Duties of YTK Unemployment Fund
Our job is to provide earnings-related unemployment security to our members.
In other words, we work every day to ensure that you get the financial security that you are entitled to in the event of unemployment – quickly and efficiently.
We secure the livelihood of our members during unemployment, lay-offs, part-time employment, part-time self-employment and job alternation leave.
We also pay transition allowances and mobility allowances to our members.
For members who are taking advantage of employment-promoting services, we pay an earnings-related daily allowance and contribute towards their expenses.
Coordination of earnings-related unemployment security
Coordinating the earnings-related unemployment security system is neither easy nor straightforward. We process tens of thousands of applications every month and provide advice to more than a thousand customers by phone and email every day.
To keep everything running smoothly, we need knowledgeable staff, sophisticated tools, a dynamic culture, good public relations and efficient administration. We also need suitable premises in which to perform our work.
Our mandate and powers are based on law. We have a responsibility to ensure that your interests are well protected.
Our duty to provide advice
It is our duty to ensure that our members have access to information about their rights and responsibilities. This refers to both clearly explaining the reasons for our decisions and to providing advice more generally about unemployment security, the role of unemployment funds and how to become a member.
We have a legal obligation to make this information available in a convenient and flexible manner. We ensure our ability to discharge this obligation by continuously training our staff, by regularly updating our tools and by always looking to improve our standard of service.
Our decisions
We issue a written decision on every application that we receive.
In making our decisions, we must look at the facts and circumstances of each application and treat like cases alike. We must also be able to give impartial and objective reasons for our decisions. This is designed to make it easier for you to anticipate what our decision is likely to be and to trust that the decision we make is correct.
Our mandate and powers
We are only allowed to do what the law mandates us to do. According to the law, unemployment funds are responsible for providing earnings-related unemployment security to their members. That is the full extent of our mandate.
There is also another side to the unemployment security system: public employment and business services. These services are provided by Employment and Economic Development Offices (TE Offices).
There are also two types of unemployment benefits: earnings-related daily allowances and basic daily allowances. Basic daily allowances are paid by the Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela).
The way in which the mandate of unemployment funds is worded in the Unemployment Funds Act clearly explains the difference between unemployment funds and trade unions: unemployment funds are not responsible for advancing their members’ interests in the workplace, and trade unions are not responsible for providing earnings-related unemployment security.
Legislative framework
The unemployment security system and the operation of unemployment funds are governed by the following laws and decrees:
- Unemployment Funds Act
- Unemployment Security Act
- Government Decree on income to be taken into account in the calculation of unemployment benefits
- Government Decree on the implementation of the Unemployment Security Act
- Administrative Procedure Act
- Administrative Judicial Procedure Act
- Act on Public Employment and Business Services
- Act on the Financing of Unemployment Benefits
- Employment Contracts Act
- Annual Holidays Act
- Working Hours Act
Appeals
If you are dissatisfied with our decision, you can file an appeal against it. You can find out more about the appeal procedure in our Information bank.
If you suspect that we have not complied with the law or fulfilled our obligations, or if you feel that your fundamental and human rights have not been respected, you can file a complaint against us with the Parliamentary Ombudsman or the Chancellor of Justice.
You can find out more about filing complaints on the websites of the Parliamentary Ombudsman and the Chancellor of Justice.
If your relationship with us falls under the so-called Whistleblower Act (such as if you are an employee, a former employee or a partner) and you cannot use our internal whistleblowing channel to report a breach of European Union law (concerning, for example, public procurement, data protection or information security), you can submit your report using the centralised external reporting channel of the Office of the Chancellor of Justice. The centralised external reporting channel is not intended for reporting issues related to unemployment security or membership.