- Labour legislation
- Employment contract and employment relationship
- Working time and annual holiday
- Improving and maintaining employees’ competence
- Non-discrimination and equality in working life
- Protection of privacy at work and working with children
- Co-operation procedure and other personnel representation systems
- Key points of the Co-operation Act
- Negotiation obligation
- Content and timing of negotiation obligation
- Duty to inform representatives of personnel groups
- Undertaking’s general plans, principles and objectives
- Personnel and training plan
- Matters to be handled in the co-operation procedure
- Co-operation procedure when the use of personnel is reduced
- Confidentiality and sanctions
- Co-operation within a Finnish group of undertakings
- Co-operation within a community-wide group of undertakings and an undertaking
- Employee Involvement in European Companies (SE) and European Cooperative Societies (SCE)
- Personnel funds
- Key points of the Co-operation Act
- Collective agreements and mediation in labour disputes
- Contractor’s obligations and liability
- Employee’s position if employer becomes insolvent
- Working life development
- Integration of immigrants
- Employment
- Support and compensations
- Employment Bulletin and Employment Service Statistics
Labour legislation
Labour legislation (all Acts, see Further information) comprises such acts as the
- Employment Contracts Act,
- Working Time Act,
- Annual Holidays Act,
- Non-discrimination Act,
- Act on the Protection of Privacy in Working Life,
- Collective Agreements Act,
- Act on Job Alternation Leave (partially within the purview of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, MSAH),
- Study Leave Act,
- Pay Security Act and
- the legislation on the personnel involvement systems (co-operation within undertakings, representation in administrative organs and personnel funds).
Below the heading ‘Employment contract and employment relationship’, separate information can be accessed on a range of topics, including
- young workers,
- posted workers,
- working at sea,
- employment security during military or non-military service and
- family leave.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment is responsible for drafting and evolving labour legislation.
Labour legislation is drafted on a tripartite basis, in collaboration with the organisations representing the interests of employers and employees. The working conditions of employees are determined on the basis of legislation and the collective agreements that exist for the various sectors.
Enforcing compliance with the labour legislation is mostly the responsibility of the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) authorities of the OSH Divisions at the Regional State Administrative Agencies, which come under the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. The co-operation ombudsman has responsibility for monitoring matters relating to personnel involvement systems.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment is involved in the drafting of agreements connected with EU labour law and the ILO. The ministry supports the drafting and monitoring of labour legislation and evaluates these on the basis of studies and research.
Further information
Ongoing statute drafting projects and organs, working life (mostly in Finnish)
Acts of Parliament in English, labour legislation
Brochures on labour legislation
Guidance and supervision of labour legislation: Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Osha)
Law-drafting: Tarja Kröger, tarja.kroger(at)tem.fi
Related websites
- Collective Agreements (in Finnish, finlex.fi)
- Regional State Administrative Agency (AVI), Occupational Safety and Health
- Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Osha)
- Osha: publications
- Rules of Working Life (suomi.fi)
- Recruiting an Employee (suomi.fi)
- Work in Finland, taxes (vero.fi)
- Household employers, taxes (vero.fi)
- Summaries of EU-legislation
- EUR-Lex database