European Restructuring Monitor (ERM)
Eurofound's ERM database on restructuring-related legal regulations provides information on regulations in the Member States of the European Union and Norway which are explicitly or implicitly linked to anticipating and managing change.
Labour Market Measures Act §5
According to the Labour Market Measures Act, all those who are registered as unemployed in the Unemployment Insurance Fund (Töötukassa) are entitled to receive career counselling, which means receiving recommendations on their further education or career choices and potential training or working options, corresponding to their personal characteristics, education and skills. Also, all those registered as unemployed are to be provided with ‘employment mediation’ to help them find a suitable job.
Employees who have received their redundancy notice but are not yet unemployed have the right to register themselves as job-seekers in the Unemployment Insurance Fund. In that case, they have the right to receive job mediation and career counselling services.
In the Employment Programme 2024-2029 (Tööhõiveprogramm 2024-2029), additional measures are provided for. The Employment Programme is established on the basis of the Labour Market Measures Act §6 which states that the Programme helps to establish the labour market services to be provided and the labour market benefits to be paid in accordance with the labour market measures listed in subsection 2 of § 13 of The Labour Market Measures Act. It allows to provide more services and benefits on more favourable conditions than provided for in the Labour Market Measures Act based on the changes in the labour market or on the forecast of labour supply and demand as it is changed and re-evaluated more often than the Act itself. With the programme, additional measures are provided to those who have received notice of redundancy and are registered as job-seekers - labour market training, work practice and business start-up subsidy. These measures are generally provided only for those registered as unemployed. Additional measures provided for in the programme and which can be used by job-seekers are: mediation of career information, job-seeking counselling and support for obtaining qualifications (compensation of the costs for certificate or examination fees etc).
There are also information days organised by the Fund, where information on the possibilities and rights before and after the actual loss of job is provided.
The provision of other measures available is decided case-by-case taking into account the nature of this specific case of collective redundancy. However, these measures are not provided in all cases of redundancies and are thus not equally accessible to all persons.
The Estonian Ministry of Education and Research (Haridus- ja Teadusministeerium) also offers courses free-of-charge to all interested persons. Registered unemployed are excluded (they are eligible for courses provided by Unemployment Insurance Fund), but those who have received the redundancy notice, but are not yet registered as unemployed, can take the courses.
Prior to 2024, the support measures for the unemployed and job seekers were managed by the Labour Market Services and Benefits Act which was removed and replaced by the Labour Market Measures Act which intends to modernise and reorganises the legal framework for the provision of labour market services. The Act combines the unemployment insurance database, the register of persons registered as unemployed and job seekers, the register of labour market services, and the database on work ability assessment and work ability support into a single Unemployment Insurance Fund database. The new Act is also supposed to be more flexible and give more authority to the Unemployment Insurance Fund that actually provides and overlooks the measures related to the labour market. The new Act was introduced in connection to the Employment Programme 2024-2029 which will serve as the guideline to the provision of labour market services.
Eurofound (2015), Estonia: Redundant employees entitlement to public support, Restructuring legislation database, Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/legislationdb/redundant-employees-entitlement-to-public-support/estonia
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