Corona extensions being processed in the Finnish Parliament
Due to the coronavirus epidemic, several exceptional provisions were made to the legislation to make it easier for the unemployed and laid off. Some of these changes will stay valid until next year. Parliament is processing the matter.
The Government has proposed that some of the exceptional provisions for unemployment security, which expire at the end of this year, would be extended until March 2021.
According to the proposal, the specific adjustment period would continue with a penalty until the end of next March. In mediation, the mediation of corporate income based on the entrepreneur's own report would be extended until March, as well.
As a result of the exceptional provisions, we have been able to pay earnings-related daily allowance without a decision for a maximum of six months instead of the usual two months. According to the proposal, this possibility will also be extended until next March.
According to the proposal, the increase in the exempt part of the earnings-related daily allowance would be extended until the end of March 2021. The exempt amount has temporarily been EUR 500 per month or EUR 465 over four calendar weeks, and this exceptional provision would therefore also be extended.
With these exceptional provisions, we have been able to pay mobility allowance for full-time work, where the duration of the daily commute has exceeded two hours at the start of the employment relationship. Normally, the limit is three hours. The mobility allowance would be granted on the basis of a shorter commute according to the new extension, to employment relationships that start before the end of March.
Not all payment-related exceptional provisions to be extended
At the turn of the year, some of the exceptional provisions will end. No exceptional provisions have been proposed for the days of the waiting period, the working condition and the maximum period, so they will expire at the turn of the year.
This means that after the turn of the year, we will no longer be able to pay earnings-related daily allowance for the waiting period at the beginning of unemployment, another 26 calendar weeks of work will be required to meet the employment condition, and the maximum period for earnings-related daily allowance will start to run again.
The TE Office's exceptional provisions to partially receive an extension, as well
The Government has proposed that full-time studies would not prevent unemployment benefit from being received during the lay-off period. This exceptional provision would apply until 31 December 2021. Instead, other labour market policy conditions for receiving unemployment benefit would apply from 1 January 2021. However, this would extend the temporary provision of the Unemployment Security Act, which concerns the organisation of an interview with a job seeker and the failure to implement an employment plan, until 31 January 2021.
The temporary provision of the Unemployment Security Act on the right of self-employed persons to labour market support would be extended until 31 March 2021.
