Finland: Employee rights

Original and updating author: Teea Kemppinen, Bird & Bird Attorneys Ltd

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Summary

• There are various rules for employees' hours of work, including overtime, and particular restrictions for night work. (See Hours of work)
• Employees must generally be granted rest breaks, and daily and weekly rest periods. (See Rest breaks and rest periods)
• Employees can be required to work on a Sunday only in certain circumstances. (See Sunday work)
• There are various rules regarding statutory paid annual leave for employees and when it may be taken. (See Holiday and holiday pay)
• Pregnant employees are entitled to take pregnancy leave for an uninterrupted period of 40 weekdays (excluding Sundays and public holidays), starting from 30 to 14 days before the child's estimated date of birth. (See Pregnancy rights)
• Parents are entitled to take parental leave because of the birth or adoption of a child for a maximum of 320 weekdays (excluding Sundays and public holidays). If a child has two parents, both parents are entitled to 160 days of parental leave. Each of the parents is allowed to transfer up to 63 days (of the 160 days) to the other parent. (See Parental leave)
• Parents of children under the age of 10 are entitled to take "temporary childcare leave" if the child suddenly falls ill, in order to care for the child or arrange care. (See Temporary childcare leave)
• Employees are entitled to be temporarily absent from work for "compelling family reasons". (See Leave due to other family reasons)
• Eligible full-time employees are entitled to take study leave to attend education and training courses. (See Other leave)
• In general, part-time employees have the same employment status and rights as full-time employees, and the same protective legislation applies to part-time and full-time employees. (See Part-time workers)
• Specific rules apply to variable working time contracts. (See Variable working time contracts)
• Fixed-term contracts that have not been concluded for a "justified" reason are deemed to be open-ended contracts. (See Fixed-term workers)
• As employees of the temporary work agency, agency workers are fully covered by all employment legislation and statutory entitlements in the same way as other employees. (See Temporary agency workers)
• Employees do not have a statutory right to work remotely unless otherwise agreed. (See Remote working)
• Employees posted to work in Finland from other countries are covered by various provisions of Finnish employment law, if these are more favourable than those that would otherwise apply to the employee. (See Posted workers)
• In the event of the transfer of a business or part thereof, the rights, obligations and benefits under employment relationships between the former owner and its employees concerned transfer to the new owner on completion of the transfer. (See Transfers of undertakings)
• If the employer is declared bankrupt, this does not automatically terminate its employment relationships. (See Insolvency of employer)
• Statute specifically regulates against employees only to a very limited extent, and there is no statutory requirement for an employer to follow a particular grievance procedure. (See Disciplinary and grievance procedures)
• If harassment or other inappropriate treatment occurs at work, the employer, on becoming aware of the matter, must take measures to remedy the situation. (See Bullying)
• All companies employing 50 or more employees must have an internal reporting channel. (See Whistleblowing)
• There are various rules regarding the processing of personal data relating to employees. (See Data and privacy protection)