Long-term posting means work lasting for a minimum of 12 months. In the future, long-term postings to Finland, i.e. those lasting at minimum 12 months, will be subject not only to mandatory employment conditions as defined in the Act on Posting Workers, but also to additional employment conditions. 

This will ensure equal treatment of posted workers in the country of work in relation to local employees.

In practice, the application of the additional employment conditions will take place in a year's time at the earliest, as the calculation of the minimum time of 12 months began on 1 December 2020, when the amendment entered into force.

Cases of long-term posting 

The obligation to apply the additional employment conditions for long-term posting applies to all cases of posting.

Long-term posting refers to work lasting more than 12 months, after which the posted worker's employment relationship must also be subject to other than mandatory employment conditions. 

At the justified request of the posting undertaking, the 12-month limit of work may be extended to a maximum of 18 months. In this case, the application of the additional employment conditions will only begin after the notified extension if the posting continues in the same work at the same workplace. 

The calculation of the time limit will take into account actual work, which refers to actual working hours in Finland, paid leave and sick leave.

When determining the fulfilment of the long-term posting time limit of at least 12 months, the durations of several posting periods shall be added together if the posting employer replaces the posted worker with another posted worker performing the same work in the same place of work. In the event of a replacement, the duration of the posting period shall be the total duration of the posting periods of the individual posted workers concerned. In other words, long-term posting will not be assessed on an employee-by-employee basis. 

It is good for the employer to have a monitoring system in place that allows for the calculation of the fulfilment of the time limit for the working time in situations where workers are replaced.

The posting undertaking as an employer is obliged to inform the worker whom it has posted if the same work has been performed by a worker who has previously been posted to the same workplace. The employer must also notify how long the posting period of the previous employee or employees has lasted. 

Additional employment conditions

In Finland, the additional terms and conditions refer to the terms of a generally applicable collective agreement or other collective agreement binding on the posting undertaking that would apply in addition to the provisions on working hours, annual leave and occupational safety, with the exception of the provisions on the conclusion, termination, non-competition obligation and occupational supplementary pensions.

Additional employment conditions based on collective agreements are usually related to paid absences, such as the employee's 50th birthday, the funeral date of a close relative, payment for years of pensionable service and obligations to pay sick pay. The additional employment conditions must be clarified case-specifically on the basis of the collective agreement to be applied in the employment relationship. 

In particular, any of the following provisions, which shall be earned depending on time limits or the duration of the employment relationship, must be taken into account:

• determination of the personal payment component;
• paid anniversaries;
• accumulation of annual leave and holiday pay;
• holiday compensation and holiday bonus;
• meal remuneration;
• work experience supplements;
• the payment of sick pay, and
• the payment of maternity and paternity leave pay.

Any other provisions on various supplements and compensations relevant to the promotion of equal treatment of posted workers should also be taken into account. 

Annual leave, Independence Day and May Day

In addition, the provisions of the Annual Holidays Act concerning the granting of annual leave and the acts on celebrating Independence Day as a public holiday and the arrangement of May Day as a holiday for employees in certain cases shall apply. 

According to the act on celebrating Independence Day as a public holiday, despite the suspension of work, the employee must be paid a salary equivalent to a full working day for Independence Day if it had otherwise been a working day. 

The entitlement to pay on May Day and midweek holidays is determined on the basis of the provisions of the collective agreements applicable to the work.

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