I have some scenarios where I’m not sure if a “month” is counted as worked months for RAV / ALK purposes in order to meet the 12, 18 month thresholds. Would appreciate anyone with experience.
I started a job in the middle of a month e.g. 10 Jan or 20th Jan. Does this month count when determining how many months I worked? (ALK would be deducted on payslip for a lower salary than usual)
I take holidays (unpaid leave) during an entire month in which I do not get paid. I am under temp employment contract where I am technically employed during this period but do not actually get paid any gross salary as I was on holiday. Not sure how the payslip will look for the purposes of pension contributions as gross salary would be 0? Would this month also count towards “RAV months”?
It’s not actually calculated by months as such even though they use the term month.
It’s the number of days worked that count so a month is calculated as 20ish days worked ( I can’t remember the exact number).
The total number of days you actually worked (or were on paid leave for) during a specific time period are what will be used to calculate your RAV entitlement.
I believe it is 12 “Beitragsmonate” that is the criterion. So any month where you have paid something into the ALV pot. That should allow you to find the answer to your second question.
21.6 is the assumed month length, monthly payout being based on the actual no of working days (mon to Friday) in that month.
Normal holiday is counted however of course unpaid holiday is not.
When someone works just 1 day for example an additional 8.6% (age dependant) is added for holiday pay, this probably happened top the OP.
I think this was my original thinking - that as long as a monthly payslip shows some kind of deduction / contribution to ALK, then it would count.
It would be good to hear someone with such as case where they worked say 31st Jan - 1st Dec, so 10 full months, and one day in two other months and still qualify for RAV / ALK payments by having done 12 months.
I’m not sure I fully follow the other two replies as it sounds more related to the actual payments, but thanks in any case!
Hopefully my question was clear that it is relating to getting qualified for the payments in the first place!
The real question is did you receive any benefits those months? I use to work Freelance & 5 of my day rates exceeded my insured salary, so from their POV I was employed the full month. Amusingly when getting another rahemnfrist I was told I was wasting my time as I did not work enough ‘days’, I insisted my paperwork was submitted & I got the highest possible insured salary which exceeded my previous years income as it it calculated on the last 6 months if it’s better than averaged over 1 year.
You might need to do 2 months of ANY work to satisfy the 12 month in 24 month rule, but hurry as it’s calculated based on last 6 or last 12 months earnings, months of 0 are included.
A good point was raised about benefits. But yes, my focus is first on ALV eligibility in terms of counting months.
The unclear scenarios for me on whether a month is counted or not are:
no ALV claimed, part worked
e.g. 1-19th unemployed and out of ALV days, 20th starts new job
Part worked, part ALV claimed
e.g. 1-10th worked, job ends and start claiming ALV days 20-30th (after some waiting days in between)
Under employment contract but not worked, no salary, no ALV contributions, no ALV claimed
e.g. contract ends 31st Dec, but took unpaid leave during the entire Dec
Under employment contract but not worked, no salary “earned” but paid out of a “Holiday retention basket” withheld during previous worked months (how some contracting agencies work). I assume no further ALV deduction as it was already deducted in prior months, but contribution could be made to a pension. No ALV claimed
ALV claimed, “zwischenverdienst” part month
e.g. 10 days ALV days claimed, 20 days part time work (i’m also not sure if days which are “topped up” uses up ALV days)
Sorry if I seem to be repeating the question and some of the above was already answered but it’s not so clear to me yet.
After the month counting conundrum is solved, my next question would then be about the rahmenfrist and insured days, with the focus on the 18 month “jump” from 260 to 400 insured days It’s another wall of text for me to describe the scenario so I’ll leave it out for now. It basically boils down to, if someone is in the unlucky position of only having 17 counted months with a gap in between, whether they should somehow get an extra month counted by hook or by crook…
The funny thing is that if you start 1st of a month, you need only 11 moths. By some strange rule, when you start on 1st, the previous month is also included to the min 12 months
it’s worth to know/remember when you’ll be signing some contract even if the 1st of the month is on a weekend it’s best to have it starting from the 1st
1 & 2 days worked/21.6 (earnings relative to insured salary),
so employed but a reduced percentage.
3) Nothing
4) Holiday pay is working so amount paid / insured salary percentage worked.
5) Amount earned / insured pay is counted.
You may qualify for part time unemployment but clearly not 100%
It’s another wall of text for me to describe the scenario so I’ll leave it out for now. It basically boils down to, if someone is in the unlucky position of only having 17 counted months with a gap in between, whether they should somehow get an extra month counted by hook or by crook…