New Working Hours Act of Finland enters into force 1 January 2020

The Finnish Parliament passed the new Working Hours Act of Finland 13 March 2019. The Act will enter into force 1 January 2020.

The new Working Hours Act of Finland aims to update the rules governing working hours so that the changes in the economic structure and in the ways people work are better taken into consideration. In addition, the new Act aims to create prerequisites for flexible working time.

As the new Act replaces the concept of a ‘workplace’ with a more neutral concept ‘working place’, the new Act seeks to better address the current ways of working. In practice this means that the working hours will no longer be tied to a specific place of work, but rather working hours will – in a simplified explanation – mean time spent working. This will significantly ease the agreements concerning work done from home.

Furthermore, the new Act eases the formation of establishment-level agreements, as the employers and employees are granted more freedom to deviate from the relevant Collective Bargaining Agreements.

On an endnote, it must be brought up that the Employment and Equality Committee stated that the new Working Hours Act of Finland will need to be reformed fairly soon even though it was just passed. Hence, the Working Hours Act of Finland will remain a topical theme in our newsroom in the future as well.

Our Trainee Johannes Lottonen took part in writing of this news post.

01.04.2019 MAX