Voluntary insurance for the self-employed person's working hours
Self-employed persons may take out personal insurance against occupational accidents and diseases which is identical to the compulsory workers’ compensation insurance for employees. The contents of self-employed persons’ occupational accident and occupational disease insurance is determined by the Workers’ Compensation Act.
Self-employed persons insured with compulsory or voluntary pension insurance under the Self-employed Persons’ Pensions Act (YEL insurance) may take out voluntary insurance for the self-employed person's working hours, in accordance with the Workers’ Compensation Act. Self-employed persons may also supplement the insurance with leisure-time insurance.
Compensation for loss of income or the survivors’ pension paid from the self-employed person’s voluntary working hours insurance is based on the confirmed income in the self-employed person’s pension insurance, and valid on the claim date.
The insurer can reject the application for a self-employed person's voluntary working hours insurance if it has outstanding uncontested receivables for the applicant.
Self-employed person's voluntary leisure-time insurance
A self-employed person who has taken out voluntary working hours insurance policy may include a voluntary leisure-time accident insurance policy in the insurance. The insurance policy must be taken out from the insurance company which underwrites the working hours insurance. Leisure-time insurance cannot be taken out on its own.
The coverage of a voluntary leisure-time insurance extends to accidents that are not deemed compensable as occupational accidents. Compensation for loss of income and the survivors’ pension is based on the annual earnings reported for the working hours insurance: in other words, the confirmed income declared for the pension insurance or the annual earnings confirmed by the insurer.
In its insurance terms and conditions, the insurance company may limit the insurance to
- only cover accidents that occur in recreational exercise
- exclude certain recreational sports from the insurance cover.
Certain provisions of the Workers’ Compensation Act also limit the claim events compensable by the leisure-time insurance. Claim events not compensated by leisure-time insurance include pain induced by work-related postures, assault, and road accidents.
The insurer can reject the application for a leisure-time insurance policy. They also have the right to terminate the policy on the grounds specified in the terms and conditions of the insurance. A self-employed person may terminate the policy in writing at any time; however, the termination will take effect at the earliest from the date the insurance company receives the notice of termination.
Termination of self-employed persons’ insurance
Voluntary insurance for a self-employed person's working hours is terminated when the self-employed person’s YEL insurance ends. Upon separate application, the insurer may extend the validity of voluntary insurance for a self-employed person’s working hours if the person continues self-employment after reaching the upper age limit of the duty to take out YEL insurance. In this case, the insurer adjusts the annual earnings of the insurance to be equal to the self-employed person’s annual earned income.
As the working hours insurance expires at the same time as the pension insurance, the working hours insurance can expire retrospectively. If the self-employed person's pension insurance does not become effective because self-employment has not continued without interruption for at least four months, the voluntary working hours insurance does not expire retrospectively but continues until the date when the self-employment ends.
The self-employed person is free to terminate the insurance in writing at any time. The insurance may be terminated at the earliest from the date when the notice of termination is received at the insurance company. The insurance company has the right to terminate the insurance if the self-employed person has failed to pay an outstanding premium or deliberately provided false or incomplete information for the purpose of processing a claim or determining an insurance premium in order to obtain, for him/herself or others, illegal financial gain.
The insurer terminates the policy in writing. The insurance policy expires 30 days from the date the termination was sent. When the cause of the termination is a failure to pay the insurance premium, the policy will not expire if the policyholder pays the outstanding premium before the end of the notice period.