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Employment relationship

Posted worker

Posted worker - Ingressi

A posted worker is an employee habitually working in some other country than Finland who is sent for a fixed period to perform temporary work in Finland by their employer, a company located in a country other than Finland and engaging in considerable business in the country in question.

Posted worker - Yleistä

 

General information on topic

A posted worker works for a foreign enterprise and temporarily in Finland.

The Act on Posting Workers (447/2016) provides provisions on posted workers. Its scope of application includes new contracts made after the Act came into force on 18 June 2016, on the basis of which employees are sent to Finland.

Amendments were made to the Act on Posting Workers which entered into force on 1 December 2020. The amendments concern the following: 

  • more detailed guidelines on pay provisions applicable to posted workers;
  • restrictions to the employer’s right to set off receivables against an employee’s salary;
  • a new provision on making pay comparisons according to which any payments of an uncertain nature made by the employer would be regarded as compensation for expenses and not as a wage or salary;
  • an extension of applicable collective agreements in transfers within subcontracting or a group of undertakings;
  • application of the same accommodation quality requirements to posted and local workers;
  • additional employment conditions to be applied to long postings of more than 12 months;
  • an obligation for the employer to compensate the posted worker’s travel, accommodation and meal expenses arising from travel from the worker’s regular place of work in Finland during the posting.

Further information: Amendments to the Act on Posting Workers

The old Act on Posting Workers (1146/1999) will still continue to apply to posted workers in Finland whose posting agreement between the employer and the contractor was concluded before the entry into force of the new act, i.e. before 18 June 2016.

NOTE: You can find instructions for the practical application of the old Act here.

This Act specifies the Finnish provisions on working life that shall be applied whenever they are more advantageous for the employee than the legislation otherwise applicable to them. For the purposes of applying the Act, it is irrelevant whether the posted worker’s employer is in another EU Member State or outside the EU.

A posted worker is a person posted from another state who carries out work in Finland under a contracts as subcontracted work, as an internal transfer within a company or as temporary agency work. The habitual place of employment of a posted worker is some other country than Finland.
 

Subcontracting

An employee is posted to perform work for which a contract has been made between the posting company, i.e. the employer, and the contractor. The employee performs work on behalf of the posting company and under the direction of its management.

 

Internal transfer within a company

An employee is posted to work for an establishment or undertaking located in another state and belonging to the same group of companies.

Temporary agency work

An employee is posted to another state for use by another company. The employee’s own employer is a temporary employment agency or placement agency.

 

Obligations for the employer, the contractor and for the main contractor and the builder

  • It is the responsibility of the posting company, i.e. the employer, to submit a notification to the occupational safety and health authorities before the work is begun, to assign a representative in Finland and to make the necessary information available throughout the posting.
  • The employer must comply with the level of pay considered reasonable in Finland. The employer must also keep a record of working hours and annual holiday.
  • The employer must take out insurance for accidents while work is performed in Finland. The employer also must arrange statutory occupational health services in Finland.
  • The employer must always ensure the safety at work. The using company is also responsible for hired posted workers safety at work.

More information: Working conditions

  • The contractor must ensure that the posting company selects a representative and that this representative is available. The main contractor and the builder in the construction sector must on the request of the posted worker sort out inadequate payments wih the posting company.
     
  • The main contractor and the builder must send the posting company´s answer to both the worker and on his or her request to the OSH authorities.

Obligations under the Act on the Contractor´s Liability must be taken into account in when hiring labour and subcontracting

The Act on the Contractor´s Liability applies both Finnish and foreign contracting companies. It is not relevant if the contractor acquires the hired labour or the subcontracting from a Finnish company or a foreign company.

When the contractor concludes a contract on temporarily agency work or subcontracting with a company posting the workers, the contractor must require certificates and accounts under the Act on the Contractor´s Liability from the contract partner and the posting company must send them to the contract partner.

More information on the obligations in the Act on the Contractor´s Liability.

Liaison office for posted workers: the OSH Division of the Regional State Administrative Agency for Southwestern Finland

Liaison office for posted workers gives general advices on the applicable legislation in Finland and guides to contact the right authority. Guidance is given to companies posting workers in Finland, receiving companies in Finland and posted workers.

Please send your questions concerning posted workers per e-mail to postedworkersfin@avi.fi

More information: Anu Ikonen, Lawyer, OSH Division of the Regional State Administrative Agency of Southwestern Finland.

Posted worker - Työntekijälle

 

Instructions for employee

Right to work

If you are not a Finnish citizen, under the Alien´s Act you must prove your right to work in Finland. Show your employer your passport, a official travel document or your residence permit card.

The employer normaly makes a copy of the ground for your right to work, because in accordnace with the law, the employer has to have the proof available at the work place.

Wages

A minimum wage is not determined by law in Finland, but by the generally binding branch collective agreement. In absence of a generally binding collective agreement for the branch or an agreement or practice, the employer must pay you a habitual and reasonable compensation.

You will find information on the wages in accordance with the collective agreement on the online services of the employers´ associations and the unions. The collective agreement with binding nature are published in the online service Finlex.fi (in Finnish).

Paying Wages

If the employer has not paid wages or the wages paid are inadequate, you must inform the employer about this. In the last resort you will have to collect unpaid wages yourself from the employer.

If you work in the construction sector and you have been paid inadequate wages, you may inform the contractor or the builder. You may address your notification to any of these or to both.

The main contractor or the builder must immediately require from the posting company an account on the wages you have been paid and a statement on wheter the wages complies with the provisions in Finland. The main contractor or the builder must provide you with the request for statement and the answer from the posting company to you. On your request the employer must provide the OSH Division with the statement and the answer and these must be kept available for two years after the termination of the work.  

Taxation and photo ID

If you work on a construction site you must carry a photo ID with a tax number You obtain your  tax number from the tax office or by calling the Telephone Service. When necessary the employer can also obtain the tax numbers for all workers at the same time.

The worker is responsible for the validity of the taxation, you will receive more information on the taxation in the online service of the Tax Administration.  

More information:

Tax Number

Work in Finland

Working in Finland – information for immigrants. Finnish Institute Of Occupational Health.

More information in the webinar recording

The webinar recording below gives you basic knowledge of posted workers’ rights in Finland. It will also tell you what to do if you face problems at work. To download the webinar material, please go to page Webinar: Posted workers and terms of employment in Finland.

 

Posted worker - Työnantajalle

 

Instructions for employer

The provisions contain obligations both for the posting company, i.e. the employer of the posting worker and for the contractor, i.e. the company using workers. The obligations of the builder and the main contractor are described under Pay in Finland.

The posting company (the employer of the posted worker) must

The contractor (the company using posted workers in Finland) must

More information in the webinar recording

The webinar recording below gives you basic knowledge of employers obligations when posting workers to Finland. To download the webinar material, please go to page Webinar: Posting workers to Finland – employers’ responsibilities and possible sanctions.

Posted worker UUSI - Alasivu - Sanasto

Glossary

Foreign employee A person who is not a Finnish citizen, referred to in the Aliens Act as an alien.
Posted worker A worker who normally works in a country other than Finland and whom an employer undertaking that is established and performing activities in another State posts to Finland for a limited period to perform temporary work in the course of a contractual employment relationship within the framework of providing cross-border services as subcontracted work, as an internal transfer within an undertaking, or as temporary agency work.
Posting undertaking A company acting as the employer of a posted worker.
EU or ETA Member States EEA Member States outside the EU are Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein. The rules concerning EEA Member States also apply to Switzerland. Citizens of EU and EEA Member States are treated according to the same rules in many respects.
Third countries Countries that are not EU or EEA Member States.
Grey passport holder A person who has been granted a passport by an EU Member State but is not a citizen of that Member State.
A1 certificate An A1 certificate (previously E101) confirms that its holder is subject to the social security legislation of a country other than the country he/she is employed in; thus, Finnish statutory social security contributions do not need to be paid.
Contractor A company or other party, who purchases services from the posting undertaking.
User company The contractor.
Client company The contractor.
Temporary agency work A worker is posted to work for another company. when their employer is an agency that supplies or leases workforce (temporary agency workers).
Subcontracting Posting a worker to work under the direction of and on behalf of the posting undertaking on the basis of a contract concluded between the employer and a contactor operating in Finland.
Subcontracting Agreement A partnership agreement between companies that is broader in content than a temporary agency work agreement.
Internal transfer within a company Posting a worker to a workplace or undertaking belonging to the same group of companies located in another country.
Representative A foreign company with posted workers in Finland must have a representative in Finland whom can be contacted at all times during the posting. The function of the representative includes tasks such as handling official transactions on behalf of the foreign company. The representative must have a registered address in Finland. Domicile is not required.
Developer An individual or organisation who undertakes a construction project or directs or supervises a construction project.
General contractor A contractor in a contractual relationship with the developer that is appointed as the general contractor and is responsible for worksite management obligations.
Construction sector work Building renovation, refurbishment, alteration and dismantling of structures, including digging, earth moving, installation and uninstallation of prefabricated components, and equipping, installation, alteration, dismantling, maintenance, upkeep, painting, cleaning and improvement work.
Employment contract An agreement between the employer and the employee concerning the performing of work and the wages to be paid for it.
Indefinitely valid employment contract An agreement that is valid until further notice, terminated by giving notice to terminate.
Fixed-term employment contract An employment contract that is valid until a predetermined date, until the completion of a specific job assignment or until a specific event.
Regular working hours Under the Working Hours Act, 8 hours per day and 40 hours per week, or 40 hours per week on average over an adjustment period of no more than 52 weeks. There may be differing provisions on regular working hours in the applicable collective agreement.
Working hours adjustment system A plan prepared in advance by the employer concerning variations in working hours on a daily and weekly basis when the average working hours scheme is applied. The average working hours will even out to the level specified by law or in a collective agreement within a predetermined period. The adjustment system must define the regular working hours for each week during the adjustment period.
Shift roster A written list prepared beforehand by the employer, showing the beginning and end time of the regular working hours for each employee and the time of the daily rest period. The shift roster must be issued to employees in writing well ahead of time, no later than one week before the start of the period it covers. Collective agreements may contain more detailed provisions on shift rosters.
Record of working hours A record kept by the employer to tally each employee’s daily working hours, additional work and overtime hours, Sunday work hours and the compensation paid for each of these.
Collective agreement An agreement concluded by one or more trade unions and one or more employers' organisations concerning terms and conditions of employment in a specific sector.
Universally binding collective agreement A collective agreement that even unaffiliated employers (employers who are not members of an employers’ organisation) in that sector must comply with.
Annual holiday record A record kept by the employer showing the lengths and times of annual holidays, the amounts of pay and compensation and the grounds for their determination.
Annual holiday pay The wages paid to an employee during his/her annual holiday, this must be at least his/her regular or average wage.
Holiday bonus A bonus equal to 50 % of annual holiday pay. Holiday bonuses are provided for in collective agreements, not by law.

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