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Chapter 1: General provisions.

This provision states the law’s purpose: to promote cooperation between the company and its staff based on timely and sufficient information, and to support employee participation in decisions affecting their work, working conditions, and status.

This section says when the law applies to companies based on employee count.

This section defines “company” for this law.

This section lists situations where the law does not apply.

This section lists other laws that govern employee participation, workplace cooperation, occupational safety cooperation, and related information and consultation duties.

Työneuvosto may give opinions on whether a company should be treated as covered by this Act.

This section says the co-operation parties are the employer and the company’s personnel, and identifies who may take part in co-operation negotiations.

Employee groups may have a representative, and in some cases workers may elect a cooperation representative. The employer may meet cooperation duties directly with all workers in the group if no representative has been elected.

Työnantaja ja henkilöstöryhmien edustajat käsittelevät tietynlaiset yhteistoiminta-asiat yhteisessä kokouksessa, ja ne voivat sopia neuvottelukunnan käyttämisestä.

Työnantajan on annettava henkilöstöryhmien edustajille yrityksen taloudellista tilaa koskevat tiedot ja päivitettävä olennaiset muutokset viipymättä.

Employers must give employee representatives annual statistical pay information, and provide pay information broken down by occupational group on request, while ensuring individual employees cannot be identified.

Employers must, on request, give employee group representatives a quarterly report showing how many employees are on fixed-term and part-time contracts.

Työnantajan on vuosittain annettava henkilöstöryhmien edustajille heidän pyynnöstään selvitys ulkopuolisen työvoiman käytön periaatteista, ja selvityksessä on kerrottava työkohteet, työtehtävät sekä käyttöjaksot.

Employee group representatives may ask the employer clarifying questions after receiving certain information, and the employer must answer within a reasonable time.

Yhteistoimintaneuvotteluissa on käsiteltävä työnhönottoon, perehdyttämiseen ja työntekijätietojen keräämiseen liittyvät periaatteet ja käytännöt.

An enterprise must annually prepare a personnel plan and training objectives in co-operation negotiations, and update them when redundancies are planned.

Työnantajan on ilmoitettava vuokratyövoiman käytöstä asianomaisille henkilöstöedustajille, ja työntekijäedustaja voi vaatia asian käsittelyä yhteistoimintaneuvotteluissa.

In cooperation negotiations, the principles and practices of the company’s internal communications must be discussed.

Yhteistoimintaneuvotteluissa on käsiteltävä tietyt henkilöstöä koskevat suunnitelmat, käytännöt ja järjestelyt.

Before introducing certain workplace plans or changes, the company must discuss their grounds, goals, purposes, and effects with the relevant employee group representatives.

The employer must make the initiative early enough before co-determination negotiations begin, and must also announce the negotiations’ start time and place.

Employer must give the relevant employee group representatives the information needed to handle the matter before co-operation negotiations start.

If the personnel group representative asks to start cooperation proceedings, the employer must promptly start cooperation negotiations or immediately give a written explanation of why negotiations are not considered necessary.

This section says that rules on minutes from co-operation negotiations, and on checking and confirming those minutes, are set out in section 54.

An employer is deemed to have fulfilled the cooperation obligation in this chapter when it has acted as required by the chapter.

The employer must inform the relevant employee representatives or affected employees about the detailed content and effective date of a decision made after cooperation negotiations, depending on how broadly the matter affects people, or follow the company’s internal information principles and practices.

Työnantaja tai henkilöstöryhmän edustaja voi tehdä neuvottelualoitteen, ja aloitteessa on kerrottava pääkohdittain käsiteltävä asia sekä aloitteen perusteet.

The employer must give employee representatives needed information after starting or receiving a negotiation initiative, and must promptly explain if it считает negotiations unnecessary. Consultation agreements must generally be in writing, unless their content is already in the minutes or attachments.

The employer must notify the workplace about the agreement and its content in an appropriate way. The agreement generally takes effect one month after notification, unless the parties agree otherwise.

If the employer and the relevant employee group representatives do not reach agreement in cooperation negotiations on certain listed matters, the relevant employee group representatives decide those matters.

If the parties do not reach agreement on certain work rules or related matters, the employer must decide within its authority. The employer may not unilaterally approve the company’s work rules or changes to them.

In co-operation negotiations, personnel impacts caused by specified business changes must be addressed; if the planned changes are expected to lead to dismissal, layoff, or part-time work, chapter 8 applies.

In co-operation negotiations, the matters listed in the section must be discussed, unless a collective agreement binding the employer provides otherwise.

Before deciding on a matter covered by this chapter, the employer must negotiate the grounds, effects, and alternatives of the planned change. Depending on how many employees are affected, the talks are held individually or with personnel-group representatives, and each employee may demand negotiation with their representative and the employer.

The employer must initiate co-operation negotiations as early as possible and notify the start time and place at the same time.

The employer must give the employees or representatives concerned the information needed to handle the matter before co-operation negotiations begin.

If the employee group representative asks to start co-operation negotiations, the employer must either start them as soon as possible or promptly give a written explanation for not doing so.

Työnantajan katsotaan täyttäneen neuvotteluvelvoitteen, kun se on toiminut 34–36 §:n mukaisesti ja käsitellyt asiat yhteistoiminnan hengessä yksimielisyyden tavoittelua varten.

This section says the minutes of cooperation negotiations, and their review and authentication, are governed by section 54.

Employer must inform specified employee representatives or affected employees about certain decisions and when they will be implemented.

The transferor and transferee must inform the employee group representatives affected by the transfer about the timing, reasons, consequences, and planned employee measures.

Luovutuksensaajan on annettava henkilöstöryhmien edustajille mahdollisuus kysyä tarkentavia kysymyksiä ja vastattava niihin. Työnantajan on pyynnöstä esitettävä samat tiedot koko henkilöstölle sisäisen tiedottamisen periaatteita noudattaen.

The chapter’s rules on transfer of business also apply to company mergers and demergers.

This section applies when an employer is considering or planning dismissals, layoffs, or reductions to part-time work for one or more employees for economic or production-related reasons, with stated exceptions.

Employer must give a written negotiation proposal at least five days before co-operation negotiations begin when considering layoffs, terminations, or reducing work to part-time.

Employer and employee representatives must handle proposed layoffs, dismissals, or reduced hours together, or in a joint meeting; for an individual employee, the matter may be handled directly with the employer, and the employee may require negotiation with their representative too.

Employers must give written information to employee representatives when planning certain dismissals, layoffs, or part-time arrangements.

Employer must give the employment office a written cooperation-negotiation proposal or the related information by the start of the negotiations, unless it was already given earlier.

Employer must give employee representatives a job-search support action plan, and quickly check public employment services with labour authorities, when planning layoffs of at least 10 workers; for fewer layoffs, the employer must present operating principles supporting retraining and job seeking during notice time.

If an employer’s planned business decisions are likely to lead to redundancies, layoffs, or reduced hours, the consultation must cover the reasons, effects, alternatives, and ways to lessen the impact on employees.

Employer consultation is treated as fulfilled if negotiations are held for the required period, usually 14 days or 6 weeks depending on the planned workforce measure and employee thresholds.

This section says the rules on minutes, checking, and certification for co-operation negotiations are set out in Section 54.

Työnantajan on annettava henkilöstöryhmien edustajille yleinen selvitys neuvottelujen perusteella harkittavista päätöksistä kohtuullisessa ajassa neuvotteluvelvoitteen täyttämisen jälkeen.

Työnantajan on pyynnöstä laadittava yhteistoimintaneuvotteluista pöytäkirjat, joista ilmenevät ainakin ajankohdat, osallistujat ja tulokset tai eriävät kannanotot.

Employee representatives may consult and get information from relevant experts when preparing for cooperation procedures and negotiations, if the matter requires it.

Employee representatives are entitled to enough release from work for statutory tasks and cooperation training, and the employer must compensate earnings loss or pay regular-wage-level compensation in some cases.

Named employees, employee representatives, an expert under section 55, and certain employees and their representatives must keep cooperation-procedure information confidential.

If a matter in co-operation negotiations should also be handled under a collective agreement’s negotiation procedure, the co-operation negotiations must not be started, or must be suspended, when the employer or the employees’ trustee requests handling under that procedure.

Työnantajan ei tarvitse antaa työntekijöille tai henkilöstöryhmien edustajille tietoja, jos niiden luovuttaminen aiheuttaisi yritykselle tai sen toiminnalle merkittävää haittaa tai vahinkoa.

Työnantaja may make certain decisions without prior co-determination negotiations if very weighty, unforeseeable reasons causing harm make negotiations impossible; once those reasons no longer exist, the employer must start negotiations without delay.

Certain nationwide employer and employee associations may agree to deviate from chapters 3–6 and 8, but not from sections 47 and 48 regarding dismissals of at least 10 employees.

Employer may have to pay compensation up to EUR 30,000 to a dismissed, laid-off, or part-time-adjusted employee if it intentionally or negligently failed to follow sections 45–51.

The maximum compensation amount under section 62 is adjusted every three years to reflect changes in the value of money, by government decree.

If an employer fails to provide required information to employee-group representatives or fails to prepare the required personnel plan and training objectives, a court or the labour ministry may take enforcement steps.

The employer must keep this law freely available to employees at the workplace.

Työministeriö ja tietyt valtakunnallisiin työehtosopimuksiin liittyvät työnantaja-, työntekijä- ja toimihenkilöyhdistykset valvovat tämän lain noudattamista.

An employer or the employer’s representative may be fined for intentionally or negligently breaching listed cooperation-law provisions, and breaches of confidentiality are punished under the Criminal Code.

This section says the law starts on 1 July 2007 and repeals the earlier co-operation-in-enterprises act, with a rule replacing certain old references with this law.

This transition rule delays some application of the Act and gives a six-month period for certain employers to meet section 16 duties.