Leave of absence, holiday and daily unemployment benefits during Easter

Updated march 30, 10.15 am

Are you temporarily laid off during Easter? Normally, Easter days do not provide unemployment benefits, but an exception has now been decided for the corona situation.

Normally, unemployment benefits are not paid when employees are laid off during the Christmas and Easter holidays, but NAV can grant exceptions to this special rule.

Social benefits also run through the holidays

The rule has now been removed. This means that unemployment benefits on termination will run as normal, although it is a holiday. The layoffs do not need to do anything special and can fill out report cards as usual.

As an employer, you no longer need to apply for an exemption from the special rule related to layoffs during the holidays.

The amendment to the unemployment benefit regulation applies from March 20, 2020. The information is obtained from NAV.

Holidays and layoffs

The starting point is that holidays should be wound up as normal even if one is laid off, at least in the case of holidays that have already been agreed before the lay-off is notified. The parties can of course agree to move the holiday according to the rules set by the Holiday Act.

Otherwise, the absence of leave stops the effect of layoffs both in terms of payment of the employment period and in terms of consumption of the time the employee can be laid off without pay. In connection with the holiday break, the employee must have paid holiday allowance for the holiday in question.

As a general rule, you are not entitled to unemployment benefits on the days you are on vacation, because it is a requirement that you should be a real jobseeker when you receive unemployment benefits. NAV must also be notified of vacation, this is done by ticking it off for the days you have taken a vacation. This is done on the message board under question 4. In addition, the NAV must be contacted before the holiday starts and give notice of the period during which the holiday is being held. After the holiday has been terminated, you must immediately register as a jobseeker again at your local NAV, or contact NAV by phone. If your decision is paused, you must apply for the resumption of unemployment benefits.

When vacation is wound up, a holiday allowance is paid instead of unemployment benefit. The layoff period is extended corresponding to the length of the holiday.

Holiday allowance earned in 2019 cannot be paid out if the employee is not having their holiday.