3.3 Labour legislation

Laws regulating working in Finland

The legislation rules the different fields of society.

Workers are good to know that there are several laws, which regulate work life in Finland. The purpose of this legislation is to protect workers. The management and administration of the organization are not allowed to break this legislation.

The most important laws on a point of view of workers are

• Act of contracts of employment act  26.1.2001/55 regulates the work contract

• Act of work time 9.8.1996/605 regulates the work time

• Act of annual holiday 18.3.2005/162 regulates the annual holiday

• Legislation concerning the right to be unoccupied from work on study leave 9.3.1979/273 regulates the possibility to seek free time if studying

• Act of privacy policy at work 13.8.2004/759 regulates what kind of information the employee can seek and keep about the worker

These laws regulates the following matters:

• The length and amount of work hours. (People spent about eight hours at work

• Holiday entitlement. From every month, the worker earns annual holiday. The holiday is paid by the employee.

• The work contract. In work contract the work tasks, daily work time, salary and other practical issues

In addition to previous legislation, many issues and work conditions are negotiated between the employee and employee organization and labor organizations. Those work conditions are:

• salary,

• increment of salary,

• working hours,

• holiday,

• additional holiday pay,

• informing at work organizations,

• other sector wise benefits,

Assignment:

• In your opinion about what are the benefits that working is regulated by legislation.

• What are the challenges in following the rules