Unemployment compensation (ALE)

Your former employer is subject to duties of cooperation pursuant to Art. 67 of the Unemployment Insurance Act (ALVG), LGBl. 2010 No. 452. Employers are obliged to truthfully provide the Office of National Economy with all relevant information required for the assessment of the claim and for the determination of unemployment compensation.

If your former employer refuses to issue you the employer's certificate, please inform your ALV case manager so that he/she can write to your employer directly.

All forms of termination are distinguished and sanctioned accordingly if you are at fault. Depending on whether you have terminated or your employer has terminated and why it has come to a termination, the termination will be sanctioned with hiring days.

The contribution period has been fulfilled by anyone who has been in contributory employment for at least twelve months within the designated framework period (two years) 

Account is also taken:

• Times during which the insured person works as an employee before he reaches the age from which he must pay AHV contributions;
• Times in which the insured is in an employment relationship, but because of illness or accident no salary and therefore no contributions paid;
• Interruptions of work due to maternity, insofar as they are prescribed by employee protection provisions or agreed by collective labor agreement 

Persons who, within
the framework period provided for this purpose (two years) for a total of
more than twelve months and who
could not fulfill the contribution period Contribution period because of:

• an education, retraining or further training, provided that they had been resident in Liechtenstein for at least ten years;
• illness, accident or maternity, provided they had during this time residence in Liechtenstein.

Also exempt from fulfilling the contribution period are persons who are forced to take up or extend employment due to judicial separation or divorce of the marriage, disability or death of the spouse or for similar reasons, or due to reduction or discontinuation of a disability pension. This regulation only applies if the event in question did not occur more than one year ago and the person concerned was domiciled in Liechtenstein at the time of the occurrence of this event. 

Liechtenstein nationals returning to Liechtenstein after a stay abroad of more than one year in a State which is outside both the European Community and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) shall be exempt from fulfilling the contribution period for one year provided they can prove employment as an employee abroad corresponding to the contribution period pursuant to Article 15(1). Under the same conditions, foreign nationals whose permanent residence permit or settlement permit has not expired due to a granted retention shall be exempt from fulfilling the contribution period after a stay abroad of more than one year.

After the ALV has checked all the eligibility requirements on the basis of the documents you have submitted, you will receive a letter stating your entitlement to unemployment benefits. In principle, you are only entitled to unemployment benefits for those days on which you meet all the eligibility requirements according to the ALVG. On days when you are gainfully employed, sick, on vacation, or unable to be placed for some other reason, you are only conditionally entitled to claim.

Unemployment compensation is paid as a daily allowance. Five daily allowances are paid out for one week.

The entitlement begins after a waiting period of five days of controlled unemployment. Only those days on which the insured person fulfills the eligibility requirements are considered to be the waiting period.

For persons who do not have a duty to support children up to the age of 25, the general waiting period is:
a) 10 days for insured earnings between 60,001 and 90,000 Swiss francs;
b) 15 days for insured earnings between 90,001 and 125,000 Swiss francs;
c) 20 days in the case of insured earnings above 125,000 francs.

No general waiting period need exist:
a) Insured persons with insured earnings of up to 3,000 francs per month;
b) Insured persons with maintenance obligations to children under 25 years of age and insured earnings between 3,001 francs and 5,000 francs per month.

Persons who are exempt from fulfilling the contribution period (Art. 16 ALVG) are not entitled to unemployment compensation prior to the first receipt during a special waiting period of no more than twelve months set by the government by ordinance. This waiting period shall be in addition to the general waiting period.

The special waiting period for persons who are exempt from fulfilling the contribution period is:
a) 5 waiting days, for example, after illness, accident, maternity and stay abroad
b) 120 waiting days after school education, retraining and further training.

The waiting days to exist do not reduce the balance of the maximum daily allowances to be paid within the framework period for the receipt of benefits.

You have taken a salaried or self-employed job while receiving unemployment compensation and earn income that is less than your unemployment compensation (ALE). The income earned from this job is called interim earnings.

Your ALE (compensation payment) is 80% or 70% of the difference between the intermediate earnings you earn and your insured earnings for at least 12 months. The interim earnings must be compensated in accordance with the usual local and professional rates.

The following benefits are available to you if you are engaged in interim earnings:

• You improve your income, because the interim earnings and the compensation payment of the ALV together are higher than the ALE;
• You acquire new contribution periods (you do not acquire contribution periods with self-employed interim earnings, with earnings in the context of temporary employment financed by unemployment insurance or with earnings through participation in a labor market measure financed by the public authorities);
• It offers you the opportunity to gain further professional experience as well as to make interesting contacts; moreover, it is easier to find a new job out of an existing employment relationship.

For each calendar month (corresponding to a control period), you must submit the fully completed and signed control card no later than the third day of the following month. Incomplete cards or cards received too late, as well as missing enclosures, will result in no timely payment being made.

The first control card will be sent to you with the claim letter. In subsequent months, you will usually receive the card with the previous month's statement.

Unemployment insurance usually pays the daily allowances for each month within 10 days in the following month, provided that all the required documents (control card, etc.) have been submitted correctly.

Unemployment compensation is considered a relevant salary for the purposes of the AHVG, therefore an AHV contribution (4.7%) is deducted.

To ensure the pension protection in the event of death and disability of the occupational pension, the employee contribution in the amount of 0.75% is deducted from the compensation. This is transferred together with the employer's share taken over by the ALV to the provident fund.

Unemployment compensation is taxable income according to the Tax Act (StG) and is subject to wage tax. The ALV therefore deducts the wage tax from the unemployment compensation and transfers it to the tax administration.

From the moment you are unemployed or threatened with unemployment, you must follow certain obligations. In case of repeated violation of duties (obligation to cooperate) and disregard of the instructions of the AVW, the ability to be placed may be withdrawn. This may result in the loss of substantial eligibility and no longer being entitled to unemployment compensation. The following obligations must be fulfilled:

Accept reasonable work (Art. 19 ALVG)

• In the context of the duty to mitigate damages, you are obliged to immediately accept a reasonable job assigned by the AMS.

Duties and control provisions (Art. 20 ALVG)

• Counseling and placement interview:
  After your personal registration at the AMS, you will be assigned to a personnel consultant. As part of the duty to control, you are obliged to comply with the request for a counseling and placement interview. In the event that you are unable to attend, you must cancel or reschedule an appointment in advance.
• Personal work efforts:
  Your per diem benefits are considered compensation for your intensive job search. If your counselor instructs you to make a certain number of personal work efforts, they must be documented in writing (see the Personal Work Efforts form).
• Labor market measures:
  In the course of counseling and placement interviews, your HR consultant may require you to participate in a labor market measure. These may be employment programs or courses for further or advanced training. Labor market measures serve to improve your knowledge and skills and help you to better cope with the situation of unemployment.

Duty to cooperate (Art. 86 ALVG)

• Duty to provide information and notification:
  You must truthfully provide the AVW with all relevant information required for the assessment of the claim and for the determination of unemployment compensation. In addition, you must notify the AVW without being asked of any subsequent changes in your personal or financial circumstances that may affect your eligibility (for example: Taking up self-employment, illness or accident).
• Duty to check:
  All documents must be filled out completely and correctly and submitted to the appropriate department by the deadline. For example, after the end of each calendar month - corresponds to a control period - no later than the third day of the following month, you must submit the control card with the required information completely filled out to the advisor of the AMS or the ALV.

If a breach of duty has occurred, you will be given the opportunity to comment (legal hearing). After your statement has been received or the deadline has expired, a decision will be made as to whether no payment will be made for a certain number of days. The suspension is up to 60 days, depending on fault.

The decision will be in writing (appealable order). This order may be appealed to the government. The appeal must be filed in writing with the government within 14 days. It shall contain a request, the grounds of appeal, the evidence and the signature of the person filing the appeal or his authorized representative.

The appeal shall be filed in writing

The grounds for discontinuance in eligibility are stated in Art. 38 ALVG. These are, for example: self-inflicted unemployment, violation of the obligation to cooperate and the control regulations, refusal of a reasonable job, thwarting of a labor market measure.

In the event of illness, pregnancy or accident, you will receive a daily allowance from the ALV for the first 30 calendar days after the onset of incapacity for work. The prerequisite for this is that you meet all other eligibility requirements and that there is no entitlement to an insurance daily allowance.

You must report your incapacity for work to the AMS within one day of its onset and submit a medical certificate to the Office for National Economy no later than the fifth working day after the onset of the incapacity for work. In the event of late submission, there is no entitlement to daily allowance for the days prior to submission.

Unemployed persons with previous employment in the country

are entitled, in return for an appropriate premium adjustment, to change their previous insurance to an insurance with benefits starting on the 31st day, while retaining the previous daily sickness benefit amount and without taking into account their state of health at the time of the change. They must register with the health insurance fund within 30 days of the last day of employment.

Unemployed persons with previous employment abroad

are entitled to take out voluntary insurance with your compulsory health insurance company with benefits starting on the 31st day, while retaining the previous daily sickness benefit amount. You are only entitled to take out voluntary insurance if you register personally with the unemployment insurance fund, are employable and are entitled to unemployment benefits. You must register with the health insurance fund within 30 days of the last day of employment.

Recommendation: It is advisable to take out deferred daily allowance insurance (from the 31st day) with the health insurance company at an early stage. This ensures that in the event of prolonged illness following the benefit period of the unemployment insurance, the health insurance company will compensate for the loss of earnings.

In principle, pregnancy entitles you to daily benefits from the ALV until the birth, provided that you are not incapacitated for work. If you have daily sickness benefits insurance with the health insurance fund, you may receive daily sickness benefits for a period of 20 weeks. If you do not have daily sickness benefits insurance with the health insurance fund, you can re-register with the AMS after the birth, at the earliest from the 8th week. For re-registration, you will need a doctor's certificate (confirmation of fitness for work) and proof of childcare (proof of employability).

After termination of the employment relationship, you continue to be compulsorily insured for health care with your previous health insurance. The ALV takes over the statutory employer contribution (depending on the degree of placement) to the health insurance. This will be transferred to you together with the daily allowance of the ALV. 

In case of unemployment, accident insurance covers non-occupational accidents. This insurance coverage only exists if you were insured against non-occupational accidents before the termination of the employment relationship (employment relationship over 8 hrs/week).

Unemployed persons with previous employment in the country

continue to have mandatory insurance coverage after the termination of their employment relationship, with their previous accident insurance. This insurance coverage is only valid if you claim unemployment compensation within 31 days and also actually a claim for unemployment compensation is established within these 31 days (notification alone is not sufficient).
Unemployment compensation must be at least 50% of the earnings prior to unemployment. The compulsory accident insurance coverage ends on the 31st day after the end of your entitlement to daily benefits from the ALV and can be extended for a maximum of 6 months by an agreement insurance. This must be taken out before the end of mandatory insurance coverage.

Unemployed persons with previous employment abroad

may extend accident insurance coverage, if necessary, by taking out a covenant insurance policy with the last accident insurer, as this normally ends on the 31st day after termination of employment. An Abredeversicherung must be concluded before the end of the mandatory insurance coverage and usually ends after 6 months. At the latest then, you are no longer insured against accident with the accident insurer abroad. Medical expenses in the event of an accident must be insured with the health insurance company at the latest after the end of the accident insurance coverage. Your health insurance in Liechtenstein may offer you daily allowance insurance in the event of an accident. This insurance cover is only possible, among other things, if you have taken out daily sickness benefits insurance with them and have included the treatment costs in the event of an accident.

Recommendation: It is advisable to take out the agreement insurance with the accident insurance at an early stage. This ensures that the insurance coverage is maintained by the accident insurance. Due to the limited coverage in the event of an accident, it is advisable to clarify the accident coverage (medical costs and, if applicable, daily allowance) with the health insurance at an early stage. This ensures that in the event of an accident lasting longer than the benefit period of the unemployment insurance, the insurance company will reimburse the medical costs and, if necessary, the loss of earnings. In the case of self-employment, the above does not apply and it is recommended to make appropriate clarifications.

The salary statements for the past calendar year are automatically sent by the ALV by the end of February of the following year.

If you have again generated contribution periods according to Art. 15 ALVG (min. 12 months) or contribution-exempt periods according to Art. 16 ALVG (more than 12 months) during the current framework period, a daily allowance application can be submitted again after the current framework period has expired. After receipt of the daily allowance application and all required documents, the ALV will check whether there is an entitlement to unemployment compensation.