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Termination of Employment Convention, 1982 (No. 158) - Finland (RATIFICATION: 1992)

Parts IV and V of the report form. Practical information on the application of the Convention. The Committee notes the Government’s report received in September 2011 and the comments from the Central Organization of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK), the Confederation of Unions for Academic Professionals in Finland (AKAVA), and the Finnish Confederation of Salaried Employees (STTK). In reply to the previous observation, the Government indicates that the share of fixed-term government employees has progressively diminished and currently stands at less than 11 per cent of all personnel. The practices for examining individual cases concerning fixed-term personnel are being developed in cooperation with workers’ organizations.

The Government also indicates that employment subsidies may be granted for ten months, at most, per person at a time, or for the whole duration of apprenticeship training. For the purposes of providing employment for a jobseeker with reduced employment capacity or a person with disabilities, pay subsidies may be granted for 24 months, at most, per person at a time. In 2010, state employment appropriations were allocated to 43,000 persons based on decisions to grant a pay subsidy or decisions to hire employees. Of the 43,000, 6 per cent found work in the public sector, 32 per cent in the municipal sector, and 62 per cent in the private sector. In the private sector, 49 per cent were placed in fixed term employment relationships. The Committee invites the Government to continue to provide information on subsidized employment.

The Committee notes the comments by the SAK and AKAVA indicating that one problem related to termination of employment and temporary agency work is how an agreed temporary agency employment relationship may be terminated in advance on the grounds of the client’s general discontent with the temporary agency worker, without any legal grounds for termination. In its comments, the STTK highlights the threat imposed by changes in the different types of work to the application of Convention No. 158. As the regulation on fixed-term and part-time employment becomes stricter, other forms of work and work-related arrangements, such as temporary agency work, project-based work, assignments, various forms of self-employment and subcontracting have increased. The STTK further indicates that analysing the changes in the different types of work and finding solutions is part of the tripartite development of working life included in the government programme. The Committee invites the Government to include data in its next report on the activities of the bodies of appeal and to provide information on the legislative developments resulting from tripartite consultations on the matters covered by the Convention.

Article 2(3) of the Convention. Adequate safeguards against recourse to fixed-term employment contracts. The Government reports that the tripartite working group appointed by the Ministry of Employment and the Economy completed its report on fixed-term employment relationships in February 2007. The changes in legislation prepared on the basis of the working group’s proposals entered into force at the beginning of 2008. The goal of these legislative changes was more thoroughly planned grounds for future fixed-term employment contracts, as well as bringing the grounds to the attention of employees. An amendment to the Employment Contracts Act (1224/2010), entered into force at the beginning of 2011, specifying the provisions concerning the permissibility of use of repeated fixed-term employment contracts. The Government indicates that the amendment was prompted by the Supreme Court Decision KKO 2010:11, evaluating the permissibility of use of repeated fixed-term employment contracts in situations where the operations of the employer company’s day-care service were based on annual, fixed-term purchase agreements with the city administration. Following the amendment, section 3(2) of the Employment Contracts Act now states that an employment contract is valid indefinitely, unless concluded for a fixed term on the basis of a justified reason. Employment contracts made for a fixed term on the employer’s initiative without a justified reason shall be considered to be valid indefinitely. According to section 3(3) of the Employment Contracts Act, the use of repeated fixed-term employment contracts is not permissible if the number of fixed-term contracts, their combined duration or the total employment they represent show the employer’s demand for labour to be permanent. The Public Servants Act lays down the grounds that justify the appointment of a person in a public service position or employment relationship for a fixed term. According to the Act, a person, who considers that the appointment in a fixed-term public service position or public service employment relationship concluded for a fixed term is not compliant with the grounds laid down in the Act, is entitled to demand compensation within six months of the termination of employment. The system for appointing public servants for a fixed term deviates from the system under the Employment Contracts Act most significantly in the way that a public servant appointed for a fixed term without grounds laid down in the Public Servant Act may receive compensation, but the employment relationship will not be regarded as an open ended one. However, the objective of both systems is the same: to prevent undermining the employment security of public servants and employees. The Committee invites the Government to continue providing information on the maximum length of use of fixed-term contracts in such instances, and their impact. It also invites the Government to include in its next report copies of the decisions rendered applying section 3(2) and (3) of the Employment Contracts Act.

Article 13. Consultation of workers’ representatives concerning terminations of employment for economic, technological, structural or similar reasons. The Government indicates that cooperation and the pursuit of consensus are highlighted significantly in the Act on Cooperation within Undertakings and its provisions on various cooperation procedures. Various situations in addition to the termination of employment require the use of cooperation procedures. The scope of the Act was expanded and it is applied, subject to certain exceptions, to enterprises normally employing at least 20 persons. The employer is required to submit the enterprise’s fixed-term and part-time employee data to the representative of each personnel group on a quarterly basis. The Act on Cooperation within Undertakings enhances the shared practices related to the use of external workforce in workplaces. Moreover, the regulations on negotiation periods have been simplified. The employer must initiate the negotiations and present all information relative to the case with sufficient notice to allow the employees or the representatives of personnel groups to prepare for the negotiations in addition to discussing the information among themselves and with the employees they represent. In cases of reducing the number of personnel, the initiative must be made five days prior to commencing the negotiations. The minimum period of negotiations concerning termination of employment, redundancies or reassignments to part-time work was extended from seven to 14 days, if the measures are targeted at less than ten employees. In cases where the measures target more than ten employees, the negotiation period remains at six weeks. However, if the enterprise has between 20 and 29 employees, the minimum negotiation period is 14 days. The Committee notes that a Cooperation Ombudsman was appointed at the beginning of July 2010 to work in conjunction with the Ministry of Employment and the Economy, and was tasked with supervising the compliance of the Act on Cooperation within Undertakings and other legislation concerning the personnel participation systems, as well as providing instructions and advice on the application of laws. The Cooperation Ombudsman is also authorised to invite the employer to correct procedures that violate the law, to bring matters under preliminary investigation, and in certain cases, demand the court to impose a conditional fine. The Committee invites the Government to continue to provide in its next report information on the operation of the consultation mechanisms with workers’ representatives on terminations of employment for economic, technological, structural or similar reasons.