Falling ill

Illness and incapacity for work may affect the application for earnings-related unemployment allowance and the entitlement to the allowance. In certain cases, the allowance may also be paid during a period of incapacity for work.

Falling ill while unemployed

A short-term illness does not prevent you from receiving earnings-related unemployment allowance. If your illness lasts no more than 10 working days (including Saturdays), you may also apply for earnings-related allowance for the period of illness.

If your illness lasts longer than 10 working days, the primary benefit is sickness allowance paid by Kela.
Kela generally pays sickness allowance only after a waiting period.

However, the unemployment fund may pay earnings-related allowance during the waiting period for sickness allowance, provided that you have been paid earnings-related allowance also for the last day before the waiting period began.

If you fall ill and apply for sickness allowance from Kela, this must always be reported on your application.

How do I apply for earnings-related daily allowance if I fall ill?

If you are ill during the application period and the illness has lasted no more than 10 working days,

• you may also apply for earnings-related unemployment allowance for the period of illness. Submit the application for your normal application period.
• If you are completely unemployed, mark “unemployed” also for the days of illness.
• If you are employed and receive your normal salary for the days of illness, report your working hours on the application in the usual way.

If the illness lasts more than 10 working days:

• the primary benefit during the illness is sickness allowance paid by Kela.
• Earnings-related allowance can usually be paid for the waiting period of the sickness allowance.
• If you know the period for which the waiting period for sickness allowance is set, you may submit the application up to the end of the waiting period. You may also submit the application for your entire normal application period if you do not know the length of the waiting period.
• Mark “sick” on the application starting from the day for which you have applied for sickness allowance. Please note that you must also report it if your employer applies for sickness allowance from Kela on your behalf.

Reaching the maximum duration of sickness allowance

You may be entitled to earnings-related unemployment allowance under certain conditions if the maximum period of Kela’s sickness allowance (300 days) has been reached, you are still unable to work, and your employment relationship is still in force. In this case, entitlement to the allowance requires that:

• you are registered as an unemployed jobseeker with the employment authority
• you are still unable to work and have a valid medical certificate confirming your incapacity for work
• you have applied for a full disability pension and your application is pending
• your employer does not have work available that corresponds to your remaining work ability

If you are later granted a disability pension, any earnings-related unemployment allowance paid for the same period will be recovered.

If your application for a disability pension is rejected and your employment relationship is still in force, we can pay earnings-related unemployment allowance only until the rejecting disability pension decision becomes legally final.

In practice, this means the following:

If you do appeal the decision, the allowance can be paid at most until the appeal body (the Pension Appeal Board TELK or the Insurance Court VakO) has issued its decision and that decision has become legally final.

If you do not appeal the decision, the allowance can be paid only until the appeal period has expired.

How do I apply earnings-related daily allowance after the maximum period of sickness allowance has been reached?

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