All countries have laws in place to protect employees from harm. In Finland, for example, employees have the right to be free of discrimination and harassment in the workplace — and employers are responsible for ensuring this right is protected. Employees also have the legal right to report wrongdoing in the workplace (whistleblowing) without fear of reprisal.
In this section, we’ll cover everything you need to know about employee protection laws in Finland, including these examples and more. Understanding these laws is crucial to not only protecting your employees from harm but also avoiding legal trouble and reputational damage to your business in Finland.
Whistleblowers play a crucial role in Finnish society by calling out wrongdoing they witness at work. This ensures companies and individuals are held to account for illegal or immoral behaviour. For this reason, Finland has strong laws protecting whistleblowers and enabling them to easily make disclosures when necessary.
The Finnish Whistleblower Protection Law is based on the EU Whistleblower Protection Directive. Though there were some delays in the directive’s implementation in Finland, the new law entered into force on 1 January 2023.
According to Finland’s whistleblowing law, employers with at least 50 employees must set up whistleblowing channels that allow employees and other interested parties to easily report wrongdoing. Group companies that collectively employ 50 or more employees are allowed to establish joint channels.
Employees in Finland should be able to report breaches orally or in writing. Employers must also ensure that reports are confidential. This means that only people designated to receive and process reports should have access to reporting channels. Organisations are not obliged to allow for anonymous reports, though they can choose to do so.
A potential whistleblower in Finland should first make a report through their organisation’s internal channel, and only report to external authorities if no action is taken. Once an organisation receives a report, they must provide the whistleblower with an acknowledgement of receipt within seven days, and follow up with the actions to be taken within three months.
Finland’s whistleblowing law applies to serious breaches that endanger the public interest in specific legal fields. For example, the law covers reports of breaches of EU or national law related to product safety, competition rules, public procurement, and environmental protection. Breaches of labour law fall outside of the scope of the Whistleblower Protection Law.
Whistleblowers are usually employees of a company, but they could also be other people associated with the business who discover breaches during the course of their work. For example, a whistleblower might be:
Finland’s whistleblowing law also includes measures that protect whistleblowers from retaliation after reporting a breach. This part of the law applies to all employers, even if their small headcount means they don’t have to set up an internal whistleblowing channel.
Retaliation might include dismissal, reassignment of duties, reductions in pay, or other decisions that negatively affect the whistleblower. If an organisation chooses to make a ‘negative’ decision about a whistleblower after a disclosure, it must be able to provide justification that the decision was not based on the person’s whistleblowing activities.
Employee data protection is particularly important in Finland, and there are rules in place to protect employees’ privacy. Companies employing workers in Finland need to be aware of the rules so they understand what they can and can’t do with their employees’ data.
As Finland is a member state of the European Union, employers need to follow the rules set out in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The main local legislation that applies is the Data Protection Act, which came into force in 2018. There is also sector-specific legislation that employers need to be aware of, including the Act on the Protection of Privacy in Working Life. This act sets rules on the processing of employees’ and job applicants’ personal data.
Generally speaking, employers can only process the personal data of employees or job applicants when it is either:
Employers always need a valid legal reason to process employees’ personal data. Where possible, employers should collect any necessary data from employees directly to ensure they know what type of data is being collected. Collecting personal data from other sources is possible with employee consent. However, employee consent is not a valid justification for collecting data on its own because of the power imbalance between employers and employees.
Employers in Finland must follow strict rules on employee monitoring and surveillance, which are set out in the Act on the Protection of Privacy in Working Life. Specifically, employers may only operate camera surveillance in the workplace to:
Camera surveillance cannot be used for the surveillance of specific employees. Employers are also not permitted to place cameras in toilets, changing rooms, or other rooms designed for employees’ personal use.
Employers who need temporary labour sometimes choose to hire workers through a temporary work agency. This can be a useful way to deal with short-term increases in work or to replace an employee who is absent for a brief period. However, there are strict rules that apply to the use of temporary work agencies in Finland, which employers need to be aware of.
In Finland, using a temporary work agency requires an agreement between three parties: the agency, the worker, and the user company. The temporary work agency is the worker’s employer and is responsible for paying their wages. The user company directs and supervises their work.
The user company must have legal grounds for fixed-term employment, which are the same as if they hired the worker directly. For example, a user company could use labour sourced through a temporary work agency to work on a short-term project or to meet additional needs during peak seasons.
The rights of temporary agency workers in Finland are set by employment legislation and any collective bargaining agreement that applies. User companies are required to provide agency workers with a written confirmation of their terms and conditions of employment, no matter how short the employment relationship. Because temporary agency workers are employees of the agency, their terms and conditions may be different from others working directly for the user company.
User companies must tell temporary agency workers about any permanent positions that arise within the organisation and give them the opportunity to apply. This can be done by advertising the positions generally within the company, such as in a staff newsletter or noticeboard.
Employees in Finland have the right not to be discriminated against at work and in their personal lives. This means that they can’t be treated differently from others because of a protected characteristic and must be given equal access to opportunities.
The main anti-discrimination law in Finland is the Non-Discrimination Act. This prohibits discrimination in hiring, during the employment relationship, and at termination. Employers in Finland should be aware that discrimination could occur even before recruitment based on selection criteria or the job information provided.
According to the Non-Discrimination Act, discrimination means putting an employee or job applicant in a different position on the basis of one of the following protected characteristics:
Discrimination can be direct or indirect. Direct discrimination is treating an employee differently based on one of the characteristics above. For example, hiring only candidates of a specific nationality or belief system would be considered direct discrimination.
Indirect discrimination, on the other hand, is when a rule theoretically applies to everyone but disproportionately impacts certain groups. For example, including a height requirement (for a role that didn’t require it) would be an example of indirect discrimination, since this is likely to rule out more women than men.
Harassment is considered to be another form of discrimination in Finland. It’s also prohibited by the Non-Discrimination Act. It’s defined as unwanted behaviour related to a protected characteristic, which creates a threatening, degrading, or offensive atmosphere.
Anti-discrimination law in Finland requires employees to ensure discrimination and harassment do not occur in their organisations. Employees who have been subject to discrimination or harassment should first discuss the issue with their employer. They can also approach their workplace’s occupational safety representatives or workers’ representatives.
If this doesn’t resolve the issue, employees can contact the nationwide telephone service of the occupational safety and health authorities for advice. They can then bring a claim to court for compensation, involving union representatives if needed. Employers must not retaliate against employees for invoking their rights under the Non-Discrimination Act.
In Finland, equal pay for men and women is a fundamental right. That means that employers in Finland must not pay workers differently for the same work or work of equal value. Despite this, there is still a gender pay gap in Finland. There are several laws and procedures aimed at reducing it, including the Equality Act.
Employers with 30 or more employees in Finland must draw up a gender equality plan and carry out an equal pay audit every two years. This process involves reporting details of the employment of men and women in different jobs, and performing a survey of the classification of jobs, pay, and pay differences by gender.
Employers must submit the results of their report to the Ombudsman for Equality. If they find a difference in pay between genders with no acceptable explanation, they must take corrective action to resolve it.
In 2024, the EU Council and Parliament approved a new directive on pay transparency, which will come into effect in all member states by 2026. This directive will introduce several changes to the law in Finland with the aim of improving pay transparency and reducing the gender pay gap. For example, the following measures will be introduced:
Understanding what you can and can’t do as an employer is one of the biggest challenges of hiring in Finland. Get it wrong, and you could face legal action and damage to your reputation.
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