According to the Employment Contracts Act of Finland, the notice for dismissal is based on the duration of the employment relationship. The employer must give the following notice periods:
Unless otherwise agreed, the employee must give the following notice period if the employment relationship has continued uninterrupted:
Collective agreements can be used to agree on notice periods. If the notice periods under the collective agreement differ from the statutory notice periods, the employer and the employee must comply with the notice periods under the collective agreement, unless the collective agreement provides for the possibility of agreeing on other notice periods.
Individuals who plan to work in Finland will usually need a residence permit. Work without a residence permit may be punished with a fine. There is a universal requirement that the salary an individual plans on receiving from their Finnish employer be high enough to support them to qualify for a work permit.
When applying for a residence permit on the basis of employment, the residence permit application depends on the kind of work an individual is seeking. Students who have completed a degree in Finland and who have a valid residence permit for studies may apply for a residence permit to seek work. Individuals who have already been granted a residence permit on other grounds may be allowed to work. They should look to their residence permit decision to see if this is the case.
Citizens of EU Member States, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland do not require a permit for Finland. They must nonetheless register their right of residence.
In Finland, regulations concerning annual leave may be found in the Annual Holidays Act and collective agreements. Employees are entitled to 4 weeks of summer holiday and 1 week of winter holiday. In short employment relationships, the annual holiday allowance is reduced accordingly.
Employees earn holiday days by working during the holiday credit year, which runs from April 1 to March 31. They are entitled to holiday pay (which may not be below the regular payment) for the duration of the holiday. If the holiday exceeds 6 days, the holiday pay must be issued before the start of the holiday. For a holiday not exceeding 6 days, it is paid on the employee’s normal payday.
Employers' obligation to pay holiday bonus is based on collective agreements, employment contracts, or well-established practices. The holiday bonus is 50% of the holiday pay. There are no provisions in the Annual Holidays Act obliging employers to pay a holiday bonus.
According to the Working Time Act of Finland (the Act), which entered into force on January 1, 2020, the statutory number of hours in a workday should not exceed 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week. Unless otherwise indicated by a collective agreement, regular working hours can be extended by 2 hours, up to a total of 10 hours. Weekly working hours cannot exceed 48 hours, and working hours should not exceed an average of 40 hours over a period of 4 weeks. In period-based work, the regular hours should not exceed 120 hours during a 3-week period or 80 hours during a 2-week period. The period-based working hours can only be used in companies, shops, institutions, and jobs listed in the Act.
Telecommuting is defined as flexible, voluntary, or paid work based on agreed rules, which can also be done outside of the actual workplace. The working time can either be entirely or partially remote. Remote work arrangements are usually agreed upon in writing.
Per the Health Insurance Act of Finland, employees can take maternity leave at 50 weekdays (at the earliest) before the estimated delivery date, and 30 weekdays before the estimated delivery date at the latest. Employees are entitled to a total of 105 paid maternity leave days. The allowance amount depends on their income. The current minimum daily rate is EUR 31.99. In addition to this, a maternity grant can be claimed in the form of either a maternity package or a tax-free cash benefit of EUR 170.
According to the reform to family leave, employees whose expected delivery date is September 4, 2022, or later are entitled to pregnancy allowance for 40 working days, starting 30 working days before the estimated due date of the baby. After that, the mother can take parental leave for up to 160 days, of which 63 days are transferable to someone else caring for the child.
The Employment Contracts Act requires the employee to notify the employer of the need for maternity, paternity, or parental leave or childcare leave at least 2 months before it starts. Employees shall be entitled to take parental leave in 1 or 2 periods, the minimum duration of which must be 12 working days.
Although there is no law on minimum wages in Finland, many collective agreements (which set a minimum wage) are "generally binding," which means they are adhered to in the sector covered by the agreement, irrespective of whether or not the employer is bound by that specific collective agreement. When employers pay wages, they must give the employee a statement showing the payment amount and the grounds on which the amount has been determined. The wage statement is a crucial instrument for clarifying any possible calculation errors or other mistakes that may have occurred when calculating wages.
The salary must be paid on the last day of the pay period unless agreed otherwise. If the hourly wage is calculated for a period shorter than a week, it must be paid at least twice a month; otherwise, it should be paid once a month. For performance-based work, the payment period cannot exceed 2 weeks unless the performance-based salary is included in the monthly pay. If the performance-based work extends beyond one pay period, a portion of the salary, based on the time spent on the work, must be paid for each pay period.
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