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Are you an unemployed teaching assistant during the summer because of school holidays?
Do you work as a special needs teaching assistant and are unemployed during the school summer holidays? You can receive earnings-related allowance during school holidays if
- you are laid off or
- your employment contract states that wages and work will be interrupted during the school holidays and this was agreed upon when the contract was signed, or
- your employment ends on a fixed-term basis.
Please note that you must register with the employment authority as an unemployed job seeker to receive earnings-related allowance. Make sure to register as a job-seeker no later than on the first day of your unemployment.
Do you have a part-time job?
If you work part-time and are a job seeker at the employment authority, you can apply for adjusted earnings-related allowance from the unemployment fund while you also work. If you have applied for adjusted daily allowance during your work before the school’s summer holiday, you can continue submitting applications in the same rate as before.
If you have not applied for adjusted daily allowance in addition to your part-time job and only apply for earnings-related allowance during the school holiday period, remember to register with the employment authority as a job seeker. Please remember to register as a jobseeker with the employment authorities no later than 31 May 2026.
Fill in the earnings-related allowance applications in full calendar month periods (e.g. 1–30 June 2026). Please note that we will pay your adjusted earnings-related allowance if you are paid for part-time work during the mediation period. If you receive any pays, please report it in your application.
Example:
You work part-time as a teaching assistant. You are applying for earnings-related allowance for the period 1–30 June 2026. Your employer will pay you holiday pay on 15 June 2026. We will pay you adjusted earnings-related allowance for June, because you have received holiday pay earned from part-time work in June.
Conditions for receiving earnings-related unemployment allowance have changed
You can receive earnings-related unemployment allowance once you have met the employment condition during your membership in an unemployment fund. Previously, one school year, typically lasting 9–10 months, was sufficient to meet the employment condition. Nowadays, the employment condition requires the accumulation of 12 months of employment, meaning it can no longer be fulfilled during a single academic year. However, you may still have earnings-related unemployment allowance days remaining based on the previous employment condition.
If you do not meet the employment condition, you can apply to Kela for the general social security benefit. Further information about the general social security benefit is available from Kela.
What attachments are needed for the application?
If you are laid off during the summer, attach a lay-off notice to your earnings-related allowance application.
If you have not been laid off and your employment contract has a clause that suspends work and pay for the duration of the school holidays, attach the employment contract to your application.
Attachments do not need to be resubmitted if you have delivered them to us before. You can find more detailed instructions on how to apply for earnings-related allowance and a list of other possible attachments under Applying for earnings-related allowance.
