Employment contract
An employment contract is a way to agree on the terms and conditions of work. Read the employment contract through carefully before signing it. Pay special attention to points related to e.g. the nature or the contract, the job description and the place of work, the duration of the contract and the working hours.
Employment contract:
- can be made in writing, agreed on orally or signed online
- by signing an employment contract, the employee commits to working within the terms agreed
- is binding to both contract parties from the moment of signing it
- cannot be cancelled during the period between signing the contract and starting the work.
Termination always requires adhering to the notice period, and the employer must also state the grounds for the termination. Similarly, the employer can only change the terms of the employment relationship during the employment if they have grounds for termination or if this is agreed on together with the employee.
SuPer recommends signing employment contracts in writing or electronically to avoid potential later confusion on what has been agreed.
Do not sign the contract if you do not understand something or if there is a mistake. You can ask the person who drew up the contract to clarify the contract and you can also try to negotiate better terms for yourself as desired. Matters that are important to you (for example night shifts) should be explicitly recorded in the employment contract. If needed, ask the workplace’s union representative for help or contact the advocacy services of SuPer.
- the employer, the employee and their addresses
- the starting date of work
- the validity of the employment contract (valid until further notice or fixed-term)
- for fixed-term employment contracts: the duration of the employment and the grounds for a fixed-term contract
- working hours
- in contracts with varying working hours and in cases of hired temporary agency workers, the factors related to demand for labour and offering work must be agreed on in more detail as determined by the law
- work assignments and the place of work
- length of probationary period, if one is agreed on
- the pay and the date of payment
- right to training offered by the employer
- determining annual holidays
- determining the notice period of termination
- the collective agreement to be followed
- the pension, accident and occupational disease insurance institution used by the employer.
An employee is not obligated to sign a new employment contract presented by their employer during their term of employment. A new employment contract can be offered in connection to a business acquisition, for example, when the employees are transferred as ‘old employees’ to work under the new employer. A new employment contract should not be signed if it deteriorates the terms of employment. Your employer also should not pressurise you to accept the new contract.
However, there are different regulations for a situation where an employer is threatening to terminate the employment relationship and offers a new contract as an alternative to the termination. In a situation such as this, you should contact the advocacy services of SuPer as soon as possible for further advice!