Finnish Commerce Federation’s guidelines in relation to the coronavirus

What to do when an employee is returning from abroad 

Note! The instructions will be updated as soon as possible. / 10.8.2020

According to the Government’s previous guidelines, Finnish citizens returning from foreign countries and permanent residents of Finland are to spend two weeks in quarantine-like conditions. These guidelines were valid until 13 May.

Employees returning from abroad should make agreements with their employers concerning the timing of their return to work and their two-week absence.

Under these circumstances, this advice could be interpreted as meaning that when an employee returns to Finland from any other country, the impediment to work is not attributable to the employer and, therefore, the employer is not obliged to pay the salary, unless the work can be done by other means, such as remote working. However, in such circumstances, it is advisable to seek an agreement on the use of annual holiday or other paid leave.

Quarantine-like conditions do not mean quarantine imposed by a physician in accordance with the Act on Communicable Diseases, so it does not lead to the obligation to pay the salary in accordance with the collective agreement.

However, if the employee is returning from a work-related trip, it is advisable to pay the salary.

The Government has decided that, from 14 May onwards, any person arriving in Finland should avoid all unnecessary contact with others and self-quarantine for 14 days. People in self-quarantine are permitted to travel between their home and workplace and to make other essential journeys.

As work is permitted during self-quarantine, as of 14 May, employers can no longer order employees returning from foreign countries to stay at home in quarantine for 14 days without paying them a wage or salary. Whether the employee is returning to Finland from a leisure trip or work-related travel has no bearing on the assessment of this matter.

The criteria for applying the law on financial support for people on unpaid leaves of absence from work are no longer fulfilled. As such, from 14 May onwards, the employee is not entitled to temporary financial support according to the law. However, if the employer decides to prevent an employee from returning to work, the employer shall be obliged to pay a wage or salary for the duration of the absence.

An employee has been quarantined while on a business trip abroad and is, therefore, unable to travel back to work in Finland. 

The employer is obliged to pay the salary for the period during which the employee is prevented from returning (as well as the salary to cover the original business trip). The employer shall also compensate the employee for any excess costs, such as additional accommodation and a daily allowance, including expenses.

At its own expense, the employer must also help the employee return to Finland.

If the employee is able to work remotely, the employee shall be obliged to do their work, insofar as is possible. No compensation is payable on the basis of the Finnish Communicable Diseases Act if the employee is quarantined outside the EU, so remote working does not affect the compensation.

An employee has been quarantined while on a trip abroad that they organised themselves and is therefore unable to come to work 

No compensation is payable on the basis of the Finnish Communicable Diseases Act if the employee is quarantined outside the EU, so the absence from work is unpaid.

If the employee is in quarantine in another EU country, it is possible to receive a communicable disease allowance in accordance with the Finnish Communicable Diseases Act. This requires the appropriate documentation.

In any case, the employee is entitled to be absent from work, as this is an incident of force majeure.

The employee is not entitled to transfer annual leave if they are not ill.

An employee refuses to travel, citing the risk of contracting the coronavirus. Is the employee obliged to go on a business trip? 

On 16 March 2020, the Finnish Government announced measures to close Finland’s borders with rapid effect while complying with its international obligations.

In the current circumstances, companies should eliminate all travel. Efforts should be made to replace travel with other means of working, such as remote meetings.

Note: the section concerning work-related travel has been updated since the previous version.

Can an employer obligate an employee to have a health check to determine whether the employee has a coronavirus infection? 

If an employee has no symptoms and has not been exposed to the virus (in other words, the employee has not been in contact with anybody who is suffering from the virus), they cannot be obligated to undergo a health check.

If the employee has been in contact with an infected person, they can be ordered into quarantine, meaning that they cannot come to work.

If the employee has the symptoms of coronavirus, they can be ordered into isolation, meaning that they cannot come to work.

The physician in charge of communicable diseases in a public service employment relationship either with the municipality or joint municipal authority for hospital district may order a person into quarantine or isolation (Communicable Diseases Act, section 60).

The pay rises previously agreed in the collective agreements with the Finnish Commerce Federation will take effect as normal.

More detailed information:

Collective Agreement for the Commercial Sector, Collective Agreement for Retail Supervisors, Collective Agreement for Warehouse and Transportation Supervisors

Collective Agreement for Opticians

Commercial Transport Workers

Reviews of working hours

For employees working less than 37.5 hours per week, the review of working hours should be conducted as normal in accordance with clause 6(1) of the Collective Agreement for the Commercial Sector, even if the company has ongoing co-operation negotiations and/or the company is laying off its employees.

If the review of working hours indicates that the number of contractual hours of a person working less than 37.5 hours per week will be increased to correspond to the actual working hours, the employment contract can be amended. The unions have agreed that this shall not violate the lay-off protection or entitlement to available work of employees who have been laid off or are threatened with lay-off. This is not a matter of offering additional work to part-time employees; it solely concerns adjusting the employment contract to correspond to the actual working hours.

If it would cause the company difficulties to increase the number of contractual working hours in the current circumstances, it is advisable to agree on a longer review period. Review periods lasting longer than six months must be agreed in accordance with clause 23. The matter shall be concluded with a shop steward if one has been elected at the workplace.

How is the salary determined if the employer instructs an employee not to come to work even though the employee is not quarantined and there are no grounds such as those stated above in relation to travel? 

The salary shall be paid as normal.

How should the salary be paid for the period of illness if an employee contracts the coronavirus? 

The salary should be paid as normal in accordance with section 16 of the Collective Agreement for the Commercial Sector.

Self-certification procedure in the collective agreements between the Finnish Commerce Federation and PAM during the coronavirus pandemic 

The temporary collective agreement provisions negotiated by the unions on 18 March permit employees to take self-certified sick leave of up to five calendar days without a certificate from a doctor or nurse due to flu or the coronavirus.

The employer may require the employee to provide a doctor’s certificate covering the entire period of absence before wages are paid if this is considered necessary for justified reasons.

This provision shall remain in force until 30 June 2020.

Imposing quarantine 

If an employee covered by the collective agreement negotiated by the Finnish Commerce Federation is ordered into quarantine in accordance with the Finnish Communicable Diseases Act, the employee shall be paid a salary for the period of quarantine in accordance with the provisions concerning pay during sick leave. Employers who pay salary on this basis are entitled to receive full compensation from Kela for the salary they pay during the quarantine period. This also applies if an employee receives a communicable disease allowance while quarantined in another EU country. The doctor’s decision must be presented to the employer, and it is also a prerequisite for the payment of the communicable disease allowance.

If an employee works remotely during the quarantine period, they shall receive the same salary as for ordinary work over the corresponding period. Sick leave pay shall be paid in accordance with the collective agreement for the period when the employee is not working. The employer may only receive a communicable disease allowance for the period during which it pays sick leave pay.

The communicable disease allowance does not include compensation for wage add-on costs – it is a form of compensation for the actual salary alone.

Employees who are not covered by the collective agreement are not entitled to any sick leave pay from the employer on the basis of being in quarantine. However, the employee may be entitled to a communicable disease allowance in accordance with the Communicable Diseases Act. Working has the effect of reducing the amount of communicable disease allowance payable in the same proportion as the reduction in the loss of earnings.

In other words, the amount of communicable disease allowance is based on the loss of earnings, and it is only paid to cover the loss of earnings.

Remote work and quarantine 

Employees shall be obliged to work remotely if it is otherwise possible. In addition, the parties can always agree on remote work.

Note: The section concerning remote work and the communicable disease allowance has been updated since the previous version.

Employees who are covered by the collective agreement negotiated by the Finnish Commerce Federation shall be paid a salary as normal under the collective agreement if the case concerns a child under ten years of age.

Self-certification procedure in the collective agreements between the Finnish Commerce Federation and PAM during the coronavirus pandemic 

According to the temporary collective agreement provisions negotiated by the unions on 18 March, it is sufficient for the employee to state that a child is ill as referred to in the provision, and no medical certificate is required (self-certification procedure). However, the employer may obligate the employee to present a medical certificate or other account of the illness that is accepted by the employer if the employer deems it necessary on justified grounds.

This provision shall remain in force until 30 June 2020.

Other employees 

Employees who are not covered by the collective agreement shall not be entitled on the basis of the collective agreement to receive pay in these circumstances (however, such an entitlement may arise due to the employment contract, company-specific practice or other grounds). However, the employee shall be entitled to take unpaid leave of up to four days at a time on the basis of the provisions of the Employment Contracts Act concerning temporary childcare leave (chapter 4, section 6). For absences longer than this, it is advisable to seek an agreement concerning arrangements related to the absence.

Quarantine of a child under 16 years of age when the child is healthy 

A communicable disease allowance may also be payable if the parent or guardian of a child under 16 years of age is required to be absent from work because the child has been ordered to stay at home to prevent the spread of a disease. In such a case, the employee shall not be paid a salary on the basis of the quarantine provision of the collective agreement.

However, the employee shall not be entitled to be absent from work on this basis if the criteria stated in the Employment Contracts Act concerning absences for compelling family reasons are not fulfilled (Employment Contracts Act, chapter 4, section 7).

As a general rule, it can be stated that employees are entitled to be absent from work when a child under ten years of age is quarantined. In practice, employers and employees are advised to seek an agreement on the arrangements necessitated by each case.

If a school or day care centre is closed, but the child is healthy and has not been quarantined: 

The closure of schools will lead to situations in which healthy children who have not been quarantined are required to stay at home. Under these circumstances, the employee’s entitlement to absence shall be evaluated in accordance with chapter 4, section 7 of the Employment Contracts Act, which stipulates the grounds for absence from work for compelling family reasons.

Such cases shall be assessed on the basis of whether the employee is entitled to be absent from work for compelling family reasons. As a general rule, it can be stated that employees are entitled to be absent from work when a child under ten years of age is quarantined. The absence shall be unpaid. In practice, employers and employees are advised to seek an agreement on the arrangements necessitated by each case. For example, it may be an option to use annual holiday days or leave accrued in a working time bank.

Right of employees’ children to attend schools   

On 23 March 2020, the Government removed the specification for critical sectors applying to face-to-face teaching, so all children are allowed to attend teaching. However, the Government strongly recommends that children engage in remote learning, and face-to-face teaching should be the last resort.

Can an employee in a workplace refuse to work with an employee who has been travelling in an area where the infection risk is high? 

Employees cannot refuse to work with other employees who do not have symptoms and have not been exposed to the virus.

In the event of exposure or the onset of symptoms, the procedures specified in the Communicable Diseases Act concerning quarantine or isolation should be followed.

Kela pays financial support in the form of an epidemic allowance to employees who need to take an unpaid leave of absence from work due to the coronavirus epidemic. The purpose of this benefit is to compensate employees for loss of earnings. For this reason, if the employee is paid a wage or salary during the leave of absence, the employee is ineligible for the benefit. Employers cannot apply for the benefit.

The epidemic allowance can be paid to the parent or guardian of a child or the spouse of such a parent or guardian living in the same household. The allowance can be paid if the child being cared for is in early childhood education, pre-school education, years 1–3 of basic education or preparatory education in advance of basic education, or if a decision on the need for special support or an extension to the compulsory period of education has been issued.

The epidemic allowance can also be paid to a person who arrives in Finland from abroad and is instructed to remain in quarantine-like conditions and is required to take an unpaid leave of absence from work for this reason. In principle, it is possible to receive an allowance for these reasons covering the period until 13 May.

The Government has decided that, from 14 May onwards, any person arriving in Finland should avoid all unnecessary contact with others and self-quarantine for 14 days. People in self-quarantine are permitted to travel between their home and workplace and to make other essential journeys.

As work is permitted during self-quarantine, as of 14 May, employers can no longer order employees returning from foreign countries to stay at home in quarantine for 14 days without paying them a wage or salary. Whether the employee is returning to Finland from a leisure trip or work-related travel has no bearing on the assessment of this matter.

The criteria for applying the law on financial support for people on unpaid leaves of absence from work are no longer fulfilled. As such, from 14 May onwards, the employee is not entitled to temporary financial support according to the law. 

Laid-off employees or unemployed people cannot receive an epidemic allowance. Similarly, people on maternity, paternity or parental leave or child care leave cannot receive an allowance. The epidemic allowance cannot be paid at the same time as certain other benefits, such as unemployment benefits or daily sickness allowance.

Applications can now be submitted to Kela for the epidemic allowance. Retrospective applications are allowed, and the allowance is payable for the period from 16 March 2020 until the end of the extraordinary circumstances.

See Kela’s website for more information.

Accrual of annual holiday 

If an employee is unable to work due to an order by the authorities with the aim of preventing a disease from spreading (Annual Holidays Act, section 7, paragraph 2, point 4), the absence is considered equivalent to time at work. Quarantine is an example of such an order. The employee shall accrue annual holiday for the entire period during which they are unable to work.

At present, it is unclear whether annual holiday accrues if the order is issued by a foreign authority. The guidance will be updated in this regard at a later date, if possible.

Employees accrue annual holiday as normal when they are caring for a sick child.

Annual holiday accrues for absences for compelling family reasons (Employment Contracts Act, chapter 4, section 7).

In the circumstances referred to above, it is advisable to determine beforehand whether the case concerns this type of absence or a different form of agreed leave.

Lay-offs and annual holiday 

1. If an employee is laid-off full-time, the first 30 working days are considered comparable with time at work when annual holidays are calculated. The calculation of the period of 30 working days begins afresh if the lay-off is interrupted and continues after the interruption. If an employee was covered by the 35-hour earnings rule for accruing annual holiday before the lay-off, the first 42 calendar days are considered comparable with time at work when annual holidays are calculated.
2. If an employee is laid-off to the effect that the working time is reduced, the days of lay-off accrued over the first six months are considered comparable with time at work when annual holidays are calculated. If such a working time arrangement continues uninterrupted after the end of the holiday accrual year (on 31 March), a new six-month period will begin to elapse after the end of the holiday accrual year (on 1 April).

Granting annual holiday 

Under these circumstances, annual holiday is granted in the normal way in accordance with the Annual Holidays Act. In practice, it may be advisable to consider allocating holidays in a period when the amount of work is reduced.

Derogations from the Annual Holidays Act, the Working Hours Act and the Employment Contracts Act in critical societal functions  

The commercial sector is not included in the critical functions specified by the Government, so employers cannot make temporary deviations from the arrangements for annual holidays and working hours on these grounds.

Note: The temporary provisions negotiated by the Finnish Commerce Federation and Service Union United PAM on 18 March 2020 will remain in force until 30 June 2020. These provisions are described below in the relevant sections.

Work is prevented or the amount of work available is reduced for reasons such as lower numbers of customers due to the risk of a coronavirus infection, or deliveries of goods for sale are reduced or discontinued. What can the employer do? 

1. Reasonable alterations by the employer

The employer should endeavour to make reasonable arrangements to keep work going if the coronavirus epidemic causes problems with matters such as deliveries of goods. The employer is obliged to pay the salary if work is prevented for reasons that are attributable to the employer and that could not have been avoided by taking reasonable measures. However, the employer cannot be required to make arrangements that are clearly untenable in commercial terms.

2. Altering the work shift plan

If the employer could not have foreseen a reduction in demand due to coronavirus when the work shift plan was drawn up, the employer may be entitled to alter the work shift plan. The unions have agreed that the coronavirus situation constitutes grounds for altering work shift plans. However, it is advisable to attempt to agree on changes with employees.

The temporary collective agreement provisions negotiated by the unions on 18 March enable work shift plans to be published with one week’s notice, beginning on 19 March and lasting for the duration of these temporary provisions, irrespective of the length of the balancing system, if such a system is in use.

The development of the situation and the available information should be kept in mind when planning work shifts.

It is not possible to alter the work shift plan to transfer hours to a week that is known to be a week of lay-off.

3. Lay-offs and co-operation negotiations

As of 19 March 2020, emergency provisions concerning lay-offs and co-operation negotiations shall apply to the collective agreements as agreed by the unions:

Members are advised to familiarise themselves with the separate, more detailed guidelines on the lay-off and co-operation procedure. The guidelines also describe the grounds that employers may invoke for bypassing the negotiations entirely and transitioning straight to decision-making.

4. Work is prevented for reasons beyond the control of the employee and the employer, such as an order by the authorities to close a place of business or other corresponding restrictions 

Chapter 2, section 12 of the Employment Contracts Act stipulates that if an employee is prevented from working due to a fire, abnormal natural phenomenon or other similar event affecting the workplace beyond the control of the employee or employer, the employee shall be entitled to receive pay for the period of the impediment for up to a maximum of 14 days.

If the authorities decide to close a place of business due to the coronavirus, thereby preventing work from being done, the impediment may be considered as such grounds. In such circumstances, payment of the salary will cease 14 days after the impediment began, which, in practice, is 14 days from the date when the place of business was closed. The prerequisite for this is that the employee cannot be assigned any other work corresponding to the employment contract.

However, there are grounds for interpreting this provision as meaning that the employer is no longer obliged to pay the salary if the employer does not have the obligation for any other reason, such as unpaid sick leave or lay-offs.

5. On the relationship between lay-offs and impediments to work

The coronavirus pandemic will lead to a reduction in workforce mainly through lay-offs. Work is considered to be prevented (Employment Contracts Act, chapter 2, section 12) when a direct impediment puts a practical stop to business activity. Examples include situations in which the authorities close business premises or a large number of employees are quarantined at the same time.

However, the employer should consider whether other work could be offered in accordance with the employment contract. For example, if there are five shops in a salesperson’s travel-to-work area (such as Greater Helsinki), and two are closed by order of the authorities, consideration must be given to whether work could be offered in other shops.

Summary of the options open to employers: it can be stated that if the employer has taken all reasonable measures to keep work going but there is no commercially viable work, lay-offs may arise in most cases.

In accordance with the temporary amendment to the Employment Contracts Act, the re-employment obligation specified in chapter 6, section 6 of the Act is extended to nine months if the employee is given notice of termination between 1 April and 30 June 2020.

The decisive aspect is the date of termination, which, in practice, is the date when the notice of termination was provided.

The re-employment obligation applies if the employee has been dismissed on production-related and financial grounds (Employment Contracts Act, chapter 7, section 3) or in conjunction with a reorganisation procedure (Employment Contracts Act, chapter 7, section 7).