Problems at the workplace

Yes, if you have acted according to the rules and are unable to do your work due to illness. Read more about sick pay on the website of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in Finland.Opens in a new window.

The salary should be paid for at least ten sick days. The collective agreement for your sector may specify a longer period of sick pay. If your illness lasts for more than ten days, you can receive sickness allowance from Kela.Opens in a new window.

If your workplace's occupational health care agreement includes medical care, book a doctor's appointment with occupational health care. If your workplace's occupational health care services do not include medical care, go to a hospital's emergency clinic or book a doctor's appointment with public health care or a private physician.

If you do not have the insurance certificate with you, you will have to pay for the treatment and medicines yourself. In this case, the insurance company will reimburse the costs according to receipts.

Employers must take out an insurance against the risk of accident and occupational disease for their employees. However, if your employer has not taken out an occupational accident insurance, contact  the Workers’ Compensation Center (TVK).Opens in a new window.

If, despite your request, the employer does not pay your salary correctly, you can contact a trade union if you belong to one. If you are not a member of a trade union, you can ask for help from your workplace's HR representatives or from a legal aid office.

If you are paid a lower salary than the Finnish employees, this may be a case of discrimination against a foreign employee. The occupational safety and health authority investigates suspected cases of discrimination and, if necessary, reports them to the police. You can call the occupational safety and health authority's telephone service or your trade union and ask whether your case is discriminatory.

If the employer is unable to pay your salary, contact wage guarantee immediately. If the employer does not have money, you can receive a salary from there. Submit the application within 3 months of the date on which the salary should have been paid.

If your employer has not paid you a salary, you can in certain cases terminate your employment contract without a period of notice. However, first ask e.g. your trade union or occupational safety and health authority for advice.

An employee on monthly pay is entitled to their normal salary also during the annual holiday. The holiday pay for employees on hourly or performance-based pay may vary between different collective agreements. Several collective agreements also provide for holiday bonus, or so called back-to-work bonus, which is usually 50% of the holiday pay. Holiday bonus is paid in addition to annual holiday pay.

Additional work means more pay. The accumulation of overtime compensation depends on whether your field has a daily, weekly, or periodic overtime compensation agreement.

As a general rule, for work exceeding 8 hours per day, the salary is increased by 50% for the first 2 hours and for the following hours, the salary is increased by 100%. 

For work exceeding 40 hours per week, a 50% increase is paid for the first 8 hours and a 100% increase for the following hours. Weekly overtime does not include daily overtime. 

The collective agreement may have different provisions concerning overtime pay. Check the provisions on overtime compensation in your field from the collective agreement applicable to the field in question.

In some fields, work is period-based. Such work does not include any weekly or daily overtime, and instead all the work hours from a certain period are added up. For example, in the transport sector, the work is carried out in two-week periods, during which regular working hours are a maximum of 80 hours: there is a 50% increase on the regular wage for the first 12 hours of overtime and a 100% increase for any subsequent hours.

Yes, if you and your employer have agreed that you will work on a Sunday, a public holiday or during evenings. If, on the other hand, you have flexible working hours and you yourself have decided to work on, for example, a Sunday, the employer does not need to pay bonuses.

For work carried out on a Sunday or on a church holiday, a salary increase of a 100% must be paid as a Sunday compensation.

You may also be entitled to evening and night work compensation if these have been agreed upon in your sector's collective agreement. For example, if you work in the restaurant sector after 6 p.m., you are entitled to a separate evening compensation, which is paid for each evening work hour.

Regular working hours are 8 hours per day and 40 hours per week at the most. 

In some sectors, such as restaurant and transport businesses, regular working hours can be arranged as so-called period-based work. In these cases, the regular working hours as specified in the Working Hours Act are either 80 hours in a two-week period or 120 hours in a three-week period. In the restaurant sector, the regular working hours cannot exceed 112.5 hours in three weeks. Check the detailed regulations from your sector's collective agreement. 

Working hours can also be arranged on the basis of average, in which case the daily and weekly working hours may vary without you accumulating overtime. At the end of the planned period, the working hours must be adjusted to the normal working hours, usually 40 hours per week. If the working hours are not balanced, you must receive overtime compensation.

At least once a week you must have an uninterrupted weekly rest period of at least 35 hours. If possible, the weekly rest period must be placed in connection with a Sunday.

On working days of more than six hours, you are entitled to a break of at least half an hour. You will not be paid for it if you are free to leave the workplace during the break. The collective agreement for your sector may also include daily coffee breaks, in which case they are part of the paid working hours.

You are entitled to a paid annual leave. You accrue annual holiday days every month when you have worked for at least 14 days or 35 hours. You will accrue either 2 or 2.5 days of holiday per month, amount depending on how long you have worked for your employer.

Your employer is required to allocate 24 weekdays of your annual holiday in the summer holiday season, 2 May to 30 September, if you have accumulated so many days of holiday. You can use the rest of the accumulated days of holiday for example during winter.