The Finnish labor legislation – an introduction part 6
Working on a Grant or a Scholarship
When a
researcher is working on a grant or a scholarship,
he or she is not in an employment relationship with
any employer.
A grant is a form of funding for the researchers
to work, but does not form an employment
relationship between the party that gives
the grant and the grant holder. Therefore, the
employment legislation I have previously discussed,
does not apply to those working on
grants or scholarships, except for the unemployment
legislation. This is the case even when
the researcher is working at the university, but
not in an employment relationship with the
university.
The difficulty in separating these things may
sometimes lie in that the universities may use
employment contracts with the researcher and
then suddenly give him or her a grant, and the
researcher will still continue doing the same
research work as before with the employment
contract. Unfortunately, it seems that the researchers
are not always fully aware of which
type of work they are doing at the university.
When working on a grant, the researcher is not
accountable to the university for their working
hours or research etc., unless, of course, they
are a part of a research group and have responsibilities
due to that arrangement.
When working on a grant or a scholarship,
one is practically employing oneself, and therefore
responsible for their own health care, for
example. Grant holders may use public health
care, or private health care, but are responsible
for their own health care costs.
After the grant is used, the grant receivers may
also receive unemployment compensation, if
they meet the requirements that are set for all applicants seeking unemployment
compensation. There are
three different levels of unemployment
compensation.
The lowest level (“työmarkkinatuki”
-- labor market
subsidy) requires no previous
work history and is paid out by KELA. The
second level of unemployment compensation
(“peruspäiväraha” -- basic unemployment allowance)
is also paid out by KELA, but requires a
work history of 26 weeks during the previous 28
months. The third and highest level of unemployment
compensation is earnings-based.
This third level (“ansiosidonnainen päiväraha”
-- earnings-related allowance) requires a
work history of 26 weeks and simultaneously a
membership at an unemployment fund. FUURT
members are automatically members of the Teachers’
unemployment fund.
The difference between becoming unemployed
after an employment contract or a grant
is that when working on a grant, the work history
may be gathered from the previous 7 years,
instead of the mentioned 28 months.
Elina Katainen, senior advisor here at FUURT,
has collected a “Grant information for researchers”
-material package, which is a very good
source of information for grant holders. In this
collection, you can find detailed information
about social security, for example the mandatory
MELA insurance for grant holders working
over four months (the minimum amount
of grant in that four month period is 1,217.33
€ (2013 level), unemployment, KELA benefits,
taxation and so on.
For further information, please visit: tieteentekijoidenliitto.fi/files/188/Grant_Information_for_Researchers_2014.pdf
text Mia Weckman
lawyer, the Finnish union of
university researchers and teachers
- Painetussa lehdessä sivu 38
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