Finnish employment law relies heavily on collective agreements rather than statutory wage minimums to set your everyday baseline. An employment contract is by default valid indefinitely, while a trial period can last at most six months if agreed, and notice periods depend on the duration of service. Understanding whether a collective agreement applies to your employer is the first step to knowing your exact pay, notice, and leave rights.
The contract and the written terms
An employment contract can be made verbally, in writing or electronically, though a written contract protects both sides. Even if you agree to terms verbally, the employer must give a written statement of the principal terms of employment to anyone working at least three hours a week over four successive weeks.
The delivery of these terms follows strict deadlines:
- Core terms (items 1 to 8 of the Act's statutory list) must be provided within seven days of starting work.
- The remaining terms must be given within one month of starting work.
An employment contract is by default valid indefinitely. A fixed-term contract requires a justified reason, unless it qualifies as a first fixed-term contract without one. Alongside statutory terms, workplace norms are shaped by everyday practices, which you can read about in our guide to Finnish business culture.
Pay without a minimum wage law
Finland has no statutory minimum wage law. Instead, pay is agreed in the employment contract within the limits of the applicable collective agreement (työehtosopimus).
Wage floors depend on the following framework:
- If an employer belongs to an employers' organisation that signed a collective agreement, that agreement's pay provisions bind it.
- Where a sector has a universally binding collective agreement (yleissitova työehtosopimus), even employers outside any employers' organisation must follow its terms.
- An employment contract cannot set pay below the minimum in an applicable collective agreement.
- If nothing has been agreed on pay, the employer must pay what is usual and reasonable for the work.
The trial period
A trial period (koeaika) can last at most six months. It must be agreed before work begins, because it starts automatically when the work starts.
The trial period is subject to clear limits and extension rules:
- In a fixed-term contract, the trial period, including extensions, cannot exceed half the contract's length and can never exceed six months.
- The employer can extend the trial period by one month for every 30 calendar days of sick or family leave taken during it.
- The employer must notify the employee of any such extension before the original period ends.
Either side can end the contract during the trial period, but not on discriminatory grounds or grounds unrelated to the purpose of the trial.
Fixed-term contracts and the June 2026 change
A fixed-term contract made at the employer's initiative normally needs a justified reason, such as substitution, a project, a one-off task or seasonal work. In addition, a long-term unemployed person can be hired on a fixed-term contract without a justified reason for up to one year.
From 1 June 2026, an employer may make the first fixed-term contract with an employee without a justified reason for up to one year. This option will also be permitted if at least five years have passed since the employee last worked for the same employer. For these specific contracts without a justified reason, additional conditions apply:
- Either side can terminate the contract once it has lasted at least six months, even if the contract does not explicitly state this.
- Before the contract ends, the employer must give a justified account of whether the employment can continue.
- At the employee's request, that account must be given in writing within one month.
Back-to-back fixed-term contracts at the employer's initiative are not allowed when they show that the need for labour is permanent. A fixed-term contract made in breach of the law is treated as a contract of indefinite duration. For what happens when employment ends, see the rules on unemployment funds in Finland.
Notice periods
Notice periods can be agreed differently in individual contracts or collective agreements, but agreed periods may not exceed six months. The employee's notice period may never be longer than the employer's.
Under the Employment Contracts Act, statutory notice depends on the duration of service:
Notice given by the employer
- Up to 1 year of employment: 14 days
- 1 to 4 years of employment: 1 month
- 4 to 8 years of employment: 2 months
- 8 to 12 years of employment: 4 months
- Over 12 years of employment: 6 months
Notice given by the employee
- Up to 5 years of employment: 14 days
- Over 5 years of employment: 1 month
Collective agreements may set their own notice periods. The employee is paid their normal salary for the whole notice period, even if the employer releases them from the obligation to work.
Working hours, overtime and breaks
Regular working hours must not, as a rule, exceed eight hours a day or 40 hours a week. Working hours can be averaged to 40 hours a week over an adjustment period of up to 52 weeks.
Overtime rules and rest periods are strictly regulated:
- Additional and overtime work always require the employee's consent.
- Daily overtime is paid at the regular wage plus 50% for the first two hours, and plus 100% for hours after that, unless a collective agreement says otherwise.
- Weekly overtime is paid at the regular wage plus 50%.
- Employees are entitled, as a rule, to at least 11 hours of uninterrupted rest in the 24 hours after a shift begins.
- Employees get at least 35 hours of uninterrupted free time in each seven-day period, preferably around Sunday.
- Working more than six hours a day gives the right to a break of at least one hour (or no less than half an hour by agreement), during which you are permitted to leave the workplace.
For how paid time off works, consult our guide to annual leave in Finland.
When you are ill
By law, the employer pays sick pay for the day the employee fell ill and each working day in the following nine weekdays. If the employment has lasted at least one month, sick pay is full pay. In employment that has lasted less than one month, sick pay is 50% of regular pay. Collective agreements usually give a longer sick pay period than the Act.
Statutory sickness allowance is provided through the Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela):
- Kela sickness allowance starts after a waiting period of usually the first day of illness and the following nine working days.
- Sickness allowance is for people aged 18 to 67 who cannot do their usual work because of illness.
- Sickness allowance is paid for at most 300 working days, about a year.
- The minimum sickness allowance in 2026 is EUR 31.99 per weekday (Monday to Saturday).
- If the employer keeps paying salary during the absence, the employer usually applies and Kela pays the sickness allowance to the employer.
- Apply for sickness allowance within two months of becoming unable to work.
