WORTH KNOWING when you are unemployed

Transcription

1 WORTH KNOWING when you are unemployed

2 WORTH KNOWING when you are unemployed Who will I meet? What are my options? What does the law say? Here you will find answers to many of your questions. Introduction If you are like most people, the meeting with the unemployment insurance fund and the unemployment benefits system with all their new concepts and requirements can be quite bewildering. This booklet describes who you will meet when you become unemployed, the requirements you must satisfy and the options you have when you receive unemployment benefits. To be entitled to unemployment benefits you must actively seek a job and be available to the labourmarket. Here you will learn about what it means to be an active job seeker and be available. You can read about mandatory meetings and the consequences of failing to turn up for a meeting. You will also learn about your opportunities for further training or education, about applying for supplementary benefits for a job with reduced working hours, or obtaining approval for self-employment as secondary work. You should always contact CA if you are in doubt about anything regarding your unemployment benefit. You can contact us by telephone, in writing or in person at our premises in Gentofte, Kolding, Odense, Aalborg or Aarhus. Please visit for opening hours. In addition to this booklet, an overview of the most important regulations is available at Who will I meet as unemployed? CA career counselling Never hesitate to contact CA s career counsellors for advice and guidance on your job applications and CV, interview training, tests, coaching and career development. You can also attend job search seminars aimed at the different phases of job searching, such as Job application and CV, Proactive job searching, Doing well in the test and Succeeding in the interview. Read more on page 13 or on (in Danish only). CA insurance The insurance department deals with everything that has to do with your unemployment benefits. Our insurance counsellors know the unemployment insurance fund legislation, and you can obtain advice and guidance on the opportunities the unemployment benefit system holds. Jobcenter The Jobcenter is responsible for activation, job mediation, authorization of courses and education, and general job counselling. Secondary operator (in Danish Anden aktør ) A secondary operator is a private company to which the Jobcenter may outsource some of its tasks. The secondary operator may for example be in charge of seminars, counselling and act as your general advisor. CONTACT We are located in Gentofte, Kolding, Odense, Aalborg and Aarhus. If you have any questions please send an to ca@ca.dk or call The telephones are open from Monday through Thursday and Fridays

3 Overview of meetings In the first six months of your unemployment period, you must attend one CV meeting and two availability meetings with CA. Besides, you must attend six job meetings at the Jobcenter. If you wish, CA will come to the last of these meetings. All meetings at the Jobcenter can be outsourced to a secondary operator. If you continue to be unemployed after six months you will be required to attend job meetings at the Jobcenter or with a secondary operator every three months. After 16 months of unemployment you must attend a special meeting at the Jobcenter to discuss an intensified effort. CA will also attend this meeting if you wish. After six months as unemployed you will be called to availability meetings with CA only if there is doubt about your availability for example if you have failed to register your job search activity in the Jobcenter job log as agreed. Here is a graphical overview of the meetings. Meetings with your Jobcenter Meetings with CA Meetings with CA and your Jobcenter MONTH: 1/ Meetings with your Jobcenter CV - Meeting The 1st meeting with the Jobcenter Availability assessment meetings Availability assessment meetings Meetings CA and the Jobcenter Meetings CA and the Jobcenter Meetings with CA Availability assessment meetings as required 3

4 4 Availability requirements and opportunities To be entitled to unemployment benefit you must be available for potential employers and you must actively look for a job. To be deemed available you must meet a number of requirements. Residence in Denmark and registered as a job seeker You must live in and be registered with an address in Denmark You must be registered as a job seeker on CV meeting Register your CV on no later than two weeks after you have registered as unemployed. Your CV on Jobnet.dk must be adequate and searchable. See instructions on Jobnet. Within the first two weeks of your registration, CA will invite you to a CV-meeting. Before the meeting you have to register your CV at and complete a form on your job search strategy. You are asked to describe: The type of work you are looking for (titles/job categories) and your job requirements both short and long term Your core competences what you see as your greatest strengths The biggest challenge you see in your job search at the moment Your job search method: For example, whether you send out unsolicited applications and how you use your network Whether you consult job and CV databases or recruitment agencies The geographical area in which you are looking for work and how many job postings you research per week The number of jobs you expect to be applying for each week Moreover, you need to upload an application, and we will give you a brief feedback during the meeting. If needed we will adjust your job search strategy at the meeting. This meeting formulates the job search strategy and how you will go about your job search and it is binding for you. We will send you further information before the meeting. The job search strategy will follow you during the course of your unemployment period. Your job search strategy will be posted on If you are currently in activation, the CV meeting can be conducted by telephone. Check job proposals every 7 days At least once every 7th day you must check the Jobcenter s job proposals. If you forget this, it may have consequences for your unemployment benefit. Be aware that the third time you fail to check your job proposals on time, you will be deregistered as a job seeker without advance warning. Meeting with a day s notice With a day's notice you must be able to attend all meetings and seminars to which the Jobcenter, secondary operator or CA invites you. You must read your post and every day as you may be asked to attend meetings with a day s notice. All communication from CA is done via CA's Online a-kasse, while the Jobcenter and secondary operator may use the postal service or e-boks. You must therefore keep the Jobcenter, secondary operator and CA updated on your postal and addresses. Relying on having your surface mail forwarded is not sufficient as this typically means a delay of 24 hours. You carry the responsibility for missing out on information. Mediated work and active job searching In your job log on Jobnet you must register all jobs you have applied for and your other job search activities. Furthermore, you must upload two concrete job applications to your job log on jobnet.dk.

5 You must be available for jobs requiring daily transport of up to three hours with public transportation. After three months unemployment you must be available for jobs requiring a daily transport of more than three hours. From the first day of your unemployment period, you must be able to take on mediated full-time work with a day s notice. You must be prepared to take on a job at a lower organizational level or at a lower educational level compared to earlier. From the first day of your unemployment period, you must apply for at least two full-time jobs each week. The jobs must be in Denmark and one of them must be advertised. You should seek employment within your competence area, which offers the best chance of finding a job that matches your profile. However, if no vacancies exist within the area that most interests you, you are obliged to broaden your job search to other areas offering job that you can manage, if necessary after a short period of training. You should search in a manner that is usual for the profession in question. There should never be a week in which you do not apply for a job, unless there is a valid obstacle such as holidays, work or sickness. There must be no hindrance for your taking on work. If for example sickness prevents you from working, you cannot receive unemployment benefits. For that reason, it is important that you contact the Jobcenter on the first sick day. If sickness prevents you from attending a planned meeting with CA, the Jobcenter or a secondary operator, you must inform them in time. CA will pay your unemployment benefit the first 10 weekdays of your sickness. Sickness benefits after day 10 or for employees in a permanent part-time job are paid by your municipality. NB! You must notify the Jobcenter when you are no longer sick. Availability assessment meeting When you are unemployed and receive benefits, you will have two mandatory meetings with CA within 13 and 26 weeks of unemployment. At the interview, we must assess whether you are available for the labour market and thus concern your job search activity in the period up to the meeting. Our starting point will be the job search strategy you took part in formulating at the CV meeting. If needed, we will adjust your job search strategy. You are required to follow the strategy, which describes how you go about your job search until we might need to re-adjust the job search strategy. If you have been unemployed for longer than six months, you are not required to attend meetings with CA unless you fail to comply with the agreements made on your job search. We mainly assess the need to call you for an interview after six months of unemployment on the basis of the job log that you keep on It is therefore important that you register your job search activities in your job log at least once a week. Please note that only those job search activities you have registered in your job log can be used to determine whether or not you comply with the agreements. If you are not available consequences If the availability meeting, or other factors, lead us to conclude that you are not available for the labour market or that you have not done enough to find full-time work, we are required to stop payment of the unemployment benefits. In that case you can receive unemployment benefits again only when you have worked more than 300 hours within a 10-week period. On availability in general It is our duty to evaluate your availability if you act in a way that raises doubts about this, for example if you: fail to appear at a meeting with the Jobcenter, secondary operator or CA if your job log indicates that you do not follow agreements concerning your job search have taken a seasonal job have reported sick for an extended period tender your resignation from a full-time job in order to work reduced hours fail to post your CV on act in other ways that raise doubts concerning your availability. 5

6 6 Activation Depending on age, unemployed members are entitled to and obliged to follow at least one activation period of no less than 14 days, as follows: Under 30 For those under 30 years of age activation is offered after a total of 13 weeks unemployment For those between 30 and 50 years of age activation is offered after a total of 26 weeks unemployment. 50+ For those above 50 years of age activation is offered after a total of 13 weeks unemployment. Private or public activation Activation may be organized in different ways, such as: Four-week internships. Eight-week internships are possible for new graduates who have not held a job after graduation. Ordinary jobs in public institutions for up to 4 months, with publicly funded wage subsidy (after six months unemployment). Ordinary jobs in private companies for up to 6 months, with publicly funded wage subsidy (after 6 months unemployment). Job rotation for up to 6 months (after 6 months unemployment). If you are 50 years or above or if you are a single provider, you may be eligible for wage subsidy from the first day of unemployment. Min plan on jobnet.dk The agreement between you and the Jobcenter or secondary provider concerning activation will be listed in 'Min Plan', which shows the agreements you have made with your Jobcenter (or a secondary operator) and with CA. The agreements made with you in My plan are binding and may be changed only after agreement with the Jobcenter or the secondary operator. If you break the agreement, it may have consequences for your unemployment benefit. We recommend that you prepare for the activation meeting with the Jobcenter or secondary operator by considering your own wishes and plans. You may find that you need a training course to gain specific competences in order to secure a job. Perhaps an internship to gather job experience or employment with wage subsidy is right for you. Staying away from a meeting If you cancel or fail to appear at a meeting that CA, the Jobcenter or secondary operator has called, you lose the unemployment benefit for that day, and payments are stopped until you contact the organizer of the meeting. This applies regardless of the type of meeting or activity. If you cancel ahead of the meeting, you lose the unemployment benefit only for the meeting day. However, there are no consequences for you if you cancel because you have a job interview at the same time, if you are working that day, if you are meeting with your secondary operator/jobcenter, or if you report sick before the meeting. Holiday is also a valid reason for absence if you have informed the Jobcenter and CA about the holiday before being called to the meeting. Read more in the paragraph on holiday. Even if you have signed a contract of employment and are to commence work later than the day of the meeting, attendance is mandatory to secure your unemployment benefit until you start work. However it is possible for you to have the meeting conducted by telephone. Three weeks quarantine for rejections and resignations You will receive three weeks of quarantine if you give up your job without a valid reason. You may be quarantined if you: tender your resignation reject a job offered by the Jobcenter reject or discontinue an offer of activation or rehabilitation from the Jobcenter or secondary operator

7 reject to participate in preparing or revising a job plan for activation accept a shorter notice than agreed in your contract. Always contact CA before you discontinue a job or reject a job offer. Qurantine If within a 12-month period you are quarantined twice for resigning regardless of the reason you lose your entitlement to unemployment benefit until you have performed at least 300 hours of ordinary work within 10 weeks. Any kind of resignation counts towards the calculation. Valid grounds exempt from quarantine You are not considered to have resigned if you have a valid reason for rejection, discontinuation or absence. An exhaustive list of valid reasons appears in the Employment Service and Unemployment Insurance Act. Unless your reason is listed there, you will receive quarantine. Find the list at Contact CA to learn more. Learn more about availability You can read more on or contact one of our insurance counsellors. 7

8 Unemployment benefit when abroad When you are unemployed you are entitled to Danish unemployment benefit while you are looking for work in another EU/EEA country. If you plan to work abroad, you should contact us as the legislation is very complicated. Different regulations apply for working within or outside the EU/EEA area. If you are going to a job interview abroad, you may receive unemployment benefits. However, you must return to Denmark no later than 5 days after your departure. Contact us before departure. Read more on Holiday You may be entitled to holiday benefit when you are unemployed. First you take the holiday payment which you may have earned with an employer and afterwards you can apply for holiday benefit if you are entitled. We recommend that you notify both the Jobcenter and CA of your holiday as early as possible. You must earn the right to holiday benefits You earn the right to holiday benefits according to the benefits received from CA in the previous calendar year. You are not entitled to holiday benefits unless you received benefits from CA, another unemployment insurance fund or, in case of maternity leave, from your municipality. Applying for holiday benefits If you have received a holiday slip from FerieKonto, you apply by registering at To apply for holiday benefits, use one the appropriate application form AR 258 for wage earners or for new graduates. Read more on You are not entitled to holiday benefit if you are primarily self-employed. Notify the Jobcenter and CA of your holiday If you are unemployed at the time of your holiday, remember to post your holiday plans on jobnet.dk no later than 14 days before the first day of your holiday. Otherwise it is your duty to attend meetings and activities arranged by the Jobcenter. If you do not attend such meetings, you lose the right to unemployment benefits for a period. Read more above in the paragraph Staying away from a meeting. You must notify the Jobcenter of your holiday plans irrespective of your taking holiday at your own expense, with holiday benefits or holiday payment. NB! If you wish to take a holiday and you are called to a meeting at CA, the Jobcenter or secondary operator, your presence is compulsory though the meeting is called more than two weeks in advance of your holiday. 8

9 Self-employed while looking for a job In principle you are not entitled to unemployment benefit if you are self-employed. However, if CA has approved that you run your own company as secondary occupation, you can receive unemployment benefits for up to 78 weeks while running your company. The hours spent working for your company are deducted before the unemployment benefit is paid. In order to have your company approved as a secondary occupation, you must satisfy a number of requirements the essential point of which is that you must be fully available to the labour market. You are allowed to work only a limited number of hours in your company, and you must be able to perform all your tasks outside normal working hours. The regulations are very strict so we strongly recommend that you contact one of our insurance counsellors if you contemplate self-employment. The insurance counsellor will tell you more about the opportunities for running your own business while receiving unemployment benefits. More about self-employment as secondary occupation Go to or contact one of our insurance counsellors. Also contact one of CA s career counsellors for advice on starting your own company. Call Read more about self-employment on and on Supplementary benefits In general, you may receive supplementary benefits while working part-time. However, we recommend that you contact us before you start in a part-time job so that we can clarify whether you satisfy the requirements for receiving supplementary benefits. Availability for full-time work To be entitled to supplementary benefits, you must satisfy practically the same requirement as if you were out of a job. This means that you need to be registered at as a full-time job seeker. apply for at least two full-time jobs in Denmark per week be able to take on mediated full-time work at a day s notice. Note that you are considered fully available only if you can resign from your part-time job with a day s notice to take on full-time work. Notice and release certificate If your current employment has a fixed term of notice, you can receive supplementary benefits only if the employer signs a release certificate (frigørelsesattest). The release certificate allows you to resign with one day s notice in case you are offered a job with more working hours. We must have your release certificate no later than five weeks after the first day of employment. If you have just graduated, the five-week deadline counts from the day you earn the right to unemployment benefit. If we receive the release certificate later, you will receive unemployment benefits from the day we receive it. NB! You may be bound by a notice even though it is not stated in your contract. This is the case for instance if you work in a field where collective agreement stipulates a period of notice. If you work in a white-collar job for more than eight hours a week, the stipulations of the Salaried Employees Act apply. 9

10 How to apply for supplementary benefits You apply for supplementary benefits by sending us a questionnaire on employment together with your release certificate if you are bound by a notice towards your employer. Note that we must receive a release certificate no later than five weeks after job start. Find the forms on Work is deducted in your unemployment benefit No supplementary benefits can be paid for weeks in which you have worked more than 29.6 hours (4 full days). Before we calculate your unemployment benefit we deduct the number of hours you have worked. If you are paid for more than 37 hours in a week, overtime hours will be counterbalanced in calculating your unemployment benefit for the following week. G-days and supplementary benefits If you become unemployed after dismissal from a job, your employer must pay supplementary benefits for the first three days of your period (G-days), provided that you have worked for at least 74 hours within the last four weeks. If you have been employed for less than three months, your employer must pay for only the first two days of your unemployment. Read more on Go to to learn more about supplementary benefits or contact one of our insurance counsellors. If your employer is unable to or only with difficulty can oversee your time expenditure, we calculate the number of worked hours by using DKK as the rate of conversion (2015 figures). This applies for example if you work as a teacher or give lectures. 30-week time limit You are entitled to supplementary benefits for up to 30 weeks within a period of 104 weeks. When the 30 weeks have passed, you can quit your job without being quarantined provided you do not resign before your right to supplementary benefit expires and no later than 26 weeks after that date. Alternatively, you can continue to work part-time without receiving supplementary benefits. No release certificate is needed if you are not bound by contract/collective agreement to give notice to your employer. 10

11 Education & training what are my options? Opportunities for training and education are limited. We advise you to contact CA before starting a training course. You can receive benefits during training, provided the course is not part of an education approved by the official grants scheme (SU) and that it takes less than 20 hours per week. CA must give approval before you can participate in a course. Contact one of our insurance counsellors as your benefit entitlement may be affected. Course fees and books are paid by yourself. If you are studying under continuing and further education or taking a supplementary degree course, you may, under certain strict conditions, receive benefits while you study. However, you must meet certain requirements, among these are that you already have a higher education degree and that your course does not form part of a new qualification. A course can be approved only until your activation period begins. That is the first 13 weeks if you are under 30 years or above 50 years the first 26 weeks, if you are between 30 and 49 years. Six-week job-focused courses This option aims at unemployed members who have no further education (unskilled and skilled workers) and members who have a VET (vocational education and training) as well as a short-cycle higher education (APdegree). If you are above 25 years of age, the courses can be taken within your first 39 weeks of unemployment (within the first 26 weeks for the under-25-year-olds). Note that unemployed members with a bachelor s or a master s degree do not qualify for job-focused courses. Regional education funds Unemployed members can apply for courses and education through the regional education funds that aim to support job-oriented training. A positive list for your region is supplied by the Danish Agency for Labour Market and Recruitment (STAR). This type of education is available from the first day of unemployment and the six-week limitation that applies to job-focused courses does not apply here. However, the education must be aimed at fields where job openings are expected (such as off-shore safety training). Your course must be approved by the Jobcenter. Read more about training at 11

12 Jobs for seniors If there is less than 5 years until you reach the age where you can claim benefit through the voluntary early retirement scheme (Efterløn) when your entitlement to unemployment benefits expires, you can apply for a senior job. Additionally, you have to meet all additional demands for receiving the voluntary early retirement scheme. You cannot start a senior job before your entitlement to unemployment benefit expires. In a senior job you are employed in your municipality at the agreed rate of pay, and you can only be given notice if you fail to comply with agreements reached with the employer. The senior job continues until you are eligible for benefit through the voluntary early retirement scheme. If your job is terminated, the municipality must offer you another senior job. Applying for a senior job It is up to you to apply to your municipality for a senior job. You can do so three months before your right to unemployment benefits expires, and no later than two months after it expires. The municipality must offer you a senior job within two months of receiving your application, provided that you are no longer entitled to unemployment benefits. The municipality is obliged to do its best to take your qualifications and interests into account. You must be available for ordinary mediated work while performing the senior job and you must continue paying contributions to the unemployment insurance fund and the voluntary early retirement scheme. A senior job does not count towards earning entitlement to a new 104-week benefit period. Early retirement Voluntary early retirement scheme The early retirement scheme (Efterløn) allows you retire up to 3 years before the ordinary state retirement age. Even though you are not planning early retirement, it is worth considering to join the scheme by paying contributions as this gives you several options: 1 Withdrawal from work up to 3 years before ordinary retirement age, which is 70½ years for persons born on 1 January 1977 or later 2 A tax-free premium if you postpone the voluntary early retirement and work until ordinary retirement age 3 The money returned with interest. If you withdraw from the voluntary early retirement scheme, your contributions will be transferred to your pension savings 4 You may draw early retirement benefit from anywhere in the EU/EEA countries. The refund of your contributions to the scheme is regulated in correspondence with unemployment benefit regulations. Contributions to the early retirement scheme are paid quarterly; for 2015 the amount is DKK 1,446. You must join the scheme no later than your 30 th birthday. To benefit from the scheme you must have been a member of an unemployment benefits fund for 30 years. All payments from your private pension funds will be deducted from the pay-out from the early retirement scheme. Read more on our homepage 12

13 MAKE A SHORTCUT to your next job At CA we are here to help you get on track for your next job. You are welcome even though you are still in work. If you have been given notice or feel threatened by unemployment, please contact us immediately do not wait until you have lost the job. Councelling individual counselling Book individual counselling and coaching with one of our many career counsellors. Attend CA s Jobcafé We offer useful advice on CV and application writing in our job cafés in Aarhus and Gentofte. Profiling What s your personality type? What are your strengths? We offer personality and IQ testing. Networking Networking for job seekers CA offers several networks for people looking for a job. Check out the options. Get a mentor CA Mentoring for graduates an experienced CA member helps launch your career. Access 6,000 professionals on LinkedIn CA s LinkedIn group counts some 6,000 members in 13 subgroups, each with their own professional focus. Tools and inspiration Business database Learn more about the companies that are relevant in your job search with free access to Denmark s biggest professional database courses every year Each year we facilitate more than 200 courses and workshops about job search techniques and personal development, some of them in English. Get matched CA CV bank matches your CV with company job profiles. 13

14 14 CA GENTOFTE Smakkedalen Gentofte Tel ca@ca.dk CA KOLDING House of Innovation Jernbanegade Kolding Tel ca@ca.dk CA ODENSE Estatia Dannebrogsgade Odense Tel ca@ca.dk CA AALBORG City House Jyllandsgade Aalborg C Tel ca@ca.dk CA AARHUS Hans Hartvig Seedorffs Stræde 6-8, 3. sal 8000 Aarhus C Tel ca@ca.dk Sep 2015