Government measures in key jurisdictions 4th edition - Flipbook - Page 46
Finland
Employment
•
Employers’ statutory pension contribution has temporarily been reduced. Employers’
statutory pension contribution (has been reduced by 2.6 percentage points. In addition, the
contribution payments can be postponed by up to three months.
What financial
support is the government
•
Employees’ right to unemployment security has temporarily been improved. The qualifying
providing to businesses
period for unemployment benefit has been removed, i.e. temporarily laid-off or terminated
and to individuals on
employees are entitled to unemployment benefit from the first day of unemployment. Also,
employment issues?
the required period for employment that employees have to meet in order to be entitled to
unemployment allowance has been reduced. Unlike before the coronavirus pandemic,
entrepreneurs are now also entitled to unemployment security.
Insolvency
•
The Finnish government has made multiple amendments to the employment legislation. The
most important changes are related to employer’s right to temporarily lay-off employees and
terminate employment contracts, as well as the personnel consultation obligation which
employers in Finland have to fulfill before making decisions that affect its personnel, such as
redundancies.
•
Normally, employers are not entitled to lay off fixed-term employees on financial grounds.
Now, employers are entitled to temporarily lay off fixed-term employees in the case of
temporary reduction of work. Furthermore, temporary lay-offs may be executed following a
five-day notice period instead of the usual 14-day notice period.
•
The government has expanded the right to terminate an employment contract, as
cancellation of an employment relationship during a trial period is now allowed on financial
and production-related grounds. Normally, cancellation during a trial period is only possible
on individual grounds.
•
The duration of the negotiations pursuant to the personnel consultation obligation has been
reduced to 5 days instead of the usual 14-42 days.
•
Employers’ obligation to re-employ an employee whose employment has been terminated on
financial and production-related grounds has been extended to 9 months from the usual 4-6
months, which improves employees’ possibilities to return to previous employment.
•
All temporary amendments are expected to remain in force until 31 December 2020.
•
On 28 April 2020, the parliament of Finland approved a legislative proposal for the temporary
amendment of the Finnish Bankruptcy Act. The Bankruptcy Act is temporarily amended so as to
restrict a creditor’s right to file for the bankruptcy of a debtor on the basis of an insolvency
assumption. Pursuant to the normal Bankruptcy Act, a debtor is deemed insolvent by the court if
the debtor has not repaid a clear and undisputed claim that has fallen due within one week of the
receipt of a payment reminder. Thus, as a result of the law reform, this assumption is temporarily
removed. The amendment will be in force until 31 October 2020.
•
In addition to the above, there have been some temporary amendments to the Enforcement Code
in such way that the exceptional circumstances arising from the coronavirus pandemic and the
financial difficulties resulting from it could be taken into account in the enforcement proceedings.
Has the government
made any changes
to insolvency
legislation?
Government measures in key jurisdictions
46