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The new Working Hours Act has entered into force on 1.1.2020 in Finland

time is money

According to new Working Hours Act it will be possible to use:

  • working hours bank, the purpose of which is to better coordinate the employee's work and leisure time
  • flexible working time format. The agreement can be concluded between the employer and the employee, whereby that the employee can independently decide how, when and where he or she works (at least half of the working time is determined by the worker itself)

The law defines what kind of information the contract must contain, including fixed working hours and weekly rest. Even for those who works under flexible contract, the working time must be reduced to an average of 40 weekly hours.

The condition concerning maximum amount of overtime (138 hours during a four-month period and 250 hours per calendar year) will no longer be monitored.

The employer will have to observe the maximum annual working time. The maximum working time that employee can do is 48 hours per week on average over a 4-month period. In addition to regular working hours, the maximum hours include flexible, extra and overtime hours.

The regular working hours must equalize to 40 hours per week over a 4-month period.

On-call duty or stand-by time (varallaolo) will be regarded as working time when it requires presence in the workplace or in its immediate vicinity.

When agreeing the flexible working hours, the regular daily working hours may be reduced or extended by a maximum of four hours. The average weekly working time will not exceed 40 hours on average over a four-month period, which may be exceeded or lowered within the flexible limits. At the end of the monitoring period, the cumulative number of hours worked should not exceed 60 hours and may be reduced at the maximum of 20 hours.

READ ALSO: Wage and salary workers in Finland:
Earnings per month 2020,
Hourly Earnings 2020,
The median and average salary in Finland, 2021
Employment Situation in Finland, 2022

You can examine all changes of the new Working Hours Act 5.7.2019/872 / Työaikalaki 5.7.2019/872 at finlex.fi (in Finnish). The previous Working Hours Act / Työaikalaki 9.8.1996/605 has been repealed!

You can find out more about Finnish legislation in the field of business and labor here.

Published 06.01.2020
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