The Finnish Government is planning to lower the dismissal threshold and allow fixed-term employment of up to one year without providing specific reasons. An amendment to legal provisions on fixed-term employment would inevitably offer better opportunities for the unfounded chaining of employment contracts and increase discrimination based on pregnancy and family leave.
According to studies, the uncertainty experienced by employees in their work is increasing in all employee groups. There is also cause for such uncertainty as, according to Statistics Finland’s study of the quality of working life, almost every third employee has been unemployed or laid off during the last five years. At the same time, the Government is preparing several legal amendments that will have an impact on employees’ employment security. One of the goals is to enable fixed-term employment contracts of up to one year without providing any reasons and to lower the dismissal threshold.
“It is obvious that questions related to the continuation of employment relationships determine how much insecurity is felt in working life. Unemployment or the threat of it and atypical forms of work such as fixed-term work increase uncertainty significantly,” says Antti Palola, Chair of the Board of Directors of the Finnish Confederation of Salaried Employees (STTK).
Uncertainty in working life affects employees in different ways. From the perspective of gender impact, fixed-term employment relationships are more typical for women than for men. In contrast, any stress and uncertainty over having a job may be more pronounced in male-dominated sectors, in which unemployment is increasing.
From the perspective of uncertainty resulting from the permanence of work and the continuation of the employment relationship, the Government’s aim to lower the dismissal threshold is alarming. In the future, the provision on dismissals on personal grounds would include the insufficient work performance of the employee as grounds for dismissal, the content of which leaves significant room for interpretation.
“We can only imagine what impact the legal amendment will have on the growing uncertainty experienced by employees – not only considering the permanence of employment relationships but also in working life in general, when employees are constantly required to do more under the threat of dismissal as laid down by law,” Palola says.
Allowing fixed-term employment of one year without providing any reasons is also in conflict with growing uncertainty in working life.
“If the employer can enter into fixed-term employment contracts without providing any reasons, it will be more difficult for employees to have a permanent job and access the security it offers. What is more, the legal amendment would inevitably offer better opportunities for the unfounded chaining of employment contracts and increase discrimination based on pregnancy and family leave. As a result, it would weaken the job market position of women in particular,” Palola says.
Uncertainty in working life is clearly linked to plans to start a family
The amendments to fixed-term employment and protection against dismissals will also have an impact outside the job market. Based on the results of the youth survey commissioned by STTK, uncertainty related to the permanence of work may be associated with a low birth rate, for example.
The results show that a weak financial situation affects plans to start a family among more than 40 per cent of all respondents. In addition to the financial situation, the start of a family is affected by work-related stress and insecure employment relationships. The survey was conducted last autumn with Aula Research.
More information: President of STTK Antti Palola p. 040 509 6030
Sanna Rantala | 3.12.2024