Membership fee

You pay the minimum membership fee if you have no salary income and you are: 

• under 70 years old and retired
• 70 years of age or older*
• on permanent disability pension
• abroad
• on unpaid leave from work
• on public servant leave of absence
• an au pair
• imprisoned
• on personal leave
• an informal carer
• a family carer.

*The membership fee for members who are 70 years of age or older is EUR 5 a month, a total of EUR 60 a year. 

Also those retired members who work in retirement pay only the minimum membership fee.

Retired members pay their membership fees every quarter of a year. The first payment is due 15 April. Likewise, other members entitled to the minimum membership fee will also pay the fee every quarter of a year. 

To pay the minimum membership fee, order payment reference numbers from the Membership Service. In January, membership fee payment reference numbers are sent automatically to members paying the minimum membership fee. 

With the collection agreement, you authorise your employer to deduct the membership fee directly from your salary. You can order a pre-filled collection agreement from the Membership Service. Our Membership Service will send you the form, filled in with your information, by post. Sign the form and send it to your employer’s payroll administration. 

You can also print out the membership fee collection agreement. The agreement sent to payroll administration will be an authorisation for deducting the membership fee from your salary. Fill in the form, sign it and send it to your employer’s payroll administration. The payroll administration will send a copy of the form to JHL. 

You can pay the membership fees directly in myJHL  through your online bank. Alternatively, you can order payment reference numbers from our Membership Service. Next year’s membership fee payment reference numbers will be sent to self-paying members at the latest in January. 

We have had a membership fee ceiling in use since the beginning of 2022. The membership fee ceiling is EUR 600 a year. If the total amount of your membership fees exceeds the membership fee ceiling, you still must pay your membership fee as usual. Within the following year, we will refund the amount that exceeds the membership fee ceiling to the member. 

The 2023 membership fees that exceeded the membership fee ceiling have been automatically refunded to members who have had a bank account number saved in their membership information by 8 April 2024.

The membership fee ceiling will be removed in the beginning of the year 2025. This was decided in the Union Council autumn meeting 2024.

You have no earned income and you don’t receive a benefit paid by the unemployment fund. Furthermore, you are:

• on pregnancy leave or parental leave
• on child care leave
• on sick leave without pay
• living on rehabilitation allowance or subsidy
• unemployed (you receive labour market subsidy or basic daily allowance)
• a student
• doing your military service.