Unemployment, lay-off and other occupational transitions

Throughout your career, you may find yourself in different kinds of transitional situations which may affect your pension cover. These include for instance unemployment or lay-off.

If you become unemployed

If your work contract comes to an end, you are usually entitled to unemployment benefit. The TE Office or local government employment pilot will help you in this case.

If you are at risk of unemployment or become unemployed, Keva will advise you on the possible effect of this on your employment pension. You can inspect your pension information in the My Pension service (only in Finnish and Swedish) and send your question to the experts at Keva in the Messages (Viestit/Mina meddelanden) section.

Pension may be accrued during a period of unemployment.

 

Lay-off

During a lay-off, your employment relationship with an employer in the public sector is not terminated. The earnings-related daily allowance paid during your lay-off accrues pension.

Read more on the accruement of pension during unpaid periods: Accruement of pension during unpaid periods

A short-term lay-off does not affect the old pension benefits within the public sector, such as vocation-specific or personal retirement age or supplementary pension accrued before the year 1995. Your employment relationship is valid throughout your lay-off. A short-term lay-off does not affect earnings for the year in question in such a way that the continuity of the employment relationship, which is the basis for the previously mentioned benefits, would be endangered.

If your lay-off drags on for up to a year, it may be necessary to retain a continuous, day-to-day employment relationship in order to retain the old pension benefits. This applies to you if you have a long employment history within the public sector already prior to 1995. The continuity and accrued benefits will not be retained through annual earnings if the earnings remain very low for a year or more due to lay-off. In such a situation it’s a good idea to personally contact our customer service and ascertain your own situation.

More information on vocation-based and personal retirement ages can be found on the page Old-age pension.

If you are already retired, lay-off does not affect the payment of pension.