days (Monday to Friday). If you are partially employed, your personal liability period only accumulates during an unemployment period. The days making up the personal liability period must accrue during eight successive calendar weeks.