Form of employment  

Typically, employment relationships are valid until further notice. An employment contract valid until further notice is referred to as a ‘permanent employment relationship’. 

An employment contract valid until further notice has been agreed to continue unless otherwise stated. An employee’s status during the employment term is protected by several rights decreed in employment legislation and agreed on in collective agreements. 

An employee usually ends a permanent employment contract by terminating it, and the employee does not need any special grounds for this. The employer, however, needs legislated grounds for terminating or nullifying the contract.   

A fixed-term employment contract is a contract that has been agreed to end on a certain date or in case of a certain event. The contract is binding to both contract parties for the duration of the contract term, and a fixed-term contract cannot be terminated by following a notice period, unless this has been agreed on separately. 

A fixed-term contract requires a specific reason, such as substituting for another employee during their absence. If something other has been stated as the grounds or if the grounds for a fixed-term contract have been left out, you should review in more detail whether these grounds are acceptable. An employment contract can also be signed as a fixed-term contract at the employee’s initiative. 

A fixed-term employee does not have a priority position for a new employment relationship. 

Subsequent fixed-term employment contracts 

Signing several subsequent fixed-term employment relationships with the same employer is not allowed. This means that repeated fixed-term contracts cannot be applied at the employer’s own initiative, if the employer has a steady need for labour. In such cases, the employment relationship should be considered as a permanent relationship.  

If you suspect that you could be in a fixed-term employment contract illegally, you can contact your workplace’s union representative. The union representative will assess the prerequisites for making the employment relationship permanent, and will also negotiate with the employer if necessary. If these negotiations do not lead to a permanent position being offered, the union representative can transfer the case to SuPer’s advocacy for further assessment. 

Gig work often refers to employment contracts lasting one or a couple of shifts, which are used to cover for sudden demand for labour. These are usually short substitute jobs. Gig work is carried out in many forms and under different agreements in the social services, healthcare and early childhood education and care sectors.  

In private social and health care sector, a ‘framework agreement’ is often applied to gig work. Framework agreement is not an employment contract; it decrees on the terms of future fixed-term employment relationships that are agreed on separately. In practice, the employee works in short, fixed-term employment relationships. Read more about the framework agreement here: (link) 

Temporary work through agencies (temp work) has also become more common, especially in the public sector during the labour shortages. In temp work, the temporary employment agency (= a recruiting or HR company that rents out employees) acts as the employer, but the work is performed in the client company (= a company or another institution, such as a wellbeing services county or a municipality).

Gig-type work can often also be carried out under a contract with variable working hours. In these types of contracts, the working hours vary based on the terms agreed on in the employment contract (e.g. minimum amount of work 115 hours per three weeks, or called to work as needed), and work shifts that exceed this minimum amount are agreed on separately. The contract with variable working hours is usually signed as valid until further notice, which means that there is no break to the employee’s employment relationship between the periods worked.

The use of a contract with variable working hours signed at the initiative of the employer is restricted by limitations decreed in the law and in collective agreements. Variable working hours should not be contracted at the employer’s initiative, if the employer’s demand for labour remains steady. Neither should the number of working hours agreed – at the employer’s initiative – be lower than the hours required by the employer’s demand for labour. 

At the employee’s initiative, an employment contract can always be made as a contract with variable working hours.   

SuPer recommends applying a contract with variable working hours for more regular gig work with the same employer. 

An employer must offer additional work to people with contracts with variable working hours and so-called zero-hour contracts.  

Especially in the private sector, a framework agreement is often applied. It is not an employment contract but is rather used to agree on the terms of fixed-term employment relationships that are agreed on separately. Framework agreement can also sometimes be referred to as a ‘ statement of intent’. A framework agreement does not guarantee the signee any work: all gigs must be agreed separately. A framework agreement is mostly suited to occasional gig work, for example in addition to your regular work, and not to more regular shifts worked for the same employer. 

In practise, an employee working based on a framework agreement works in short, fixed-term employment relationships, and their employment relationship with the employer is not valid between the shifts/working periods.  

SuPer recommends requesting a separate written employment contract for each shift/working period, or at least a written statement of the working hours, the duration of employment and the grounds for a fixed-term contract. You should also keep your shift lists and payslips in case any issues come up later. 

Issues that are most frequently brought up to SuPer’s advocacy services are gig-workers’ rights to various wage benefits, such as sick pay, unpaid shifts cancelled by the employer, and withholding of overtime pay.  

When working under a framework agreement, any unclear issues should always be assessed with the help of the union representative and SuPer’s advocacy services. However, the grounds for the actions should first be requested from the employer in writing. 

A company, wellbeing services county or a municipality can use external labour force instead of hiring the personnel directly. This could be implemented through temporary agency work or subcontracting. In such cases, the employer is different from the actual client for whom the work is performed.   

There are three parties to an employment contract through a temp work agency: 

• the employee, 

• the agency (HR company) acting as the employer, and 

• the client (a company or another institution, such as a wellbeing services county), for whom the work is performed.   

In temporary agency work, the employee signs an employment contract with the agency, but then performs the work in another client company. The temporary work agency and the client company have signed an agreement on hiring an employee (client contract). 

This temporary agency work typically differs from subcontracting in the perspective that the contract parties of subcontracting agree on the results of the work, while the management and supervision are still provided by the subcontractor. 

The Employment Contracts Act also has regulations that apply explicitly to temp work, for example related to the collective agreement to be applied. 

According to the law, the collective agreement is determined so that the collective agreement that binds the agency acting as the employer is primarily applied to the temp worker’s employment relationship. Seure, for example, has its own collective agreement. If the employer is not bound to any collective agreement in terms of the work to be performed, the client company’s binding collective agreement is then usually applied to the employment relationship. 

You can check which collective agreement will be applied from the temp worker’s employment contract. If the employer does not follow a collective agreement in its temporary agency work, consider contacting the SuPer’s contractual advocacy services to review the issue! 

The client company must offer temp workers the option to utilise the services and arrangements it has provided to its employees, if these are not counted as employee benefits. These include services such as staff canteen services, transportation arrangements and occupational health care. However, the temporary agency worker is usually liable for the costs of these services. The temporary agency worker should also request access to work-related training courses of the client company. 

The client company must inform temporary agency workers of any positions opening within the company. If the client company hires a temporary agency worker who used to perform the same work or similar tasks for the company, the time spent working for the client company must be deducted from the maximum probationary period. 

In terms of temporary agency work, it is important to have a thorough orientation process, as this is a prerequisite for occupational and client safety. To reduce the occupational safety risks of temporary agency work, the Centre for Occupational Safety has compiled a guide: Staff leasing and occupational safety – Centre for Occupational Safety (ttk.fi)