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.
 

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.