Insights | June 30, 2020

Temporary changes to the Finnish labor legislation extended until 31 December 2020

The Finnish Parliament has approved an extension of the temporary changes to labor legislation. The temporary changes were intended to remain in force until 30 June 2020, but, at the initiative of employer and employee unions, they will now remain in force until the end of 2020.

The content of the temporary changes remains essentially the same. The changes include shortening the notice period, co-operation obligations and unemployment benefits when temporarily laying off employees. The aim of the extension is to bring flexibility to labor markets, with the COVID-19 situation still causing uncertainty in the demand for labor.

Temporary changes to unemployment benefits included some substantive changes too. A temporarily laid off employee is no longer entitled to unemployment benefits when employed full-time for a period of over two weeks during the lay-off period. The same applies to entrepreneurs. This means at least partly returning back to normal lay-off legislation.