Finland Times

The objective is to intensify monitoring and to ensure improved observance of the terms of employment in Finland by companies posting workers to Finland.

The new act includes provisions on the minimum terms of employment applicable to workers posted to Finland, on the responsibilities of the sending company and the contractor, as well as on the penalties for violating the act.

The act will repeal the former act, which entered into force in 1999.

The terms of employment applicable to posted workers remain unchanged. However, unlike before, the act would also be applied to public procurements.

Certain provisions should still be applied in the employment contract of a posted worker to Finland, if they are more favourable to the worker.

These include the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the Occupational Health Care Act, and parts of the Employment Contracts Act.

In the future, all companies posting workers to Finland should submit a notification to the authorities. It would be submitted to the occupational safety and health authority. The purpose of the notification is to improve targeting of monitoring.

The legislative proposal suggests a complete overhaul of the penalties for violating the act. In the future, the employer or the contractor would have to pay a negligence fee for violating the act. The minimum negligence fee would be EUR 1,000 and the maximum EUR 10,000.

The occupational safety and health authority could impose a negligence fee, for example, if the company has not notified of posting a worker or it has not appointed a representative to Finland.

A negligence fee could be imposed on contractors if they have not assisted the authorities in contacting the representative.

Negligence fees would also be enforced in other EU countries. A negligence fee imposed in Finland on a company posting a worker could also be collected in another EU country.

This would enhance observance and monitoring of the terms of employment.

The proposed act would implement the EU Directive on the enforcement of the Directive concerning the posting of workers in the framework of the provision of services.

The new act is scheduled to enter into force on 18 June 2016. The provisions on the notification of posting workers would enter into force later on a date to be specified by government decree.