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The Finnish labor legislation – an introduction part 5
Collective Agreement vs. Employment Contract
There are several different factors that regulate
the employment relationship between employer
and employee.
At a more general level, there is labor legislation
that regulates all employment and
employment-related issues. At a bit more specific
level, there are different collective agreements
for specific sectors bargained by central
labor parties (in the university sector Juko ry
and Sivistystyönantajat). And at the very individual
level, there is the employment contract
between the employer and the employee. There
may also be different kinds of established practices
at the work place that also regulate the
employment relationship.
I have already discussed the main labor laws
in Finland. Below I will discuss the relations between
collective agreement and individual employment
contract.
The collective agreement is a type of contract
between central labor parties at different sectors
or work-specific areas in Finland. The collective
agreement provides guidelines for the
employment relationship at those work places
where it is applied. In collective agreement,
there are regulations about the salary systems
that are used at the work place, the working
hour systems, annual holidays, absences from
the work place, local bargaining practices and
different kinds of sector related regulations.
Some of the matters regulated in the collective
agreement may also be found in the various
labor laws, but they may be agreed upon in
a different manner in the collective agreement,
usually on a higher level than in the respective
law. The employment contract is a contract
between employer and employee as described before in the article covering
The Employment Contracts
Act. The employment contract
is a specific contract and
also the most important piece
of regulation governing the
individual employment relationship.
In the employment contract are listed
the specific duties of the employee and his/her
personal salary, among other things. Employment
contract may always have better terms for
the employee than those stated in legislation
or the collective agreement, but never worse,
since legislation and regulations in collective
agreement are compulsory and are there basically
to protect the employee. Also, when there
is a collision between the employment contract
and the collective agreement, the employment
contract has priority.
Over an unspecified amount of time (several
years, usually) a practice may develop and become
established in such a way that it is considered
legally binding. For example, the employer
might pay out a Christmas bonus and fail
to document this practice in any way. Over the
years, the practice of paying the Christmas bonus
may be established as a common practice,
and after that the employer may not withdraw
or change such a practice on their own initiative.
For more details, please visit:
www.sivistystyonantajat.fi/tiedostopankki/158/General_collective_agreement_for_universities_1_April_2014_31_January_2017.pdf
Mia Weckman
- Painetussa lehdessä sivu 44
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