Finland: Termination of employment

Original and updating author: Teea Kemppinen, Bird & Bird Attorneys Ltd

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Summary

• Employment contracts may be terminated in various ways. (See General)
• Where the notice period has not been agreed in the individual employment contract or an applicable collective agreement, statutory notice periods apply. (See Notice periods)
• Grounds "related to the employee's person" may constitute a "proper and weighty reason" permitting the dismissal of an employee on an open-ended employment contract with notice. (See Dismissal on grounds related to the employee's person)
• Financial and production-related grounds may constitute a "proper and weighty reason" permitting the dismissal of an employee on an open-ended employment contract with notice (this essentially means redundancy). (See Dismissal on financial and production-related grounds)
• An employer is entitled to terminate an employment contract summarily without notice - known as cancellation of the employment contract - only for an "extremely weighty" cause. (See Termination without notice)
• Employees must not be dismissed on the grounds of pregnancy or exercising statutory family-leave entitlements. (See Special dismissal protection)
• In all cases, notice of termination must be delivered to the employee or employer in person. (See Termination procedures)
• The employer is under no statutory obligation to make any severance payment to an employee on termination of the employment. (See Severance payments)
• On termination of the employment relationship, the employee is entitled to receive, on request, from the employer a written certificate, stating the duration of the employment relationship and the nature of the work duties. (See Certificate of employment)
• If an employee who has been dismissed believes that the dismissal breached the statutory rules, they may bring a case, usually in the district court, within two years of the date on which the employment ended, seeking compensation. (See Unfair/unlawful dismissal)