Country report, gender equality : how are EU rules transposed into national law? : Finland 2020.
Date: 2020-07-15
Institutions: Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers
Subjects: Finland, age discrimination, anti-discriminatory measure, application of EU law, equal pay, equal treatment, gender equality, maternity leave, national law, parental leave, paternity leave, pension scheme, report, sexual discrimination, sexual harassment, social security

Finland 

2020

EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers 
Directorate D — Equality and Union citizenship 
Unit D.2 Gender Equality 

European Commission 
B-1049 Brussels 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Country report  

Gender equality 

How are EU rules transposed into 
national law? 

Finland 

Kevät Nousiainen 

Reporting period 1 January 2019 – 31 December 2019 

2020 

  Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Europe Direct is a service to help you find answers  
to your questions about the European Union. 

Freephone number (*): 

00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 

(*)  The  information  given  is  free,  as  are  most  calls  (though  some  operators,  phone 

boxes or hotels may charge you). 

LEGAL NOTICE 

This document has been prepared for the European Commission however it reflects the views only of the 
authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information 
contained therein. 

More information on the European Union is available on the Internet (http://www.europa.eu). 

Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2020 

© European Union, 2020 

PDF  

 ISBN 978-92-76-18963-3 

ISSN 2600-0164  

doi:10.2838/477417  

  DS-BD-20-004-EN-N 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Country report - Gender equality – Finland – 2020 

CONTENTS 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

Introduction ............................................................................................... 5 
Basic structure of the national legal system ............................................ 5 
1.1 
List of main legislation transposing and implementing the directives .......... 5 
1.2 
1.3 
Sources of law .................................................................................... 5 
General legal framework ............................................................................ 7 
Constitution ........................................................................................ 7 
2.1 
Equal treatment legislation ................................................................... 7 
2.2 
Implementation of central concepts ........................................................... 9 
General (legal) context......................................................................... 9 
3.1 
Sex/gender/transgender .................................................................... 11 
3.2 
Direct sex discrimination .................................................................... 11 
3.3 
3.4 
Indirect sex discrimination .................................................................. 12 
3.5  Multiple discrimination and intersectional discrimination ......................... 13 
Positive action ................................................................................... 15 
3.6 
Harassment and sexual harassment ..................................................... 18 
3.7 
Instruction to discriminate .................................................................. 20 
3.8 
3.9 
Other forms of discrimination .............................................................. 20 
3.10  Evaluation of implementation .............................................................. 20 
3.11  Remaining issues ............................................................................... 20 
Equal pay and equal treatment at work (Article 157 of the Treaty on the 
Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and Recast Directive 2006/54)
 ................................................................................................................. 21 
General (legal) context....................................................................... 21 
4.1 
Equal pay ......................................................................................... 22 
4.2 
Access to work, working conditions and dismissal .................................. 27 
4.3 
Evaluation of implementation .............................................................. 30 
4.4 
4.5 
Remaining issues ............................................................................... 30 
Pregnancy, maternity, and leave related to work-life balance for workers 
(Directive 92/85, relevant provisions of Directives 2006/54, 2010/18 and 
2019/1158) ............................................................................................. 31 
General (legal) context....................................................................... 31 
5.1 
Pregnancy and maternity protection .................................................... 33 
5.2 
5.3  Maternity leave ................................................................................. 36 
Adoption leave .................................................................................. 38 
5.4 
Parental leave ................................................................................... 39 
5.5 
Paternity leave .................................................................................. 43 
5.6 
Time off for force majeure .................................................................. 44 
5.7 
Care leave ........................................................................................ 44 
5.8 
5.9 
Leave in relation to surrogacy ............................................................. 45 
5.10  Flexible working time arrangements..................................................... 45 
5.11  Evaluation of implementation .............................................................. 46 
5.12  Remaining issues ............................................................................... 47 
Occupational social security schemes (Chapter 2 of Directive 2006/54) .. 48 
General (legal) context....................................................................... 48 
6.1 
Direct and indirect discrimination ........................................................ 48 
6.2 
6.3 
Personal scope .................................................................................. 48 
6.4  Material scope ................................................................................... 48 
Exclusions ........................................................................................ 48 
6.5 
6.6 
Laws and case law falling under the examples of sex discrimination 
mentioned in Article 9 of Directive 2006/54 .......................................... 49 
6.7 
Actuarial factors ................................................................................ 49 
6.8 
Difficulties ........................................................................................ 49 
Evaluation of implementation .............................................................. 49 
6.9 
6.10  Remaining issues ............................................................................... 50 
Statutory schemes of social security (Directive 79/7) ............................. 51 

3 

 
 
8 

9 

7.1 
7.2 

General (legal) context....................................................................... 51 
Implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women in 
matters of social security .................................................................... 51 
7.3 
Personal scope .................................................................................. 52 
7.4  Material scope ................................................................................... 52 
Exclusions ........................................................................................ 52 
7.5 
Actuarial factors ................................................................................ 52 
7.6 
Difficulties ........................................................................................ 52 
7.7 
Evaluation of implementation .............................................................. 52 
7.8 
7.9 
Remaining issues ............................................................................... 53 
Self-employed workers (Directive 2010/41/EU and some relevant 
provisions of the Recast Directive) ........................................................... 54 
General (legal) context....................................................................... 54 
8.1 
Implementation of Directive 2010/41/EU .............................................. 55 
8.2 
8.3 
Personal scope .................................................................................. 55 
8.4  Material scope ................................................................................... 56 
8.5 
Positive action ................................................................................... 57 
Social protection ............................................................................... 57 
8.6 
8.7  Maternity benefits.............................................................................. 57 
Occupational social security ................................................................ 57 
8.8 
8.9 
Prohibition of discrimination ................................................................ 58 
8.10  Evaluation of implementation .............................................................. 58 
8.11  Remaining issues ............................................................................... 58 
Goods and services (Directive 2004/113) ................................................ 59 
9.1 
General (legal) context....................................................................... 59 
Prohibition of direct and indirect discrimination ..................................... 59 
9.2 
9.3  Material scope ................................................................................... 59 
Exceptions ........................................................................................ 59 
9.4 
Justification of differences in treatment ................................................ 59 
9.5 
Actuarial factors ................................................................................ 60 
9.6 
Interpretation of exception contained in Article 5(2) of Directive 2004/113 60 
9.7 
Positive action measures (Article 6 of Directive 2004/113) ...................... 60 
9.8 
9.9 
Specific problems related to pregnancy, maternity or parenthood ............ 60 
9.10  Evaluation of implementation .............................................................. 60 
9.11  Remaining issues ............................................................................... 60 

10  Violence against women and domestic violence in relation to the Istanbul 

Convention ............................................................................................... 61 
10.1  General (legal) context....................................................................... 61 
10.2  Ratification of the Istanbul Convention ................................................. 62 

11  Compliance and enforcement aspects (horizontal provisions of all 

directives) ................................................................................................ 63 
11.1  General (legal) context....................................................................... 63 
11.2  Victimisation ..................................................................................... 63 
11.3  Access to courts ................................................................................ 63 
11.4  Horizontal effect of the applicable law .................................................. 64 
11.5  Burden of proof ................................................................................. 64 
11.6  Remedies and sanctions ..................................................................... 64 
11.7  Equality body .................................................................................... 65 
11.8  Social partners .................................................................................. 65 
11.9  Other relevant bodies......................................................................... 65 
11.10  Evaluation of implementation .............................................................. 66 
11.11  Remaining issues ............................................................................... 66 
12  Overall assessment .................................................................................. 67 
Bibliography ..................................................................................................... 68 

4 

 
1 

Introduction 

1.1  Basic structure of the national legal system 

The  Finnish  legal  system  is  based  on  statute  law.  Finland  follows  a  dualist  approach  to 
international  law.  The  Government  has  the  right  of  legislative  initiative,  although 
legislative proposals submitted by MPs may be adopted. In addition, a citizens’ initiative, 
allowing citizens to make legislative initiatives to Parliament, has been in use since 2012.1 
Although legislation is generally introduced by a Government bill, even the new citizens’ 
initiative has been used for gender-related issues.2 Gender equality legislation consists of 
constitutional  and  ordinary  legislative  provisions.  The  relevant  case  law  consists  of 
judgments  by  the  Supreme  Court  (which  has  competence  concerning  civil,  commercial, 
and  criminal  law,  including  employment  contracts  and  criminal  law  provisions  on 
discrimination),  the  Administrative  Supreme  Court  (which  has  competence  concerning 
administrative law, including the position of public servants), and the Labour Court (which 
has an exclusive mandate to decide matters concerning collective agreements).  

1.2  List of main legislation transposing and implementing the directives 

- 

- 

- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 

- 

Laki naisten ja miesten välisestä tasa-arvosta (Act on Equality between Women and 
Men), 1986/609; 
Laki yhdenvertaisuus- ja tasa-arvolautakunnasta (Act on the Non-Discrimination and 
Equality Board) 2014/1327; 
Laki tasa-arvovaltuutetusta (Act on the Equality Ombudsman) 2014/1328; 
Työsopimuslaki (Employment Contracts Act) 2001/55; 
Sairausvakuutuslaki (Sickness Insurance Act) 2004/1224; 
Työntekijän eläkelaki (Pensions Act of the private sector) 395/2006; 
Julkisten alojen eläkelaki (Pensions Act of the public sector) 395/2016; 
Yrittäjän eläkelaki (Entrepreneurs’ Pensions Act) 1272/2006; 
Maatalousyrittäjän eläkelaki (Agricultural Entrepreneurs’ Pensions Act) 1280/2006 ; 
and 
Rikoslaki (Criminal Code) 1889/39, which contains provisions on work-related 
discrimination and harassment.  

1.3  Sources of law 

The  most  important  source  of  Finnish  law  is  legislation.  The  Constitution,  ordinary 
legislation, and administrative regulations constitute a hierarchy of sources, all of which 
are important for gender equality. The Constitution and parliamentary acts are considered 
strong primary sources that must be taken into account in legal interpretation. Section 6 
(on equality) of the Constitution and the Act on Equality are thus both obligatory sources. 
Constitutional review by courts is limited to cases where an ‘application of an Act would 
be in evident conflict with the Constitution’, in which case the court shall give primacy to 
the provision in the Constitution. The Parliament’s Constitutional Committee previews the 
constitutionality of legislation to be passed, and if the Committee has considered that there 
is no conflict between the Constitution and an ordinary act, there is held to be no ‘evident’ 
conflict.  European  Union  law  on  gender  equality,  treaties,  and  legislation  are  also 
considered  obligatory  sources.  The  Convention  on  the  Elimination  of  All  Forms  of 

1   The Finnish Constitution 1999/731 was amended in 2011 by adding Section 53(3) on the citizens’ initiative, 
which allows an agenda initiative to be presented to Parliament by 50 000 citizens, in a manner further 
regulated by the Act on the Citizens’ Initiative 12/2012. Where the proposal concerns EU legislation, 
Regulation (EU) No. 211/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the citizens’ initiative, OJ L 
65/1 is to be followed.  

2   A citizens’ initiative on the gender-neutral marriage act was presented to the previous Parliament, and was 

adopted although the Government then in power had agreed on not bringing a Bill on the matter to 
Parliament. A new citizens’ initiative was started for overturning the amendment and re-introducing 
marriage as an institution between persons of different sexes. So far, the new initiative has collected over 
97 000 signatures, which means that the initiative will be presented to Parliament. 

5 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) is an important source for the Act on Equality, 
which was passed in 1986 for the purpose of ratifying the Convention. EU law is often used 
as a source of law in gender equality issues.  

Where  two  or  more  laws  contradict,  the  most  recent  legislation  and  most  specific 
regulation  are  to  be  followed.  Section  23  of  the  Constitution  dictates  that  court  and 
administrative decisions must be based in law. Where the meaning of legislation requires 
interpretation, preparatory works (committee reports, working group reports, Government 
bills, and Parliament standing committee reports) are to be consulted for guidance. Case 
law and the decisions of the Supreme Courts (Supreme Court and Supreme Administrative 
Court in particular), are also sources of law that must be consulted. Although the opinions 
of  the  Equality  Ombudsman  are  not  binding,  they  may  be  used  by  courts  to  support 
reasoning.  Legislation  in  force  as  well  as  decisions  by  the  Supreme  Court,  Supreme 
Administrative Court, and Labour Court can be accessed in the electronic data base Finlex.3  

Other  sources  of  law,  such  as  legal  literature  and  established  custom,  as  well  as 
comparative law and moral and ethical arguments, may be used in legal interpretation. 
The lack of up-to-date literature on equality law limits the use of scholarship in the area. 
The  relevant  legislation  is  relatively  old  and  has  undergone  many  amendments,  which 
makes using preparatory works cumbersome.  

International agreements are in force in Finland if they have been transposed into national 
legislation.  

3   https://www.finlex.fi/fi/.  

6 

 
 
 
 
 
2 

General legal framework 

2.1  Constitution 

2.1.1  Constitutional ban on sex discrimination 

Section 6 of the Finnish Constitution prohibits discrimination on the ground of sex, age, 
language, religion, conviction, opinion, health, disability or ‘other reason that concerns his 
or  her  person’.  The  list  of  prohibited  grounds  is  therefore  non-exhaustive,  and  even 
grounds not mentioned are protected against discrimination (Section 6(2)).  

2.1.2  Constitutional protection of equality between men and women 

Section 6(1) of the Constitution contains the principle of equality before the law; however, 
this  provision  does  not  refer  specifically  to  equality  between  men  and  women.  The 
preparatory works for the Constitution state that Section 6 should be interpreted so that 
even  the  general  principle  of  equality  (expressed  in  Section  6(1))  contains  a  duty  to 
promote  equality  in  society.  This  means  that  each  subsection  in  Section  6  may  be 
considered relevant from the point of view of gender equality law, as the general principle 
of  equality (Section 6(1)) should not be  interpreted narrowly  so as to  preclude positive 
measures.  

Section 6(4) of the Constitution contains a provision on promoting equality of the sexes 
‘in societal activity and working life, especially in the determination of pay and the other 
terms of employment’, as provided by legislation (Section 6(4)). The legislation referred 
to is, according to the preparatory works, the Act on Equality between Women and Men 
and other legislation. In addition, the prohibition of discrimination expressly includes sex 
as a protected ground, but since other grounds are also protected the prohibition against 
discrimination  should  at  least  in  principle  cover  intersectional  discrimination.  Finally,  as 
the equality of children necessarily requires equality between girls and boys, the expressly 
stated duty to promote gender equality is certainly a far-reaching provision.  

2.2  Equal treatment legislation 

The Act on Equality between Women and Men contains provisions on equal treatment on 
the ground of sex and is complemented by legislation on equality bodies, whereas other 
grounds of discrimination fall under the  Non-Discrimination Act.  The  Non-Discrimination 
Act covers all discrimination grounds under the Constitution, except for sex. The provisions 
of  the  Non-Discrimination  Act  are  justiciable  only  in  relation  to  the  grounds  recognised 
under European Union law. 

Section  7  of  the  Act  on  Equality  contains  a  general  prohibition  of  discrimination  on  the 
ground of sex, directed at all parties and persons. The material scope of the Act on Equality 
is quite broad, and Section 7 contains a definition of direct and indirect discrimination on 
the basis of sex and prohibits discrimination on the ground of sex. A violation of Section 7 
may have an impact in administrative law, as the prohibition of discrimination also applies 
to public authorities. However, Section 7 does not provide a victim of discrimination with 
a justiciable right to demand compensation for discrimination. There is no justiciable right 
for an individual, but authorities have a duty to act.4 The Act on Equality contains further 
prohibitions  on  discrimination  in  working  life  (Section  8),  victimisation  (Section  8a), 
discrimination  in  educational  institutions  (Section  8b)  and  labour-market  organisations 
(Section 8c), workplace harassment (Section 8d), and discrimination in the access to and 

4   This is a general prohibition with no specific addressee, such as employers. In this sense, the prohibition is 

very broad. On the other hand, there is no remedy for the violated person under Section 7, although 
authorities such as the Chancellor of Justice may consider that an authority has misused its powers by 
violating Section 7. 

7 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
supply  of  goods  and  services  (Section  8e).  Authorities  and  actors  that  violate  these 
provisions are required to compensate the victim(s) of discrimination.  

8 

 
 
3 

Implementation of central concepts 

3.1  General (legal) context 

3.1.1  Surveys on the definition, implementation and limits of central concepts of gender 

equality law 

No surveys have been completed on how the central concepts of gender equality law are 
defined, implemented, or limited.  

3.1.2  Other issues 

Courts often differ in their views on certain issues, such as how to identify a comparator 
in  discrimination  cases.  The  Supreme  Court  and  the  Labour  Court  have  each  presented 
different interpretations of the comparator  requirement, which, as the highest courts in 
their  respective  competences,  is  problematic.  Aside  from  the  courts,  the  concept  of 
discrimination  is  in  general  not  sufficiently  understood.  Social  partners,  who  play  an 
important  role  in  gender  equality  in  the  labour  market  and  other  areas  such  as  social 
insurance,  tend  to  narrowly  interpret  the  notion  of  discrimination,  and  indirect 
discrimination  and  the  concept  of  equal  pay  for  work  of  equal  value  are  not  always 
understood by the social partners. Employers tend to consider equal pay within the bounds 
of  collective  agreements,  and  pay  differentials  under  different  agreements  are  not 
necessarily considered discriminatory. There is a tendency to dismiss discrimination as a 
cause of pay differentials, and rather, stress the impact of gender segregation of the labour 
market as an explanation.  

3.1.3  General overview of national acts 

The  Act  on  Equality  between  Women  and  Men  (1986/609)  is  the  main  legislative 
instrument  that  implements  EU  directives  in  Finnish  law.  The  Act  has  been  amended 
several  times  (in  1988,  1992,  1995,  1997,  2001,  2005,  2009,  2011,  2014,  and  2016). 
Initially, the Act was introduced in order to implement the requirements of the CEDAW, 
and the amendments of 1995 intended predominantly to facilitate the implementation of 
EU gender equality law.  

As  explained  under  2.2,  above,  Section  7  of  the  Act  on  Equality  contains  a  general 
prohibition  of  discrimination  on  the  ground  of  sex,  as  well  as  defining  what  constitutes 
discrimination under the Act. The material scope of the Act on Equality is quite broad, as 
only religious activities of religious communities, family and other private relations, and 
acts of MPs and the President are excluded (Section 2). A violation of Section 7 may have 
an impact in administrative law, as the prohibition of discrimination also applies to public 
authorities.  However,  Section  7  does  not  provide  a  victim  of  discrimination  with  a 
justiciable right to demand compensation for discrimination, the general provision only has 
legal  effect  through  monitoring  of  legality  by  the  Equality  Ombudsman  and  other 
authorities  monitoring  legality.  The  Act  on  Equality  contains  further  prohibitions  on 
discrimination  in  working  life  (Section  8),  victimisation  (Section  8a),  discrimination  in 
educational  institutions  (Section  8b)  and  labour-market  organisations  (Section  8c), 
workplace  harassment  (Section  8d),  and  discrimination  in  the  access  to  and  supply  of 
goods and services (Section 8e). Authorities and actors that violate these provisions are 
required to compensate the victim(s) of discrimination.  

The provisions that concern the two equality bodies – the Equality Ombudsman and the 
Gender Equality Board – were originally incorporated into the same legal act, but in 2014 
the Gender Equality Board was merged  with the former  Board for Ethnic Discrimination 
into the National Non-Discrimination and Equality Tribunal of Finland, which has a broad 
mandate to protect persons who consider that they have been discriminated against on 

9 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
any ground of discrimination, under the Act on Non-Discrimination and the Equality Board.5 
The Act on the Equality Ombudsman6 was also amended in 2014, although the function 
was not merged into that of the new Non-Discrimination Ombudsman. The office of the 
Equality Ombudsman was transferred from the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health to the 
Ministry of Justice, where the other equality bodies are also located.  

Other acts that are important as instruments to implement EU law are the Employment 
Contracts  Act,7  which  contains  the  provisions  on  family-related  leave,  and  the  Sickness 
Insurance  Act,8  which  defines  the  benefits  during  those  periods  of  leave.  The  gender 
equality requirements concerning pensions have been implemented through the legislation 
on mandatory pension schemes. Prior to the 2016 reform, mandatory pension legislation 
was separated in the public and private employment sectors until the beginning of 2017. 
The provisions on public sector mandatory pensions were combined into one Act,9 which 
now stipulates the minimum age of 63 for retirement in the private and the public sectors, 
which  is  to  rise  gradually  to  the  age  of  65.  Mandatory  pension  schemes  cover 
entrepreneurs10 and agricultural entrepreneurs,11 and all schemes follow similar principles 
both in general and in the issues relevant for EU gender equality law.  

The Criminal Code12 also contains provisions that enforce EU gender equality law by way 
of criminal law sanctions. Chapter 47 of the Criminal Code on work-related crimes contains 
provisions on discrimination at work, including aggravated discrimination.13 Gross sexual 
harassment carries a criminal law sanction.14 

3.1.4  Political and societal debate and pending legislative proposals 

The reform of the parental leave system has been the topic of debate for a very long time, 
both  socially  and  in  politics.  The  current  Government  aims  to  implement  a  reform  that 
should lead to more equal sharing of family-related leave and responsibility for childcare 
in families, as well as more equal participation in paid work. The Government programme 
promises  to  introduce  an  equal  quota  of  non-transferable  family  leave  to  mothers  and 
fathers, by increasing the time allocated to fathers but without reducing the time allotted 
to mothers. Part of the leave will remain non-transferable. The reform is being prepared 
in a tripartite working group under the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.15 The minister 
responsible for the reform has said that the family leave system should be gender neutral, 
as the benefits during the leave would no longer be different for mothers and fathers, and 
suited to all forms of family. The issue of equal pay, including pay transparency, has also 
been under debate and is mentioned in the current Government’s programme. A working 
group is to start preparing a law to this effect in August. 

5   Laki yhdenvertaisuus- ja tasa-arvolautakunnasta (Act on the Non-Discrimination and Equality Board) 

2014/1327. 

6   Laki tasa-arvovaltuutetusta (Act on the Equality Ombudsman) 2014/1328. 
7   Työsopimuslaki (Employment Contracts Act) 2001/55. 
8   Sairausvakuutuslaki (Sickness Insurance Act) 2004/1224. 
9   Julkisten alojen eläkelaki (Pensions Act of the public sector) 395/2016). 
10   Yrittäjän eläkelaki (Entrepreneurs’ Pensions Act) 1272/2006. 
11   Maatalousyrittäjän eläkelaki (Agricultural Entrepreneurs’ Pensions Act) 1280/2006. 
12   Rikoslaki (Criminal Code) 1889/39. 
13   Työsyrjintä (work discrimination) under Chapter 47, Section 3 prescribes fines or imprisonment of up to six 
months for an employer or employer representative who, without an important and justifiable reason, puts 
an employee into an inferior position in employment or access to employment on the grounds of sex, 
among other grounds. In the crime of Kiskonnantapainen työsyrjintä (extortionate work discrimination), the 
employer places an employee into a considerably inferior position by using the employee’s economic or 
other distress, dependent position, lack of understanding, thoughtlessness or ignorance, and carries a 
penalty of maximum two years of imprisonment.  

14   Chapter 20, Section 5a on sexual harassment (seksuaalinen ahdistelu) was added to the Criminal Code in 

2014. 

15   Ministry of Social Affairs and Health (2020) ‘Reform aims to encourage both parents to take family leave’, 

https://stm.fi/en/reform-aims-to-encourage-both-parents-to-take-family-leave. 

10 

 
 
 
 
 
 
3.2  Sex/gender/transgender 

3.2.1  Definition of ‘gender’ and ‘sex’ 

The distinction between gender and sex is not commonly used in the Finnish language, as 
it does not have a linguistic term for gender. Although ‘gender’ was introduced into the 
Finnish language as sosiaalinen sukupuoli (social sex), it is not even used in the context 
of gender studies, which are referred to as sukupuolentutkimus (study of sex). Legislation 
uses  the  terms  sex,  woman,  and  man.  Gender-neutral  formulations  are  preferred  in 
legislation.  For  example,  the  reform  of  the  family-related  leave  system  referred  to  in 
Section  3.1.4  above  uses  a  gender-neutral  definition  of  family-related  leave,  and 
preference is given to the neutral term ‘parent’, rather than ‘mother’ and ‘father’. 

3.2.2  Protection of transgender, intersex and non-binary persons 

In the amendment to the Act on Equality in 2014, Section 1 of the Act changed so that 
the aim of the Act is now to prevent discrimination on the basis  of  sex and to promote 
equality between women and men, especially in working life.  The aim is also to prevent 
discrimination on the basis of gender identity or expression of gender (the word ‘sukupuoli’ 
(sex) is used here to refer to what is here translated as gender). Subsections 5 and 6 were 
added to Section 3, which contains the definitions of terms used in the Act. Gender identity 
is defined as ‘the person’s own experience of (his or her) gender’, and expression of gender 
as ‘articulating one’s gender by clothing, behaviour or in some other similar manner’. To 
Section  7,  which  contains  definitions  and  a  general  prohibition  of  discrimination  on  the 
basis of sex, a new provision was added on discrimination on the basis of gender identity 
and  expression  of  gender:  Section  3  defines  differential  treatment  on  the  grounds  of 
gender  identity  or  expression  of  gender  as  direct  discrimination.  The  provisions  do  not 
expressly refer to gender reassignment; but, since gender reassignment concerns gender 
identity and the expression of gender, the provisions protect persons who have undergone 
gender  reassignment.  There  is  no  further  definition  of  ‘sukupuoli’  (gender)  beyond  the 
recognition  that  it  may  be  expressed  by  choice  of  clothes  and  other  similar  means. 
Although there is no legal definition of transgender, intersex or non-binary characteristics, 
gender  identity  and  a  person’s  own  experience  of  gender  seem  to  cover  these 
characteristics. 

The Act on Equality also contains provisions on positive duties for authorities, employers, 
and educational institutions. A new positive duty was added to the Act in 2014; the new 
Section 6(c) contains obliges the aforementioned actors to prevent discrimination on the 
ground of gender identity and expression of gender. This positive duty is to be considered 
when  employers  and  educational  institutions  prepare  equality  plans.  These  provisions 
exceed the requirements under EU law. 

3.2.3  Specific requirements 

The Act on Equality does not require that the affected individual should have undergone 
gender confirmation or surgery procedures. Protection under non-discrimination law is not 
clearly demarcated  concerning the Act  on Confirmation of Transsexual Sex (252/2016). 
Due to the lengthy confirmation procedure, persons undergoing the procedure may have 
difficulties after changing his/her name while the procedure is still underway. In 2013, the 
Ministry  of  Education  and  Culture  together  with  the  Equality  Ombudsman  published  a 
recommendation  that  a  person’s  diplomas  should  be  provided  in  their  new  name  even 
before the gender reassignment procedure is finished.  

3.3  Direct sex discrimination 

3.3.1  Explicit prohibition 

11 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
In Section 7(2) of the Act on Equality, direct discrimination is defined as ‘placing women 
and  men  in  a  different  position  on  the  basis  of  sex’.  The  definition  complies  with  the 
definition under EU law. It does not refer directly to a comparator, nor does it require that 
differential  treatment  is  less  favourable.  However,  avoiding  an  open  reference  to  a 
‘comparable situation’ may be beneficial, as there is less emphasis on the need to present 
a  comparator.  Some  type  of  comparison  is  still  required  to  establish  that  a  person  has 
received  differential  treatment,  and  the  more  specific  provisions  on  various  forms  of 
prohibited discrimination may require that a comparator is presented. 

3.3.2  Prohibition of pregnancy and maternity discrimination 

In Section 7(2) of the Act on Equality, differential treatment on grounds of pregnancy or 
maternity status is defined as direct discrimination. 

3.3.3  Specific difficulties 

The fact that the definition of direct discrimination was introduced into the Act on Equality 
long after the provisions on specific forms of discrimination, such as pay discrimination, 
had been formulated, may make interpretation of the latter provisions somewhat difficult. 
The definition  of direct  and indirect discrimination were inserted under Section 7 of the 
Act, while specific prohibitions of discrimination which give a justiciable claim to the victim 
are  placed  under  other  provisions.  If  the  latter  ones  are  read  separately,  the  personal 
scope of prohibited discrimination may remain unnoticed or incompletely understood. 

3.4  Indirect sex discrimination 

3.4.1  Explicit prohibition 

In Section 7(3) of the Act on Equality, indirect discrimination on the basis of sex is defined 
as ‘1) placing a person in a different position by means of an apparently neutral provision, 
criterion or practice, if the person may de facto be disadvantaged by this means, and 2) 
placing a person in a different position due to parenthood and childcare responsibilities’. 
Section  7(4)  further  defines  that  the  means  mentioned  under  Section  7(3)  are  not 
considered discriminatory if they are used to achieve an acceptable aim, and if the means 
taken are appropriate and necessary to achieve that aim.  

This definition differs from EU law, as it does not require that the person would suffer a 
‘particular  disadvantage’;  it  is  sufficient  that  any  disadvantage  is  or  would  be  suffered. 
Furthermore,  differential  treatment  on  the  basis  of  parenthood  and  childcare  duties  is 
specifically  defined  as  indirect  sex  discrimination.  Unlike  discrimination  on  the  basis  of 
pregnancy, indirect discrimination on the basis of parenthood and childcare may also be 
suffered by men. Finnish law in these respects is more generous than EU law.16 Indirect 
discrimination may be found even in cases where there is some disadvantage, which does 
not  need  to  be  ‘particular’.  The  definition  covers  parenting  duties  as  a  separate 
discrimination  ground.  The  definition  protects  parents  who  are  using  their  right  to  take 
care of their children, and is helpful for fathers in particular.17 

16   It should be noted that prohibition of differential treatment on the basis of parenthood and childcare does 

not give a justiciable right for parents. Section 8 of the Equality Act on discrimination in working life gives a 
right to compensation to a person who has been discriminated against, but the section covers only issues 
that the employer has control over. The system of family-related leave is not among them. Thus, the 
separate prohibition of differential treatment on the basis of parenthood and childcare does not cover a 
father’s right to leave, which was the issue in Case C-104/09 Alvarez. Fathers have a right to paternity and 
parental leave, but the right to parental leave is used less by fathers than mothers. One of the reasons 
behind the disparity is prohibitive attitudes of the employers to fathers using their social parenting rights. 
Section 7(3) of the Equality Act is useful in these situations.  

17   The definition of differential treatment due to parenthood and childcare does not give a justiciable right 
except in the context of the specific prohibitions of discrimination, such as Section 8 on discrimination in 
working life, which covers issues that the employer has control over. The system of family-related leave is 

12 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
3.4.2  Statistical evidence 

Statistical evidence was used to establish indirect sex discrimination for example in case 
TT:1998-34,18  a  judgment  of  the  Labour  Court  on  indirect  discrimination.  A  collective 
agreement  condition  calculated  pay  bonuses  on  the  basis  of  experience,  and  all  ‘lawful 
absences from work’ not exceeding 30 days were to be counted as time to be taken into 
account  in  the  calculation.  Although  the  condition  was  apparently  gender  neutral,  it 
disproportionately  disadvantaged  women,  as  women  were  often  on  maternity  leave  for 
more than 30 days and statistically took parental leave significantly more often than men. 
The Labour Court found that both maternity leave and parental leave were to be counted 
as time to be taken into account for the calculation of pay benefits. The statistical fact that 
women  use  their  right  to  parental  leave  was  therefore  used  to  establish  indirect 
discrimination.  

3.4.3  Application of the objective justification test 

The Supreme Court applied the objective justification test in the much-discussed case KKO 
2004:59,  which  concerned  a  municipality  that  had  made  redundant  only  part  of  its 
employees, justified by the municipality on the basis of economic difficulties. The personnel 
made  redundant  worked  in  departments  (social  and  health)  in  which  the  majority  of 
employees were female (more than 90 %), and not in departments where more than 90 
%  of  the  employees  were  male.  The  Supreme  Court  found  that  the  disproportionate 
redundancies of women could not be justified by mere budget restrictions alone. However, 
according to the Supreme Court, since the budget objectives were set for all departments 
without  discrimination,  and  the  expenditure  of  the  female-dominated  departments  had 
been  higher  than  that  of  the  male-dominated  departments,  the  measure  had  not  been 
discriminatory because there were objective grounds to save expenses.  

The  Supreme  Court,  unlike  the  lower  courts  before  it,  did  not  consider  EU  law  in  its 
judgment, and has been criticized in legal literature for failing to apply the EU objective 
justification test. The Supreme Court should have considered whether budgetary grounds 
were sufficient to justify the measure by comparing them against several EU cases. The 
Supreme  Court  did  not  proceed  to  consider  whether  it  was  necessary  to  dismiss  only 
female employees, or whether the economic objective could have been achieved by non-
discriminatory measures.19  

3.4.4  Specific difficulties 

There are no specific difficulties to report. 

3.5  Multiple discrimination and intersectional discrimination20 

3.5.1  Definition and explicit prohibition 

There is no explicit prohibition of multiple and intersectional discrimination under Finnish 
non-discrimination  law.  The  reform  of  non-discrimination  law  that  came  into  force  on  1 

not among them. A father’s right to family-related leave is sometimes not taken due to the prohibitive 
attitudes of the employer, and this is where the provision under Section 7(3) is useful. 

18   The case is available at http://www.finlex.fi/fi/oikeus/tt/1998/19980034. 
19   Anttila, O. (2013) Kohti tosiasiallista tasa-arvoa? Sukupuolisyrjinnän kiellot oikeudellisen pluralismin aikana 
Suomalainen lakimiesyhdistys, pp. 306-308, and Schiek, D. ‘Indirect Discrimination’ (2007) in Schiek, D., 
Waddington, L., Bell, M. (eds) Materials, Cases and Texts on national, supranational and international non 
discrimination law Ius Commune Casebooks for international non/discrimination law. pp. 323- 475, at pp. 
456-460. 

20   See for more information Fredman S. (2016), Intersectional discrimination in EU gender equality and non-
discrimination law, European network of legal experts in gender equality and non-discrimination, available 
at https://www.equalitylaw.eu/downloads/3850-intersectional-discrimination-in-eu-gender-equality-and-
non-discrimination-law-pdf-731-kb. 

13 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
January  2015  was  originally  motivated,  amongst  other  reasons,  by  the  need  to  include 
provisions to help address multiple and intersectional discrimination.  Sex discrimination 
was prohibited by the Act on Equality between Women and Men in 1986, and discrimination 
on any other ground was prohibited by the Non-Discrimination Act in 2004. This latter Act 
was  adopted  hastily  for  the  purpose  of  implementing  Directives  2000/43/EC  and 
2000/78/EC,  and  at  the  time  of  passing  it  Parliament  required  that  the  Act  soon  be 
amended, as the Act was considered to implement the 2000 Directives incorrectly. In the 
first  phase  of  the  reform,  unification  of  the  two  non-discrimination  acts  was  discussed, 
although the idea was abandoned and finally only two equality bodies (the Equality Board 
and  Discrimination  Tribunal)  were  merged  together  to  form  a  a  new  National  Non-
Discrimination and Equality Tribunal of Finland.21 The preparatory works for the amended 
Non-Discrimination Act (135/2014)22 note that the Non-Discrimination Act may be applied 
to cases of multiple discrimination. The solution does not benefit all victims of multiple or 
intersectional  discrimination,  as  the  rules  concerning  access  to  the  new  National  Non-
Discrimination and Equality Tribunal remain different for victims of sex discrimination and 
victims of discrimination on other grounds. The Equality Ombudsman’s 2018 report to the 
Parliament23 noted Commission Recommendation (EU) 2018/951 on standards for equality 
bodies.  The  Non-Discrimination  Ombudsman’s  opinion  on  the  Equality  Ombudsman’s 
report noted that the recommendations are not being fully followed; no reform is planned. 

No reform of the amended legislation is expected in the near future.  

3.5.2  Case law and judicial recognition 

The new Tribunal has the competence to handle cases under both the Non-Discrimination 
Act and the Act  on Equality. However, a victim of  sex discrimination (unlike a victim  of 
discrimination  based  on  other  prohibited  grounds)  cannot  submit  a  case  to  the  new 
Tribunal; the Act on Equality requires that complaints of sex discrimination are submitted 
only by the Equality Ombudsman and the main Social Partners. In this context, the new 
Equality Board only has the mandate to prohibit the continuation of a discriminatory act, 
and the mandate of the new Non-Discrimination and Equality Tribunal therefore remains 
similar  to  the  mandate  of  the  previous  Gender  Equality  Board.  The  new  Tribunal  has  a 
broader  competence  over  issues  covered  by  the  Non-Discrimination  Act  (concerning  all 
other discrimination grounds) to confirm conciliation between the parties (Section 20 of 
the Non-Discrimination Act). The mandate of the Equality Ombudsman was extended to 
cover  conciliation  between  parties,  and  the  mandate  of  the  Tribunal  was  extended  to 
confirming agreements between them.  

The amendment gave victims of gender discrimination access to – and introduced access 
to – conciliation by the Tribunal. Rights provided by the Act on equality were thus brought 
on a par with the rights of victims of discrimination on the grounds protected under the 
Non-Discrimination Act. Before the amendment, victims of gender discrimination had no 
access to the Tribunal. However, victims of gender discrimination have no individual right 
of access, as cases under the Act on Equality can only be admitted on bequest by a social 
partner or the Equality Ombudsman. The Tribunal has a mandate on employment-related 
gender discrimination, but it has no mandate in employment-related discrimination that is 
based on other discrimination grounds, as these are monitored by the Occupational Health 
Authorities. The disparity between victims of gender discrimination and victims of (other 
grounds  of)  discrimination  concerning  access  to  the  Board,  and  the  difference  in  the 

21   Kantola, J., Nousiainen, K. (2008) ‘Pussauskoppiin? Tasa-arvo- ja yhdenvertaisuuslakien yhdistämisestä’ 

(On the unification of the Act on Equality and the Non-Discrimination Act) (Naistutkimus 2008(2), pp. 6-20. 
The Parliament’s Constitutional Committee noted in its statement of the Government Bill for the Non-
Discrimination Act that the reform left victims of multiple discrimination with a weak protection. 

22   Government Bill HE 19/2014 Hallituksen esitys yhdenvertaisuuslaiksi ja siihen liittyviksi laeiksi (Government 

proposal for Non-Discrimination Act and related acts). 

23   Equality Ombudsman (2018) Tasa-arvovaltuutetun kertomus eduskunnalle (K22/2018) (Report to the 

Parliament).  

14 

 
 
 
 
 
mandate  to  conciliate,  may  complicate  the  process  of  handling  cases  of  intersectional 
discrimination under the new equality legislation.  

No cases explicitly dealing with intersectional discrimination have been brought to Finnish 
courts. While occupational safety directorates have the mandate to monitor legislation on 
discrimination  grounds  other  than  gender,  some  of  the  cases  dealt  with  may  de  facto 
involve  intersectional  or  multiple  discrimination,  without  the  term  being  explicit  in  the 
documents of the  case. Few  studies have  focused  on the recognition  and elimination of 
multiple discrimination in general, despite the issue having been discussed for a long time. 
The term remains uncommon and ambiguous.24 

3.6  Positive action 

3.6.1  Definition and explicit prohibition 

Finnish legislation allows for – and even specifically requires – positive action. Section 6(4) 
of  the  Constitution  explicitly  requires  the  promotion  of  equality  of  the  sexes  in  societal 
activities  and  working  life,  especially  in  the  determination  of  pay  and  other  terms  of 
employment, ‘as provided in more detail by an Act’. The reference to secondary legislation 
is explained in the preparatory works to refer to the Act on Equality, but can also include 
other  legislation.  For  example,  amendments  of  the  Criminal  Code  may  be  needed  for 
promoting gender equality, with the aim of reducing violence against women. Preparatory 
works further note that even the principle of (formal) equality under Section 6(1) involves 
the duty to promote equality. 

The Act on Equality between Women and Men (609/1986) uses the terms ‘promotion of 
(gender) equality’ and ‘duty to promote (gender) equality’. For instance, Section 4 refers 
to ‘[a]uthorities’ duty to promote (gender)  equality’; Section 5(a) refers to ‘[m]easures 
for promoting (gender) equality in educational institutions’; Section 6 refers to ‘Employers’ 
duty to promote (gender) equality’; and Section 6(a) refers to ‘[m]easures for promoting 
(gender) equality in working life’. Other additional positive action provisions are  worded 
differently. For instance, Section 4(a) addresses the composition of administrative bodies 
and  bodies  that  yield  public  power,  and  although  no  reference  is  made  to  promoting 
equality or positive action, the provision is one of the strongest examples of positive action 
under Finnish law. In addition, Section 6(c) addresses the prevention of discrimination on 
the basis of gender identity or expression of gender, and introduces a positive action duty 
in terms of preventing discrimination rather than promoting equality. The word ‘equality’ 
in  the  Act  and  in  other  contexts  is  ‘tasa-arvo’,  which  denotes  ‘equal  value’,  and  is 
considered to refer specifically to gender equality. In other contexts, such as discrimination 
on  the  grounds  of  ethnicity,  the  term  in  use  is  ‘yhdenvertaisuus’,  which  contains  an 
element  of  comparison  (vertailu).  Positive  action  is  more  commonly  referred  to  in  the 
context of gender equality rather than in other discrimination contexts. 

3.6.2  Conceptual  distinctions  between  ‘equal  opportunities’  and  ‘positive  action’  in 

national law 

Neither  ‘equal  opportunities’  nor  ‘positive  action’  is  frequently  used  in  Finnish  law  or 
everyday discourse; it is thus not possible to identify any conceptual differences between 
the two.  

3.6.3  Specific difficulties  

Although several provisions impose positive action duties upon authorities, employers, and 
educational institutions – which is in line with the Constitution – problems arise with their 

24   Lepola, O. (2018) Koko ajan jännittyneenä: Moniperusteinen syrjintä seksuaali- ja sukupuolivähemmistöjen 
kokemana (Tense all the time: Multiple discrimination experienced by sexual and sex minorities), Ministry 
of Justice reports 51/2018, 26.  

15 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
relatively weak implementation and monitoring. For example, Sections 6, 6(a) and 6(b) of 
the Act on Equality require employers to implement positive action; all employers have a 
duty to promote equality within the scope of their resources. This requires employers to 
take action to  ensure that both women and men apply for jobs; to  employ women and 
men at various levels and to provide them with equal career paths; to promote equality in 
working  conditions,  pay  in  particular;  to  develop  working  conditions  suitable  for  both 
women and men; to facilitate combining working and family life for both women and men, 
paying attention to working time arrangements in particular; and to prevent gender-based 
discrimination.  Section  6(a)  dictates  that  employers  with  30  employees  or  more  must 
make an equality plan every second year. The plan is not submitted to an authority, but 
must be made public in the workplace. The Equality Ombudsman monitors equality plans. 
This plan must list positive action measures concerning pay and other conditions of work, 
either as an independent plan or as incorporated into the personnel, educational, or safety 
at work plans. The plan is to be drafted in cooperation with an employee representative, 
who is to be given appropriate resources to influence and participate in the planning. The 
plan should provide an analysis of gender equality in the work place and a pay audit that 
addresses the classification, pay, and pay differentials of women and men. The plan must 
also  list  the  actions  required  to  ensure  equality  and  equal  pay,  and  an  assessment  of 
earlier action and their effects. Personnel must be informed about the pay audit.  

Section 6(b) details more specific rules on the pay audit process. The audit is to ensure 
there  are  no  groundless  pay  differentials  between  women  and  men  in  the  work  place, 
although Section 6(b) does not stipulate exactly how the pay audit should be conducted 
or  which  jobs  to  compare.  Rather,  the  provision  states  that  if  a  comparison  of  groups 
based on demands of the job or job categories demonstrates ‘clear differences’ between 
the  pay  of  women  and  men,  the  employer  is  obliged  to  analyse  the  reason  for  these 
differences.  If  an  employer  implements  a  remuneration  system  consisting  of  pay 
components, the most important of these components must be analysed. This means that 
if the employer has a bonus system, or offers specific benefits for some employee groups, 
these  pay  components  are  to  be  taken  into  consideration.  If  there  are  no  legitimate 
grounds for salary differentials, the employer must take action to remedy the situation.  

While the Act on Equality contains a number of positive duties for public and private actors, 
their  implementation  is  not  guaranteed  by  remedies  or  sanctions.  The  most  powerful 
positive duty is probably the ‘quota provision’ under Section 4(a). This has been amended 
several  times  and  is  by  now  well-known  in  state  and  municipal  decision-making.  The 
provision seems to have some spill-over effects in areas that traditionally fall outside its 
material scope, for example in organisations. Section 6(c), which was amended in 2014, 
replaces a less stringent employer duty for ‘pay mapping’ (see section 3.5.1 of this report). 
If an educational institution or employer does not fulfil the equality planning duty required 
by Sections 5(a) or 6(a), the Equality Ombudsman may set a date by which the duty must 
be fulfilled (Section 19 of the Act) or submit a complaint for violation of these provisions 
to the Non-Discrimination and Equality Tribunal (Section 20 of the Act).  

The limits of positive action were tested in August 2017, when a Finnish textile company 
planned  a  marketing  campaign  to  draw  attention  to  the  gender  pay  gap.  The  company 
announced that it would sell products to women for 83 % of the normal price, reflecting 
the fact that on average women only earn 83 % of men’s pay. The company planned to 
donate  the  earnings  from  the  campaign  to  a  women’s  rights  association.  All  customers 
would have been given the reduced price only by asking for it, without proving their sex. 
Several  complaints  were  made  to  the  Equality  Ombudsman,  who  decided  that  the 
campaign would not violate the Act on Equality provided that all customers were clearly 
informed that they were de facto entitled to the reduced price. The Ombudsman referred 
to what may be considered justified differential treatment under Directive 2004/113/EC, 
and  stated  that  the  aim  of  prohibiting  differential  treatment  in  provision  of  goods  and 
services  was  not  to  prevent  all  differential  treatment,  but  clearly  unjust  differential 
treatment. When the Act on Equality was amended in 2008 to implement the Directive, 

16 

 
 
 
the Parliament’s Employment and Equality Committee stated that when a measure has an 
acceptable aim and context, giving special offers whose monetary value is small to women 
or men is not prohibited.25 

Positive action policies agreed upon in tripartite programmes between social partners and 
the  Government  have  overshadowed  legal  measures  of  promoting  equality.  A  tripartite 
equal  pay  programme,  for  example,  has  run  for  more  than  a  decade  and  gives 
recommendations for both Government and social partner policies. The emphasis in the 
programme has generally focussed  on reducing pay differentials rather than addressing 
pay  discrimination,  and  issues  such  as  combining  family  and  working  life  and  gender 
segregation  in  the  labour  market  have  therefore  dominated.  In  practice,  these 
programmes  have  not  been  very  effective.  The  latest  (2016-2019)  was  evaluated  in 
2018,26 and was found to have had little direct impact on pay differentials. The positive 
action  duties  stipulated  under  the  Act  on  Equality  also  rely  heavily  on  the  monitoring 
conducted by social partners. 

3.6.4  Measures to improve the gender balance on company boards 

Section 4(a)(2) of the Act on Equality requires a gender balance on company boards of 
directors  ‘unless  there  are  specific  reasons  against  this’.  However,  this  legal  obligation 
covers  only  companies  (of  all  sizes)  that  are  majority  owned  by  public  bodies.  The 
provision does not set out a timeline or deadline by which to achieve this.  

In  2019,  the  percentage  of  women  in  large  cap  companies  reached  33  %,  in  mid  cap 
companies 29 %, and in small cap companies  25 %.27 Since 2003, the national Code of 
Conduct  for  listed  companies  has  required  that  both  sexes  must  be  represented  on  the 
boards, but no quota is set in the self-regulatory code.28 The percentage of women on the 
boards of listed companies increased yearly until coming to a standstill or even reducing 
in  2019.  The  Finnish  Chambers  of  Commerce,  which  has  promoted  self-regulatory 
measures to improve gender balance, explained that the small decline may be caused by 
changes in the market values of companies, and stresses that the percentage of women 
on all listed companies’ boards remained at 29 %. The Government has exerted pressure 
on listed companies to increase the number of women on their boards, and the Chambers 
of  Commerce  has  responded  by  introducing  a  duty  to  achieving  gender-balanced 
representation  through  self-regulation.  Listed  companies  are  to  have  both  women  and 
men  on  their  boards  of  directors,  and  must  follow  the  ‘comply  or  explain’  rule  when 
reporting on the national Code of Conduct requirements. 

3.6.5  Positive action measures to improve the gender balance in other areas 

Section  4(a)(1)  of  the  Act  of  Equality  requires  that  state  committees  and  other  similar 
bodies (as well as municipal bodies that are not elected but nominated) must  ensure a 
minimum of 40 % of the under-represented sex. This provision is not required by EU law, 
and  has  been  considered  effective  in  its  efforts  to  create  more  gender  balanced  public 
bodies. The provision has had a certain spill-over effect in other areas of life, for example 
in  civil  society.  Non-governmental  organisations  that  have  no  legal  duty  to  follow  the 
provision often still do so.  

25   Equality Ombudsman’s opinion 29.8.2017, Dnro TAS/225/2017. 
26   Suomaa, Leo Samapalkkaisuusohjelman kokonaisarviointi 2016-2019 (Overall evaluation of the equal pay 

programme 2016-2019), Ministry of Social Affairs and Health 2018. 

27   According to the Finnish Foundation for Share Promotion, large cap companies have a share value over 

EUR 1 billion and small cap companies share value up to EUR 150 million, while the share value of mid cap 
companies lies between these figures.  

28   Naiset pörssiyhtiöiden hallituksissa -19 (Women on the boards of directors of the listed companies -19), 

Keskuskauppakamari (Finnish Chambers of Commerce), https://kauppakamari.fi/wp-
content/uploads/2019/05/naiset-porssiyhtioiden-hallituksissa-2019. 

17 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
3.7  Harassment and sexual harassment 

3.7.1  Definition and explicit prohibition of harassment 

Section 7 of the Act on Equality defines discrimination and harassment. Sexual harassment 
is defined as:  

‘verbal,  non-verbal  or  physical  unwanted  sexual  conduct  which  intentionally  or  de 
facto violates the mental or physical integrity of a person, in particular when creating 
an 
intimidating,  hostile,  degrading,  humiliating  or  offensive  environment’ 
(Subsection 7(7)).  

Harassment on the basis of sex is defined as:  

‘unwanted conduct related to sex, sexual identity or expression of sex which is not 
sexual by nature and which with its purpose or effect violates the mental or physical 
integrity  of  a  person  and  which  creates  an  intimidating,  hostile,  degrading, 
humiliating or offensive environment’ (Subsection 7(8)). 

Subsection 7(6) stipulates that harassment based on sex and sexual harassment amounts 
to discrimination.  

3.7.2  Scope of the prohibition of harassment 

The  prohibition  under  Section  7  of  the  Act  on  Equality  prohibits  harassment  in  general, 
except  in  private  relations,  religious  communities,  and  the  acts  of  Parliament  and  the 
President, which areas Section 2 of the Act on Equality explicitly excludes from the material 
scope of the Act. The general prohibition does not also include a right to compensation for 
the victim of harassment. However, authorities are bound by the general prohibition, and 
violation of Section 7 may have administrative legal impact.  The specific prohibitions of 
harassment under Sections 8(b) to 8(e) extend the prohibition of harassment, supported 
by  the  right  of  the  victim  to  compensation,  to  education,  labour-market  organisations, 
workplaces and the provision of goods and services. 

3.7.3  Definition and explicit prohibition of sexual harassment 

Under Section 7 of the Act on Equality,  subsections 6-8 prohibit sexual harassment and 
harassment on the basis of sex, and define sexual harassment as:  

‘verbal, non-verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature with the purpose or effect 
of violating the mental or physical integrity of a person, in particular when creating 
an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment’.  

3.7.4  Scope of the prohibition of sexual harassment 

The prohibition of sexual harassment covers a broader scope than EU law, while remedies 
for  the  victim  are  available  only  in  cases  covered  by  EU  law,  i.e.  those  concerning 
discrimination  in  working  life  and  in  the  access  to  and  supply  of  goods  and  services, 
prohibited  under  Sections  8  and  8(e).  Section  8(d)  stipulates  that  the  conduct  of  an 
employer is considered discriminatory if they do not take available measures to remove 
harassment when they have been informed of it.  

The  Finnish  legal  definition  complies  with  EU  law.  The  broad  scope  of  Section  7  has  an 
impact,  mostly  because  authorities  are  required  to  take  the  prohibition  of  sexual 
harassment into account, even when there is no justiciable right for the victim to demand 
compensation.  In  addition,  Section  8(b)  prohibits  discrimination,  including  sexual 
harassment, in educational institutions, and an amendment adopted in 2016 extended this 

18 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
to institutions that provide basic education, which until then fell outside the material scope 
of the provision. The prohibition covers harassment and entitles the victim with a right to 
compensation. This provision exceeds the requirements of EU law.29  

3.7.5  Understanding of (sexual) harassment as discrimination 

The Act  on Equality is clear in defining both sexual harassment and harassment  on the 
grounds of sex as amounting to discrimination. However, the situation is complicated by 
a  parallel  provision  under  Section  28  of  the  Occupational  Safety  Act  (738/2002).  This 
provision  requires  the  employer  to  take  action  when  ‘harassment  or  other  improper 
treatment’ takes place at work. Harassment is in this context defined by its impact on the 
health of the employee, and is not described as a form of discrimination that is prohibited 
even irrespective of health risks involved. The Occupational Safety Act is well known and 
more vigorously monitored than the Act on Equality.  

3.7.6  Specific difficulties 

A victim of harassment is often in a difficult situation, as the employer is held responsible 
for  harassment  at  work  only  after  they  have  been  informed  and  then  neglects  to  take 
action  to  address  it.  The  victim  often  feels  it  is  difficult  to  make  an  accusation  of 
harassment, particularly against a person in a superior position. The rule on the burden of 
proof (Section 9a of the Equality Act) requires that the victim of discrimination presents 
facts on which it may be assumed that discrimination has taken place. If the complainant 
manages to do so, the burden of proof falls on the respondent. It is considered difficult to 
obtain proof that harassment has taken place. Harassment often takes place between two 
individuals, and if the alleged harasser denies the violation, there often is no further proof 
of it. Harassment claims tend to become public when several persons present complaints, 
rather than when reported by one individual. Widespread problems of sexual harassment 
have been found to exist in several public bodies, such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs30 
and the Parliament.31 The way to solve such situations has been to nominate a rapporteur, 
rather  than  encouraging  the  victims  to  go  to  court.32  The  Supreme  Court  and  Supreme 
Administrative Court have not ruled  on  cases  of harassment under  the Act on Equality. 
The  Labour  Court  has  ruled  on  several  cases  of  contested  dismissals  of  persons  on  the 
ground  of  harassment  under  the  Occupational  Safety  Act  (738/2002),  Section  28.  The 
provision requires the employer to take adequate measures against ‘harassment and other 
inappropriate  treatment  of  an  employee’.  Most  cases  based  on  the  Occupational  Safety 
Act involve bullying rather than sexual harassment or harassment on the basis of sex, but 
it  is  often  difficult  to  discern  whether  there  are  elements  of  gender-based  harassment 
involved. Case TT:2014-79 of the Labour Court concerned a contested dismissal on the 
grounds of sexual harassment of a co-employee. In the case, the Labour Court assessed 
the proof on harassment, finding the victim’s narrative credible. The core issue of the case, 
however,  was whether  the harassment  was a  sufficient ground for dismissal.  The  Court 
found  it  was  not  a  ‘serious  breach  of  the  employee’s  contractual  duties’,  and  thus  the 
dismissed employee was entitled to compensation under the collective agreement. 

29   Section 8b of the Act on Equality, which contains the prohibition of discrimination in educational 

institutions, was amended by Act 915/2016. The earlier wording of the section made an exception 
concerning basic education, i.e. the mandatory schooling for persons between 7 and 16. 

30   In March 2019, the ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that a study of the prevention, handling and 

follow-up of cases of harassment in the Foreign Service had been completed. The report noted 
shortcomings in reporting of harassment and handling of harassment cases. Ministry of Foreign Affairs 
Press release ‘Consultants recommend improved communications and changes in HR and management to 
address harassment’, 26.3.2019. 

31   The activities of MPs are exempted from the scope of the Act on Equality. At several points, studies have 

shown that assistants to MPs are vulnerable to harassment. The latest study on the issue was published by 
the national public broadcasting company YLE 12.12.2017, in https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-9972340. 

32   For example, when the CEO of the Veikkaus Oy, the government-owned betting agency, was accused of 

harassing several employees, Pirkko K. Koskinen, a professor of labour law, was nominated as rapporteur. 
Ms Koskinen found there was proof of harassment, and the CEO was dismissed. 

19 

 
 
 
 
 
 
3.8  Instruction to discriminate 

3.8.1  Explicit prohibition 

Section 7(6) of the Act on Equality  explicitly prohibits the instruction  to discriminate as 
discrimination:  ‘an  incitement  or  instruction  to  discriminate  is  to  be  considered  as 
discrimination under this Act.’ 

3.8.2  Specific difficulties 

There are no specific difficulties. 

3.9  Other forms of discrimination 

Under  Section  7(7)  of  the  Act  on  Equality,  ’discrimination  is  prohibited  irrespective  of 
whether it is based on a fact or assumption concerning the person him/herself or someone 
else’, which covers both discrimination by association and assumed discrimination. 

3.10 Evaluation of implementation 

Equality  and  discrimination  are  defined  in  two  ways:  Section  7  of  the  Act  on  Equality 
follows  the  definitions  in  EU  law,  while  the  older  provisions  on  specific  forms  of 
discrimination use a different vocabulary, which may be difficult to relate to the definitions 
under Section 7. The implementation may be correct, but the provisions are rather difficult 
to understand for persons who are not experts on equality law. 

3.11 Remaining issues 

The  fact  that  most  pay  discrimination  cases  that  come  before  courts  involve  an 
employment  contract  that  has  been  terminated  or  has  never  commenced  (recruitment 
situations)  seems  to  indicate  that  victims  may  feel  too  vulnerable  or  insecure  to  allege 
discrimination while their employment continues. 

20 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
4 

Equal  pay  and  equal  treatment  at  work  (Article  157  of  the  Treaty  on  the 
Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and Recast Directive 2006/54) 

4.1  General (legal) context 

4.1.1  Surveys on the gender pay gap and the difficulties of realising equal pay 

Surveys on the gender pay gap and attempts to reduce it have been made for decades. 
Both Statistics Finland and social partners conduct surveys on gender equality in the labour 
market.  

Women in Finland participate in the labour market almost equally as men, and their level 
of education is generally higher than that of men’s. Nevertheless, Statistics Finland reports 
a high average gender pay gap, at present 16 %. This gap is broader than the EU average, 
and it has only reduced slowly. The Finnish labour market is highly gender segregated; 
the private sector is predominantly dominated by men, while the public sector  employs 
mainly women.  Only one tenth of  employees work in occupations that  employ an  equal 
number of men and women,33 and men tend to dominate in higher positions.  

Part-time work has slightly increased in Finland, and is more common for women than for 
men. In 2018, 10 % of men and 21 % of women worked part time. Part-time working is 
more common for young and older employees, which indicates that it is not primarily a 
solution for combining work and family life. The latest statistics show that the number of 
part-time  working  men  increased  from  2019  to  2020,  while  the  number  of  part-time 
working women declined.34 Fixed-term work increased during the economic depression in 
the 1990s and has since remained common, especially for women; in 2018, 13 % of men 
and 19 % of women were employed on fixed-term contracts. Such jobs are more common 
in the public than the private sector, where new employment contracts tend to be fixed-
term – new contracts were fixed-term in 59 % of cases for women and in 49 % for men.35 
The  latest  statistics  show  an  increase  (1.3 %)  in  the  percentage  of  fixed-term 
employment, but the statistics are not gender-specific.36 

4.1.2  Surveys on the difficulties of realising equal treatment at work 

Tripartite  (Government  and  social  partners)  equal  pay  programmes  have  been  running 
since 2006. The most recent programme (2016-2019), as well as those that preceded it, 
have  involved  cooperation  with  the  social  partners;  mainly  central  organisations  of 
employers and employees. The programme aims to reduce the gender pay gap by various 
means,  and  operates  on  the  assumption  that  the  gendered  segregation  of  the  labour 
market is the main reason for the gap. The latest programme named the need to educate 
experts on labour and economic affairs administration and to include a gender dimension 
in immigrant and refugee  services as a means to reduce the gap.37 The tripartite Equal 
Pay  Programme  included  actions  for  social  partners,  such  as  to  promote  gender  impact 
assessments of collective agreements, and to increase the use of pay systems based on 
demands of the work and assessment of personal input. Significant emphasis is placed on 
reducing  gender  segregation  in  the  labour  market  through  educational  measures.  The 
Programme  also  refers  to  the  need  to  increase  fathers’  use  of  family-related  leave. 
However, an evaluation of the Programme indicated that the results have been meagre, 
and that any new tripartite programme in the future should find new approaches to the 

33   Statistics Finland 2915. 
34   http://tilastokeskus.fi/til/tyti/2020/01/tyti_2020_01_2020-02-25_tau_010_fi.html. 
35   Kauhanen, Merja Sukupuolten väliset erot työpaikkojen laadussa – onko työsuhteen tyypillä väliä? (Gender 
differences in the quality of working places – does the type of the working contract matter? in Pietikäinen, 
Marjut (ed.) Työ, talous ja tasa-arvo (Work, Economy and Equality) Statistics Finland, 2013, 49-63. 

36   http://tilastokeskus.fi/til/tyti/2020/01/tyti_2020_01_2020-02-25_tau_013_fi.html. 
37   Hallituksen tasa-arvo-ohjelma (Government’s Equality Programme) 2016-2019, p. 9-10, 

http://julkaisut.valtioneuvosto.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/75238/04_2016_STM_Tasa-arvo-ohjelma_2016-
2019_fi_sv_B5_netti.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y. 

21 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
pay  gap  problem.38  In  general,  different  studies  and  surveys  indicate  that  there  is 
disagreement  over  the  reasons  behind  the  gender  pay  gap  and  the  means  required  to 
overcome it. 

The  Equality  Ombudsman’s  Office  collects  information  on  queries  made  to  the 
Ombudsman, as well as on a number of discrimination cases that have reached the courts. 
The latest collection of such unpublished reports was conducted in 2015,39 and contains 
information on cases concerning gender-based discrimination that reached the courts  in 
2012-2014.  Over  50  gender-based  discrimination  cases  were  brought  to  district  courts. 
Seven of these were pay discrimination cases. 

4.1.3  Other issues 

There are no further issues to be discussed. 

4.1.4  Political and societal debate and pending legislative proposals 

Political  and  societal  discussions  on  family-related  leave,  pay  discrimination  and  pay 
transparency took place during the previous Government of 2016-2019. The Government 
was  unable  to  come  to  an  agreement  on  the  reform  of  family-related  leave,  and  the 
preparations for an amendment to the pay transparency legislation were cut short by the 
Government’s premature resignation in March 2019. The current Government programme 
promises to reduce pay discrimination by increasing pay transparency legislation, as well 
as by means of a more effective tripartite equal pay programme that would commit parties 
to job evaluations and pay transparency.40 

4.2  Equal pay 

4.2.1  Implementation in national law 

The principle of equal pay is referred to under Section 6(4) of the Constitution, as described 
above under 2.1.1, and also under Section 8 of the Act on Equality. Section 8(3)(4) of the 
Act on Equality prohibits implementing conditions of pay or employment in a manner that 
places  an  employee  or  employees  in  a  less  advantageous  position  than  one  or  several 
employees who do equal work or work of equal value.  

4.2.2  Definition in national law 

The term ‘pay’, including ‘equal pay’, is not defined in national law.  

4.2.3  Explicit implementation of Article 4 of Recast Directive 2006/54 

Section 7 of the Act on Equality defines direct and indirect discrimination, and Section 8 
prohibits pay discrimination, in principle using the definitions under Section 7. However, it 
may  still  be  difficult  to  distinguish  direct  and  indirect  pay  discrimination  in  practice,  as 
pointed out above. The preparatory works to the Act on Equality refer to the possibility 
that  the  general  prohibition  of  discrimination  under  Section  7  may  be  applied  to  pay 
discrimination in some cases  that fall outside the scope of Section 8, for instance when 

38   Suomaa, Leo Samapalkkaisuusohjelman kokonaisarviointi 2016-2019 (Overall assessment of the Equal Pay 

Programme 2016-2019), Sosiaali- ja terveysministeriön raportteja ja muistioita 56/2018, 
http://julkaisut.valtioneuvosto.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/161221/R_56_18_STM_Samapalkkaisuus_kokon
aisarviointi-WEB.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y. 

39   Jokinen, Jasmiina Tasa-arvolain ja rikoslain syrjintäsäännösten soveltaminen oikeuskäytännössä vuosina 
2012-2014 (Implementation of the Non-Discrimination Provisions under the Act of Equality and Criminal 
Code in 2012-2014, unpublished report for the Equality Ombudsman’s Office, 2015.  

40   Programme of Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s Government 2019, Section 3.5, 

https://valtioneuvosto.fi/en/marin/government-programme/finland-built-on-trust-and-labour-market-
equality. 

22 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
employees  do  not  do  equal  work  or  work  of  equal  value,  if  an  employee  is  placed  at  a 
disadvantage  on the basis  of sex. Section 7 does not  provide a victim of discrimination 
with the right to obtain compensation under the Act on Equality, but compensation under 
tort law is possible.41  

4.2.4  Related case law 

Indirect discrimination in the application of the equal pay principle was the focus in case 
TT:1998-34. In this case, the Labour Court assessed a collective agreement that did not 
accept  maternity  leave  fully  as  a  period  to  be  considered  when  calculating  experience-
based pay additions, even though all permissible periods of absence were defined as time 
to  be  taken  into  account.  The  Labour  Court  held  that  the  condition  of  the  collective 
agreement was indirectly discriminatory. 

The choice of comparator and the burden of proof have also been central in several cases. 
There is legal uncertainty as to when the employee has been able to provide facts from 
which it may be presumed  that there has been direct  or indirect discrimination. Finnish 
courts have come to different conclusions in the so-called ‘judge cases’ brought to courts 
when the pay system of judges was changed and judges were redistributed to different 
pay categories. The definition of pay discrimination under Section 8 of the Act on Equality 
requires that the employer implements conditions on pay so that one or several employees 
are disadvantaged on the ground of sex. The Labour Court in case TT:2002-7-10 accepted 
that the burden of proof turned to the employer, when an employee had shown that his/her 
pay was lower than the comparators, who was of the opposite sex. The employee was not 
required  to  show  that  the  disadvantage  was  caused  by  his/her  sex  in  order  to  turn  the 
burden of proof. The Labour Court required that the employer must justify pay differentials 
in each case. Later, Supreme Court case KKO 2009:79 and Supreme Administrative Court 
case  2005:51  were  based  on  a  different  interpretation.  These  courts  held  that  the 
employees  had  not  been  able  to  establish  a  presumption  of  discrimination  to  shift  the 
burden of proof onto the respondent, as the courts assumed that sex was not the ground 
of the disadvantage, as both women and men were placed in lower pay categories.  

Pay during compulsory temporary transfer of a pregnant worker because of risk to her and 
her child’s safety and health has caused difficulties. Case C-471/08 Parviainen v. Finnair 
Oyj,  referred  to  the  Court  of  Justice  of  the  EU  by  the  Helsinki  District  Court  (Helsingin 
käräjäoikeus), concerned the calculation of pay, in particular supplementary allowances. 
The  applicant  was  transferred  from  working  as  an  air  hostess  to  ground  duties,  in 
accordance with EU and national law, during  her pregnancy. Supplementary allowances 
represented  approximately  40 %  of  the  pay  of  the  air  hostess,  which  she  was  not  paid 
when performing office work. Finnair contended that the pay the applicant received was 
higher than what a person in similar ground duties received. The question referred to the 
preliminary  ruling  was  whether  a  pregnant  worker,  temporarily  transferred  due  to 
pregnancy, is entitled to the pay she received on average before the transfer. The Court 
ruled  that  the  transferred  employee  is  not  entitled  to  the  pay  she  received  on  average 
prior to the transfer, but to her basic salary and the pay components or supplementary 
allowances relating to her professional status. 

In Finland pay is not mandatory during maternity leave, but many collective agreements 
provide an entitlement to pay at least during some part of the leave. Maternity, paternity 
and parental leave periods are covered by income-related benefits. These family-related 
leave periods may be complemented by childcare leave, which entitles the parent to a flat-
rate benefit. Childcare leave is available until the child is three  years  old. The childcare 
leave is often called home care leave, as the flat-rate benefit is only available when the 
child  is  cared  for  at  home.  Problems  have  arisen  when  employers  have  limited  the 
entitlement in cases when new maternity leave begins while the employee is still on unpaid 

41   Government Bill 57/1985 vp, p. 16. 

23 

 
 
 
 
  
 
parental leave or childcare leave. The District Court of Tampere referred a case to the ECJ 
in which a teacher on unpaid childcare leave wished to have the leave interrupted so that 
she could start new maternity leave. The collective agreement to which she was subject 
required an unforeseeable and justified ground to permit alteration of the date of childcare 
leave, but did not mention pregnancy. The employer rejected the request, contending that 
in Finnish case law, a new pregnancy did not constitute a justified ground for altering the 
duration  of  the  childcare  leave.  The  ECJ  ruled  in  Case  C-116/06  that  Community  law 
precludes  decisions  that  prevent  a  pregnant  worker  from  obtaining  an  alteration  of  the 
home care leave and thus deprives her of the rights inherent in maternity leave.42 Some 
later  collective  agreements  explicitly  limited  the  right  to  pay  during  maternity  leave  for 
those who start maternity leave after having been on home care leave. The Labour Court 
referred two cases concerning the limitation of pay that is paid according to a collective 
agreement to an employee on maternity leave. In both cases the employee had started 
new maternity leave  straight from having been on childcare leave. The Court  of Justice 
held in joined cases C-512/11 and C-513/11 that Directive 96/34 precludes a provision in 
collective agreements that prevents a pregnant worker who interrupts a period of unpaid 
parental  leave  from  receiving  the  pay  to  which  she  would  have  been  entitled  had  the 
maternity  leave  been  preceded  by  a  minimum  period  of  work.43  Similarly,  in  case 
KKO:2017:25, the Finnish Supreme Court adjudicated on a situation where an employee 
had  returned  to  work  after  childcare  leave  and  started  a  new  maternity  leave  before 
working less than six months between leave periods, which was the requirement for paid 
maternity  leave  in  the  applicable  collective  agreement.  The  employer  did  not  pay  the 
employee  during  the  second  maternity  leave.  The  Supreme  Court  found  indirect 
discrimination on the grounds of parenthood and family care duties, and violation of the 
prohibition of discrimination at work, for which the employee was to receive compensation. 
The Court ruled that there was no direct discrimination on the ground of pregnancy, as 
childcare leave is available for both sexes, but found indirect discrimination on the ground 
of parenthood and family responsibilities, which is prohibited under Section 7(3) of the Act 
on Equality.  

4.2.5  Permissibility of pay differences 

Pay  differentials  have  been  considered  permissible  by  preparatory  works  of  the  Act  on 
Equality,  if  there  is  a  labour  shortage  caused  by  demand  in  the  labour  market.  The 
preparatory  works  of  the  Act  on  Equality  also  mention  education,  professional  skill, 
proactivity and suitability for demanding tasks as permissible grounds for pay differences. 
The  Equality  Ombudsman  stresses  that  the  reason  for  pay  differences  must  be 
proportionate.  Pay  differences  are  to  have  a  legitimate  aim  and  be  appropriate  and 
necessary for the aim in question.44 The Equality Ombudsman has pointed out that two 
jobs  being  under  different  collective  agreement  classifications  or  different  collective 
agreements  altogether  does  not  constitute  a  justification  for  pay  differences.45  An 
employer cannot justify pay difference by citing lack of resources. Pay difference has to 
be corrected within a reasonable time, and the Act on Equality requires that the pay of the 
person discriminated against must be levelled up, rather than the pay of the comparator 
being levelled down.46 

4.2.6  Requirement for comparators 

The provision on pay discrimination in Section 8 of the Act on Equality refers explicitly to 
comparison (to apply pay or other conditions of work so that an employee or employees 
are placed at a disadvantage on the ground of sex compared to one or several employees), 

42   Paragraph 57. 
43   Paragraph 49. 
44   Equality Ombudsman’s website, Hyväksyttävät syyt palkkaeroille (Permissible grounds for pay differentials, 

https://www.tasa-arvo.fi/hyvaksyttavat-syyt-palkkaeroille. 
45   Equality Ombudsman’s opinion (TAS 93/2013, of 10.6.2014). 
46   Equality Ombudsman’s opinion (TAYS 293/2018, of 26.8. 2019). 

24 

 
 
 
 
 
 
and the preparatory works47 for the provision state that the equal pay principle contains 
the  idea  of  comparison.  When  considering  whether  pay  discrimination  has  occurred,  it 
must  be  judged  whether  the  tasks  are  so  similar  as  to  be  the  same  or  if  they  may  be 
considered  equally  demanding.  A  hypothetical  comparator  is  not  allowed,  but  in  pay 
discrimination concerning pregnancy the comparison may be made with the person herself 
(if she had not become pregnant). In practice, the comparator requirement may be more 
flexible. For  example, if a neutral norm has  a  differential impact  on a group of persons 
defined  by  their  belonging  to  the  same  protected  characteristic,  this  establishes  the 
assumption that the norm itself is discriminatory.  Such collective considerations are not 
necessary in cases that address whether or not a norm that is per  se neutral has been 
applied  in  a  discriminatory  manner.  If  the  application  of  certain  criteria  cannot  be 
objectively justified, then it can be assumed that pay differentials are caused by gender. 
Anja  Nummijärvi  refers  both  to  Danfoss  and  to  Finnish  case  law  on  pay  discrimination 
when she claims that drawing the line between collective and individual assessments, and 
direct  and  indirect  discrimination,  is  not  always  easy.  As  to  what  evidence  is  to  be 
presented  for  indirect  discrimination,  Nummijärvi  notes  that  statistics  may  be  used  to 
establish  an  assumption  of  indirect  discrimination  and  to  reverse  the  burden  of  proof. 
However,  she  also  indicates  that  statistical  evidence  in  cases  like  Danfoss  can  be  too 
difficult  to  provide;  therefore,  any  suitable  evidence  may  be  used  to  establish  the 
assumption of discrimination.48 The preparatory  works  for an amendment to the Act  on 
Equality also draw attention to the difficulty in distinguishing between direct and indirect 
discrimination in certain cases,49 and the Equality Ombudsman has not always made the 
distinction between direct and indirect pay discrimination, but has merely stated that pay 
differentials must be justified.50 

There are also cases where the main issue has been whether a comparison may be made 
if there are both women and men among those with lower pay. The Labour Court has held 
that the burden of proof may be shifted onto the respondent employer if the claimant can 
present at least one comparator of the opposite sex who has better pay for equal work, 
irrespective  of  the  fact  that  there  are  both  women  and  men  in  lower  and  higher  pay 
brackets  doing  equal  work.51  However,  the  Supreme  Court  and  the  Supreme 
Administrative Court have previously decided that in cases concerning the new pay system 
for  judges,  since  both  men  and  women  were  placed  in  lower  bracket  offices  pay 
discrimination  could  not  exist.  In  these  cases  the  claimants  had  not  even  managed  to 
establish an assumption of discrimination, which, according to the Act on Equality, would 
reverse  the  burden  of  proof  onto  the  respondent  employer.52  It  seems  that  both  the 
Supreme Court and the Supreme Administrative Court dismissed the argumentation in the 
preparatory works referred to above,53 and did not proceed to consider whether indirect 
discrimination could have been in question. Evidence of indirect discrimination would have 
required  a  comparison  of  how  female  and  male  judges  were  positioned  in  different  pay 
brackets.  

4.2.7  Existence of parameters for establishing the equal value of the work performed 

The preparatory works for the Act on Equality explain that in establishing whether equal 
work  or  work  of  equal  value  is  in  question,  attention  should  be  paid  to  the  quality  and 
contents  of  the  job  and  the  conditions  under  which  the  job  is  performed.  In  deciding 
whether equal work is in question, attention shall be paid to the differences used in job 
classifications.  However,  the  preparatory  works  also  state  that  if  the  system  of 

47   Government Bill HE 57/1985 vp. 
48   Nummijärvi, A. (2004) Palkkasyrjintä: Oikeudellinen tutkimus samapalkkaisuuslainsäädännön sisällöstä ja 

toimivuudesta, Edita, p. 302. 
49   Government Bill HE 90/1994, 17. 
50   For example, Opinion of the Equality Ombudsman, Dnro 5/53/02. 
51   Labour Court TT:2002-7-10. 
52   Cases of the Supreme Court KKO 2009:78 and the Supreme Administrative Court KHO 2005:51. 
53   Nummijärvi, A. (2004) Palkkasyrjintä: Oikeudellinen tutkimus samapalkkaisuuslainsäädännön sisällöstä ja 

toimivuudesta, Edita, p. 302. 

25 

 
 
 
 
 
classification used in a collective agreement de facto discriminates on the basis of gender, 
the  social  partners  shall  develop  the  agreement  in  question.54  The  Equality  Board  has 
adopted a similar approach in a case on pay discrimination.55 

The  starting  point  for  job  classifications  is  that  attention  should  be  paid  to  the 
classifications used in collective agreements when deciding whether two jobs include equal 
work  or  whether  the  work  is  of  equal  value,  although  the  preparatory  works  also 
acknowledge the possibility that such classifications are based on discriminatory grounds. 
No  legislative  clarification  concerning  how  classifications  should  be  assessed  has  been 
undertaken. The issue of job assessment has been very much in the hands of the labour 
market’s central organisations, and in 1990 the issue was taken up by a Working Group 
on  Job  Assessment,  established  by  the  social  partners.  The  issue  soon  proved  to  be 
complicated and one that could give rise to conflicting claims. Several working groups have 
been established and numerous studies conducted on job assessment in various branches, 
but so far there has been little real development.  

4.2.8  Other relevant rules or policies 

There are no further relevant rules or policies to report.  

4.2.9  Job evaluation and classification systems 

First,  private  pay  systems  and  somewhat  later  the  public  pay  systems  in  Finland  have 
gradually developed into systems that are expected to motivate employees towards better 
performance. Typically, pay systems involve components that reflect the requirements of 
the  job  as  well  as  the  personal  performance  of  the  employee,  with  parameters  set  by 
collective  agreements.  The  ‘new’  pay  systems  involve  regular  job  and  performance 
evaluations.  The  move  to  these  ‘new’  pay  systems  was  also  justified  by  their  assumed 
gender equality impacts. A study on job, competence and performance evaluations’ impact 
on gender equality in private and public organisations56 reported in 2012 that it cannot be 
taken for granted that job evaluation promotes gender equality. Structural solutions of the 
‘new’ pay systems allow the promotion of equal pay, but that requires critical analysis and 
monitoring. Gender equality was seldom defined as a practical goal of the pay system, and 
therefore  the  equality  of  the  outcome  was  not  monitored.  Existing  social  norms  and 
prejudices restricted development work in the workplace. 

4.2.10 Wage transparency 

The  employer  is  to  provide  the  victim  of  alleged  pay  discrimination  ‘information  on  the 
grounds of his/her pay and other information that is necessary for assessing whether there 
has been discrimination’, under Section 10.3 of the Act on Equality. It is clear on the basis 
of  other  provisions  of  the  Act,  however,  whether  the  employer  is  obliged  to  provide 
information  on  a  comparator  who  refuses  the  disclosure  of  his/her  pay  details.  An 
employee  representative  may  receive  information  on  an  individual  employee’s  pay  only 
with  his/her  consent,  but  at  the  request  of  the  alleged  victim  of  pay  discrimination  the 
representative  may  request  such  information  from  the  Equality  Ombudsman.  The 
Ombudsman  requests  the  employer  to  supply  the  information  if  there  are  reasonable 
grounds to suspect discrimination (Section 17.3 of the Act on Equality). 
Under Section 6(b) of the Act on Equality, the employer is under a positive obligation to 
conduct regular pay audits (pay mapping). If pay differentials are found, the employer is 
to enquire into the causes and reasons for these differentials. 

54   Government Bill HE 57/1985, 19.  
55   Equality Board opinion No. L 2/2005.  
56   Ikävalko, H, Karppinen, V, Kohvakka, R., Koskinen, P. Nylander, M, Wallin, T. (2012) Tasa-arvoa 

palkkaukseen; Havaintoja palkkausjärjestelmien kehittämisestä TAPAS -hankkeessa (Gender equality into 
pay: Findings on development of pay systems in the TAPAS-project), Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, 
http://julkaisut.valtioneuvosto.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/73274/URN%3ANBN%3Afi-
fe201504222858.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y. 

26 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
4.2.11 Implementation of the transparency measures set out by European Commission’s 
Recommendation  of  7  March  2014  on  strengthening  the  principle  of  equal  pay 
between men and women 

Pay  audits  required  by  Section  6(b)  of  the  Act  on  Equality  precede  the  Commission’s 
Recommendation; the provision was adopted in 2005 and amended in 2014. Pay audits 
are  required  for  employers  of  a  minimum  of  30  employees  as  part  of  equality  planning 
(Section 6(a) of the Act). The aim of the pay audit is to clarify that there are no groundless 
pay differentials between women and men. The equality plan must involve an analysis of 
job  classifications,  pay,  and  pay  differentials  by  gender,  and  if  there  are  clear  pay 
differentials  the  employer  is  to  analyse  their  reasons  and  grounds.  The  main  pay 
components are to be taken into consideration, and employers must conduct the audit in 
cooperation with the employees’ representative. 

The  Commission’s  Recommendation  was  one  of  motivations  for  nominating  Equality 
Ombudsman Jukka Maarianvaara to report on pay transparency in 2018. The report was 
published in October 2018,57 and it contains an analysis of the legal prerequisites of pay 
transparency and balancing requirements of the equal pay principle, particularly the right 
to  privacy  and  data  protection.58  The  Ministry  of  Social  Affairs  and  Health  nominated  a 
tripartite working group (the Pay Transparency Working Group) to consider the proposals 
made  by  the  Equality  Ombudsman  for  amending  Section  6(b).  The  report  of  the  Pay 
Transparency  Working  Group  was  published  in  April  2019,59  which  indicated  that  the 
employees’  representatives  supported  an  amendment  of  the  provision  on  pay 
transparency  along  the  lines  proposed  by  the  Equality  Ombudsman,  whereas  the 
employers’ representatives rejected it. As the Government resigned before the final report 
was published, no political conclusions were drawn. The current Government’s programme 
notes that pay differentials and pay discrimination are to be combated by increasing pay 
transparency by means of legislation. Provisions  will be introduced  on the right of  staff, 
staff representatives and individual employees to access pay information and to address 
pay discrimination more effectively.60  

4.2.12 Other measures, tools or procedures 

There are no further measures, tools or procedures to report. 

4.3  Access to work, working conditions and dismissal 

4.3.1  Definition of the personal scope (Article 14 of Recast Directive 2006/54) 

Gender discrimination in the access to employment, in employment, working conditions, 
and  dismissals  are  prohibited  under  Section  8  of  the  Act  on  Equality,  which  specifically 
uses the terms ‘employer’ and ‘employee’. The personal scope of the provision depends 
on how an employee is defined under the Act.  

Section 3(1) of the Act on Equality defines an employee as a person under a contract who 
binds  her/himself  to  work  under  an  employer’s  direction  and  monitoring  against  pay  or 

57   Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and Maarianvaara, Jukka Selvitys palkka-avoimudesta (Report on Pay 

Transparency), Ministry of Social Affairs and Health 2018, 
http://julkaisut.valtioneuvosto.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/161103/R_41_18_Selvitys_palkka-
avoimuudesta.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y (Legal Prerequisites of Pay Transparency), in Ministry of Social 
Affairs and Health and Maarianvaara, Jukka, 2018, pp. 17-38. 

58   Nousiainen, Kevät Palkka-avoimuuden oikeudelliset edellytykset (Legal Prerequisites of Pay Transparency) 
in Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and Maarianvaara, Selvitys palkka-avoimuudesta), pp. 17-39. 
59   Palkka-avoimuustyöryhmän loppuraportti (The Final Report of the Pay Transparency Working Grous), 

Reports of the Minisstry of Social Affairs and Health 2019:32, 
http://julkaisut.valtioneuvosto.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/161495/STM_rap_2019_32_Palkka-
avoimuustyoryhman_loppuraportti.pdf. 

60   Government Programme 2019, https://valtioneuvosto.fi/en/marin/government-programme/finland-built-

on-trust-and-labour-market-equality, Section 3.5. 

27 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
other  remuneration;  or  is  in  an  office  or  similar  service  to  the  State,  a  municipality,  or 
another public community (authority). When Directive 2002/73/EC was transposed,61 the 
definition of ‘employee’ was broadened from one based on labour law criteria by adding 
that the Act’s provisions on employees apply ‘as appropriate, to persons working in other 
legal relationships that are comparable to an employment relationship’.  The preparatory 
works  explain  that  the  definition  refers  to  forms  of  work  that  take  place  under 
circumstances  similar  to  those  under  employment  contracts.  This  includes  independent 
workers  or  entrepreneurs,  freelancers,  persons  with  their  own  professional  practice,  or 
persons who perform care work in families under an assignment agreement paid by public 
funds under social welfare legislation. Independent workers and  entrepreneurs are only 
covered  if  they  sell  their  own  skills,  even  though  they  may  act  as  entrepreneurs  in  the 
sense understood by unemployment or pension legislation. A person similar to ‘employee’ 
cannot be one who engages in activities that involve a proper enterprise risk or employs 
others. The decisive factor is the actual nature of the activity, not its legal form.62  

Protection against gender discrimination in access to vocational training may be provided 
for  under  Section  8,  when  the  training  in  question  takes  place  in  an  employment 
relationship. Access to  vocational training is also covered by Section  8(b) of the Act  on 
Equality,  which  prohibits  discrimination  in  educational  institutions.  The  provision  covers 
discrimination in the election of students, in teaching arrangements, student assessment, 
and other activities of an educational institution.  

4.3.2  Definition of the material scope (Article 14(1) of Recast Directive 2006/54) 

The material scope of the prohibition of discrimination in access to employment relies on 
the definition of ‘employee’. Section 8(1) covers both public and private employment. 

Section 3 subsection 1 of the Act defines an employee ‘as appropriate, to persons working 
in  other  legal  relationships  which  are  comparable  to  an  employment  relationship.’  The 
preparatory works explain that this definition refers to forms of work that take place under 
circumstances similar to those under employment contracts, such as independent workers 
or  entrepreneurs,  freelancers,  persons  with  their  own  professional  practice,  or  persons 
who are engaged in care work in families under an assignment agreement’ paid by public 
funds under social welfare legislation. Independent workers and  entrepreneurs are only 
covered  if  they  sell  their  own  skills,  even  though  they  may  act  as  entrepreneurs  in  the 
sense  understood  by  unemployment  or  pension  legislation.  A  person  similar  to  an 
employee cannot be one who engages in activities that involve a proper enterprise risk or 
who employs others. The definition of an employee thus covers self-employed persons in 
work-like  situations,  and  in  these  cases  offers  remedies  and  sanctions.  This  definition, 
however, does not provide protection against discrimination when establishing a business 
and in other business-related situations. In this  respect, the scope  of  the prohibition  of 
discrimination under Finnish law is narrower than that of EU law. 

Gender discrimination with regard to membership of and in a labour market organisation 
is prohibited under Section 8(c) of the Act on Equality. 

61   Directive 2002/73/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 September 2002 amending 
Council Directive 76/207/EEC on the implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and 
women as regards access to employment, vocational training and promotion, and working conditions (Text 
with EEA relevance) OJ L 269, 5 October 2002 pp. 15-20.  

62   Hallituksen esitys Eduskunnalle laiksi naisten ja miesten välisestä tasa-arvosta annetun lain muuttamisesta 

(Government Bill on amendment of the Act on Equality between Women and Men), HE 195/2004 vp. 

28 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
4.3.3  Implementation of the exception on occupational activities (Article 14(2) of Recast 

Directive 2006/54) 

The prohibition of gender discrimination in the access to employment under Section 8(1) 
contains  an  exception  –  Section  8(2)  allows  nominating  a  less  qualified  person  of  the 
opposite sex to a job for a ‘weighty and acceptable reason’.  

There has been no assessment of the implementation of Article 14(2) of Directive 2006/54.  

4.3.4  Protection  against  the  non-hiring,  non-renewal  of  a  fixed-term  contract,  non-
continuation  of  a  contract  and  dismissal  of  women  connected  to  their  state  of 
pregnancy and/or maternity 

Protection against the non-hiring, non-renewal of a fixed-term contract, and dismissal of 
pregnant women is implemented in national law. Under Section 8(2) of the Act on Equality, 
the conduct of an employer amounts to discrimination if the employer ‘upon employing a 
person, selecting someone for a particular task or training, or deciding on the duration or 
continuation of an employment relationship or the pay or other terms of employment, acts 
in  such  a  way  that  the  person  finds  herself/himself  in  a  less  favourable  position  on  the 
basis  of  pregnancy  or  childbirth  or  by  some  other  gender-related  reason’.  Under  the 
Employment  Contracts  Act,  the  employer  is  not  entitled  to  terminate  the  employment 
contract  of  an  employee  who  is  pregnant  or  on  family  leave  on  normal  grounds  of 
termination  (Chapter  7,  Section  9(1)  of  the  Employment  Contracts  Act).  There  are  no 
exceptions to this rule. 

In the event of dismissal due to economic or production reasons, the employer is to explain 
the  grounds  of  dismissal  (Chapter  9,  Section  3  of  the  Employment  Contracts  Act),  but 
there is no explicit requirement of this being done in writing. If an employer dismisses a 
pregnant employee or an employee on family-related leave, the dismissal is assumed to 
be  caused  by  pregnancy  or  use  of  family-related  leave  unless  the  employer  can  show 
another cause (Chapter 7, Section 9(2)). An employer may dismiss a pregnant employee 
or  an  employee  on  family-related  leave  using  normal  grounds  of  dismissal  only  if  the 
employer ceases all operations. Under Chapter 12 Section 1, the employer is liable for the 
loss  suffered  by  the  employee  by  the  employer’s  intentional  or  negligent  breach  of 
obligations arising from the employment relationship or the Act on Employment Contracts. 
Section  2  of  the  Chapter  stipulates  the  rules  on  compensation  for  an  unfounded 
termination of an employment contract (3-24 months’ pay). 

4.3.5  Implementation  of  the  exception  on  the  protection  for  women  in  relation  to 

pregnancy and maternity (Article 28(1) of Recast Directive 2006/54) 

Under Section 9(1) of the Act on Equality, special protection of women due to pregnancy 
and  childbirth  is  not  to  be  considered  gender  discrimination.  The  preparatory  works  for 
amendments to the Act on Equality carried out in 2004 note that the provision needs no 
amendment, as it implements EU law correctly. The preparatory works stress, however, 
that differential treatment due to pregnancy and childbirth is only allowed for the purpose 
of necessary protection.63 

4.3.6  Particular difficulties 

Despite  the  provisions  in  place,  pregnancy-related  discrimination  is  relatively  common 
according  to  reports  by  the  Equality  Ombudsman  –  more  than  half  of  all  persons  who 
contact  the  Ombudsman  allege  pregnancy-related  discrimination.  Even  occupational 
safety  authorities,  the  police,  and  trade  unions  are  often  contacted  in  pregnancy 
discrimination  issues.  According  to  the  Equality  Ombudsman,  discrimination  is  common 

63   HE 195/2004 vp, pp. 35-36.  

29 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
when women work under insecure conditions, such as fixed-term work, part-time work, 
lease  work  or  on  so-called  zero-hour  contracts.  Alleged  pregnancy  discrimination  takes 
place  at  recruitment,  continuation  of  fixed-term  contracts,  return  from  family-related 
leave, as well as pay during maternity and parental leave.64  

4.3.7  Positive action measures (Article 3 of Recast Directive 2006/54)  

Maternity-related  policies  are  not  understood  as  positive  action  measures  under  non-
discrimination law; they are considered social policy measures. These measures (such as 
health checks and other services for pregnant women) are common in Finland. 

4.4  Evaluation of implementation 

Legislation  to  protect  women  against  pregnancy-related  discrimination  is  in  principle 
sufficient, and the protection afforded through the legal assumptions in the Employment 
Contracts  Act  concerning  the  cause  of  dismissal  exceed  what  EU  law  requires. 
Nevertheless,  de  facto  discrimination  is  widespread.  The  problem  appears  to  lie  in 
implementation, namely lack of information and lack of support. In a gender-segregated 
labour  market, a victim of discrimination often fears not  only retaliation by the present 
employer, but difficulties in finding employment in the same occupation in the future.  

4.5  Remaining issues 

There are no remaining issues left to address.  

64   Equality Ombudsman’s website: Mitä on raskaussyrjintä? (What is pregnancy discrimination?), 

https://www.raskaussyrjinta.fi/mita-on-raskaussyrjinta-. 

30 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
5 

Pregnancy,  maternity,  and  leave  related  to  work-life  balance  for  workers 
(Directive 92/85, relevant provisions of Directives 2006/54, 2010/18 and 
2019/1158)65 

5.1  General (legal) context 

5.1.1  Surveys and reports on the practical difficulties linked to work-life balance 

The National Institute for Health and Welfare has carried out surveys and published reports 
on work-life balance issues. Studies show that  combining work and family life has both 
negative and positive aspects. Parents in families with children, who find their demands of 
work stressful, and mothers of children under school age often feel they neglect home due 
to their employment. In addition, mothers, more often than fathers, feel that family limits 
their options in work. Many mothers of children under three are on home care leave and 
do not feel time pressure caused by employment – rather, stress because their income is 
very  limited.  Despite  this,  combining  work  with  family  life  has  also  been  received 
positively. For instance, four  of  five mothers and two  of three fathers of children under 
school age feel it is good for childcare that the parent has respite from care work in work 
outside the home.66 While flexible work is common in Finland, only approximately 50 % of 
families can make use of flexible working hours, and only a small percentage of them could 
do telework. Flexible working time was more common among fathers than mothers.67 A 
study  by  Statistics  Finland  showed  that  two  out  of  three  employed  parents  of  children 
under 15 think they have influence over when their work starts and ends, but men thought 
so somewhat more than women (71 % men and 63 % women). The majority (58 %) of 
such parents worked less than 40 hours per week, but more than half of fathers said they 
worked over 40 hours (57 %), 44 % of all such parents worked 35-39 hours, and 14 % 
worked  less  than  35  hours.68  Fathers  seem  to  be  able  to  influence  their  working  hours 
more  than  mothers,  but  in  practice  work  longer  hours  than  mothers.  However,  even 
mothers tend to work relatively long hours. 

5.1.2  Other issues 

Women in Finland tend to work full-time, and part-time work is not necessarily available 
for  parents  who  wish  to  shorten  their  working  hours.  Fixed-term  work  is  common,  and 
more  common  among  women  than  men.  In  2017,  19 %  of  women  and  13 %  of  men 
worked in fixed-term jobs. Of women between 25 to 34 years of age, that is women in 
child-bearing  age,  27 %  worked  in  fixed-term  jobs.  Young  women  are  more  commonly 
employed on fixed-term contracts than other groups of employees, and the main reason 
for this is lack of permanent work.69 The availability of home care leave – a parental right 
to remain at home and take care of a child until the child is three – on a flat rate benefit 

65   See Masselot, A. (2018), Family leave: enforcement of the protection against dismissal and unfavourable 
treatment, European network of legal experts in gender equality and non-discrimination, available at 
https://www.equalitylaw.eu/downloads/4808-family-leave-enforcement-of-the-protection-against-
dismissal-and-unfavourable-treatment-pdf-962-kb and McColgan, A. (2015), Measures to address the 
challenges of work-life balance in the EU Member States, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, European 
network of legal experts in gender equality and non-discrimination, available at 
https://www.equalitylaw.eu/downloads/3631-reconciliation. 

66   Lammi-Taskula, Johanna & Salmi, Minna: Työ, perhe ja hyvinvointi (Work, Family and Welfare) in Lammi-

Taskula, Johanna & Karvonen, Sakari & Ahlström, Salme (ed.): Lapsiperheiden hyvinvointi (Welfare of Child 
Families) The National Institute for Health and Welfare TEE004, Helsinki 2009, available at 
http://www.julkari.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/80047/0e6f5676-9ccf-4490-8496-
45c7b3acce5f.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y. 

67   Salmi Minna & Lammi-Taskula Johanna, Joustoa työn vai perheen hyväksi? In Pietikäinen Petteri (ed.) 

Työstä, jousta, jaksa: Työn ja hyvinvoinnin tulevaisuus (Grind, Be Flexible, Endure: The Future of work and 
welfare) Gaudeamus, Helsinki, 2011, 155–183 

68   Nieminen, T. (2019) ‘Kumpi joustaa: työ vai perhe?’ (Which is flexible: work or family) Expert articles by 
Statistics Finland 2019, http://www.tilastokeskus.fi/tietotrendit/artikkelit/2019/kumpi-joustaa-tyo-vai-
perhe/.  

69   National Institute for Health and Welfare, Information on gender equality at work, 

https://thl.fi/en/web/sukupuolten-tasa-arvo/tyo/epatyypilliset-tyosuhteet. 

31 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
is often seen as a factor that has a negative impact on working life participation of mothers 
of  small  children.  Home  care  leave  is  a  politically  contested  form  of  childcare  leave.  A 
person on home care leave is entitled to return to his/her job, which is seen as an incentive 
for discrimination, as such long leave periods may cause the employer problems. The use 
of home care leave by parents has declined during the last decade from nearly 90 % to 
83 %, and only 10 % of families use the right to home care leave for the whole period. A 
shorter home care leave is often used in lieu of a longer parental leave, as many parents 
consider the present paid family-related leave too short. The clear majority of parents on 
home care leave are mothers.70 

Provision  of  childcare  services  is  facilitated  by  a  municipality’s  legal  duty  to  provide 
childcare.  The aim  of providing day  care  for all children as a general  social service was 
introduced in an act on day care for children in the 1970s, and a subjective right to day 
care for all children under school age was adopted in 1996. Children under school age are 
entitled to day care even when parents, or one of them, do not work. In 2016, the right 
to day care for children whose parents do not work or study a full day was cut to 20 hours 
a week, but the present Government programme promises to return to equal rights for all 
children. Under the Act on Early Childhood Education and Care (540/2018), early childhood 
education and care may be provided in early education centres, as family-based day care 
or as open early childhood education and care. Municipalities have the obligation to provide 
such  care  for  children  residing  in  the  municipality,  in  municipal  centres  or  by  procuring 
services from private bodies. Parents who do not opt to use the early childhood education 
and care place provided by the municipality are entitled to an allowance, enabling them to 
provide care at home or in private day care. Parents may require compensation for lost 
income if they cannot work due to the lack of childcare they have applied for.  

5.1.3  Overview of national acts on work-life balance issues 

Chapter  4  of  the  Employment  Contracts  Act  (55/2001)  defines  family-based  leave, 
including  maternity,  parental,  paternity  and  home  care  leave,  and  Chapter  9  of  the 
Sickness Insurance Act (1224/2004) contains provisions on benefits to be paid under those 
periods  of  leave,  including  leave  for  adoptive  parents.  Any  amendments  to  the  family-
based  leave  benefits  automatically  change  the  leave  periods  under  the  Employment 
Contracts Act. The other pieces of legislation on employment, such as the State, Municipal 
and Church Employment legislation71 follow the provisions of the Employment Contracts 
Act. Employers are not legally obliged to pay employees on family-related leave, but many 
collective  agreements  have  clauses  on  pay  for  some  leave  periods.  Breastfeeding  and 
safety  at  work  of  pregnant  employees  is  regulated  under  the  Occupational  Health  and 
Safety Act 738/2002. 

The Act on Pre-School Education (540/2018) requires municipalities to arrange day care 
as a municipal service, or to buy day care services from other providers. That Act and the 
Act on Day Care for Children, which preceded it, gave a child (or their parents) a subjective 
right to day care services. In 2016, the child’s right to full-time day care was limited to 20 
hours  per  week  if  both  parents  did  not  work  or  study,  and  to  full  day  care  when  both 
parents worked. Full-day day care has to be arranged if it is in the best interest of the 
child (Section 12). Not all municipalities limited the right to pre-school education, however, 
and access to full day pre-school education in day care thus depends on the occupational 
situation  of  the  child’s  parents;  the  child’s  particular  needs,  and  the  child’s  place  of 
residence. The 20-hour limit of the right to pre-school education for children whose parents 

70   Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (2019) Kotihoidon tuen käyttö vähenee edelleen – pienten lasten 

äidit entistä useammin töissä (The use of home care leave continues to decline – mothers of small children 
work more than previously), THL-blogi 16.1.2020, https://blogi.thl.fi/kotihoidon-tuen-kaytto-vahenee-
edelleen-pienten-lasten-aidit-entista-useammin-toissa/. 

71   The Act on state officials (759/1994), the Act on municipal office holders (304/2003) and the Church Act 

(1054/1993), Part II, contain provisions on employees of the state, municipal employees and employees of 
the Lutheran Church, who hold a public office. The state, municipalities and the Lutheran Church also have 
employees working under (private law) employment contracts.  

32 

 
 
 
 
 
both do not work, and the uneven implementation of the amendment were criticised for 
being  against  the  best  interest  of  the  children  whose  right  was  limited.  The  current 
Government  introduced  an  amendment  to  the  Act  on  Pre-School  Education  that 
reintroduced  the  subjective  right  to  pre-school  education,  irrespective  of  whether  the 
parents work or not (Act 1395/2019).   

Children  begin  school  relatively  late,  at  seven  years.  Basic  education  is  free,  while 
municipal  day  care  carries  an  income-determined  fee.  The  Act  on  Basic  Education 
(628/1998) has since 2014 required that children participate in pre-school education for 
one year, which is free, prior to commencing free basic education. The Act on Pre-School 
Education (540/2018) obliges municipalities to provide pre-school education, to which a 
child  is  entitled,  but  the  child’s  right  to  day  care  or  pre-school  education  is  limited  to 
shorter hours when a parent does not work or study full-time.  

5.1.4  Political and societal debate and pending legislative proposals 

More equal sharing of the family-related leave among mothers and fathers has been under 
debate for a long time. Two prominent contested issues are the home care leave, which is 
seen to keep mothers at home for long periods and thus make their access to the working 
life difficult, and a mandatory sharing of parental leave. The care periods that are presently 
covered by income-related benefits is also regarded as too short. The current Government 
has promised a reform of family-related leave in its programme for Government, but does 
not intend to make changes with respect to home care leave. The Government programme 
promises an ambitious  reform of family leave, aiming for an equal distribution of family 
leave between parents, implemented so that earnings-related leave allocated to fathers is 
prolonged without reducing the share currently available to mothers. A part of the leave 
is set to remain transferable.72 The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health has presented a 
draft model for further preparation in a tripartite working group. The draft model is based 
on gender-neutral terminology, and aims to take different types of families into account. 
Entitlement to family-related leave would be equal irrespective of the sex of the parent, 
or whether a biological or adoptive parent is concerned.73 

5.2  Pregnancy and maternity protection 

5.2.1  Definition in national law 

There are no definitions provided in national law of a pregnant worker, a worker who has 
recently given birth, and/or a worker who is breastfeeding.  

5.2.2  Obligation to inform employer 

The employee must inform the employer on the use of maternity, paternity, and parental 
leave two months prior to the planned use of the leave, but when the leave period is 12 
days or less, the notice period is one month. If the two-month notice period is impossible 
because the employee’s spouse returns to work, the notice period may be reduced to one 
month,  provided  that  the  leave  does  not  cause  serious  damage  to  the  employer’s 
production or service. The employee may, for an acceptable reason, change the time of 
the leave by informing the employer one month in advance. In addition, the parent of an 
adoptive child may inform the employer about a change to the time of the leave for an 
acceptable  reason  and  as  soon  as  it  is  possible  to  do  so  (Chapter  9,  Section  3a, 
Employment Contracts Act). 

72   Programme of Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s Government 10 December 2019, section 3.5.2 

https://valtioneuvosto.fi/en/marin/government-programme/finland-built-on-trust-and-labour-market-
equality. 

73   Ministry of Social Affairs and Health (2020) Perhevapaauudistus tähtää perheiden hyvinvointiin ja tasa-

arvon lisäämiseen (The family leave reform aims at family welfare and enhanced equality), press release, 
5.2.2020 https://valtioneuvosto.fi/artikkeli/-/asset_publisher/1271139/perhevapaauudistus-tahtaa-
perheiden-hyvinvointiin-ja-tasa-arvon-lisaamiseen. 

33 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
5.2.3  Case law on the definition of a pregnant worker, a worker who has recently given 

birth and/or a worker who is breastfeeding 

There is no case law on the definition of a pregnant worker, a worker who has recently 
given birth, or a worker who is breastfeeding. 

5.2.4  Implementation of protective measures (Article 4-6 of Directive 92/85) 

If  the  tasks  or  working  conditions  of  a  pregnant  employee  endanger  her  or  her  child’s 
health, and the risks involved cannot be removed, the employee is to be assigned other 
tasks  that  are  suited  for  her  work  capacity  and  qualifications,  under  the  Employment 
Contracts  Act  (55/2001)  Chapter  2,  Section  3(2).  Chapter  9  Section  4  of  the  Sickness 
Insurance  Act  (1224/2004)  contains  provisions  on  special  maternity  benefits  for 
employees  in  cases  where  it  is  impossible  to  complete  their  normal  work  tasks  due  to 
potential risks incurred during pregnancy and no other work can be found by the employer.  

Provisions  on  the  employer’s  duty  to  assess  risk  of  exposure  to  agents,  processes  and 
working  conditions  that  pregnant  workers  may  be  exposed  to  are  found  under  the 
Occupational  Safety  Act  (738/2002)  and  under  the  Regulation  on  risks  to  reproductive 
health at work and prevention of risk (603/2015). Under the Act on Occupational Safety, 
the employer is responsible for assessing the risks in employment, considering, amongst 
others, the sex of the employee (Section 10) and to plan the working environment so that 
the risks are eliminated, considering the employees whose safety at work requires specific 
measures (Section 12). Possible risks to reproductive health must be assessed (Section 
19(1)5). The employee is not to be exposed to chemical, physical or biological factors that 
pose risks to his or her reproductive health (Sections 28-40). Government Regulation on 
risks to actors that endanger reproductive health lists substances that create a risk, and 
requires that they are replaced with less dangerous substances if possible. Section 3 of 
the Regulation contains further provisions to protect a pregnant employee, by removing 
risks or assigning the employee other tasks. There are no specific provisions on night work 
during pregnancy or after childbirth, although the assessment of the risks to the employee 
or her child cover the possible risks caused by night work. The Ministry of Social Welfare 
and Health has published guidelines to assess risks in the context of an employee receiving 
special maternity leave and benefits.74  

5.2.5  Case law on issues addressed in Article 4 and 5 of Directive 92/85 

An employer’s failure to protect the reproductive health of the employee by infringement 
of  the  provisions  in  the  Occupational  Safety  Act  may  be  reported  by  the  Occupational 
safety  authorities  to  the  police,  as  a  work  safety  offence  (Chapter  47,  Section  1  of  the 
Criminal  Code  (18)),  but  may  also  be  punished  as  negligent  homicide,  negligent  bodily 
injury or imperilment. Criminal law cases are seldom brought to the Supreme Court, as 
the  contested  issue  often  concerns  evidence,  and  the  Supreme  Court  usually  does  not 
admit leave to appeal in such cases. No case law was found in the electronic collection of 
the Supreme Court’s rulings on the failure to protect reproductive health.  

If  the  tasks  or  working  conditions  of  a  pregnant  employee  endanger  her  or  her  child’s 
health and the risks involved cannot be removed, under the Chapter 2 Section 3(2) of the 
Employment Contracts Act (55/2001) the employer must assign the employee other tasks 
suitable  for  her  work  capacity  and  qualifications.  Chapter  9  Section  2  of  the  Sickness 
Insurance  Act  (1224/2004)  contains  provisions  on  special  maternity  benefits  for 
employees in cases where their normal work is impossible due to risks during pregnancy, 
and when no other work can be found by the employer.  

74   Ohjeet vaaran arvioimisesta erityisäitiysrahan tarvetta harkittaessa (Guidelines on risk assessment at 
decisions on the need of special maternity benefits), at http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe201504225419. 

34 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Under the Act on Occupational Safety, the employer is responsible for assessing the risks 
in employment, considering, amongst other factors, the sex of the employee (Section 10), 
and to plan the working environment so that the risks are eliminated, taking into account 
the  employees  whose  safety  at  work  requires  specific  measures  (Section  12).  The 
employee is not to be exposed to chemical, physical, or biological factors that pose risks 
to his or her reproductive health (Sections 28-40). Government Regulation 603/2015 on 
risks to actors that endanger reproductive health lists dangerous substances, and requires 
that  they  are  replaced  with  less  dangerous  substances  if  possible.  Section  3  of  the 
Regulation  contains  further  provisions  to  protect  a  pregnant  employee,  for  instance  by 
removing risks or assigning the employee other tasks. There are no specific provisions on 
night work during pregnancy or after childbirth, although the assessment of the risks to 
the employee or her child cover the possible risks caused by night work. The Ministry of 
Social Welfare and Health has published guidelines on assessing risks in the context of an 
employee receiving special maternity leave and benefits.75  

Breastfeeding is regulated under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 738/2002. Under 
Section 48(2), pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers are entitled, when necessary, 
to rest in a break room or other suitable place. Problems connected to breastfeeding are 
seldom discussed, as the great majority of mothers only return to work when they have 
finished breastfeeding.  

5.2.6  Prohibition of night work 

Night work is not prohibited for pregnant workers and is common in many sectors.  

5.2.7  Case law on the prohibition of night work 

There is no case law on the prohibition of night work, since it is not prohibited in national 
law. 

5.2.8  Prohibition of dismissal  

Under Section 8(2) of the Act on Equality, the action of an employer amounts to prohibited 
discrimination  if  the  employer  ‘upon  employing  a  person,  selecting  someone  for  a 
particular task or training, or deciding on the duration or continuation of an employment 
relationship or the pay or other terms of employment, acts in such a way that the person 
finds herself/himself in a less favourable position on the basis of pregnancy or childbirth 
or  by  some  other  gender-related  reason’.  Under  the  Employment  Contracts  Act,  the 
employer  is  not  entitled  to  terminate  the  employment  contract  of  an  employee  who  is 
pregnant or on family leave on normal grounds of termination (Chapter 7, Section 9(1)). 
There are no exceptions to this rule.  

5.2.9  Redundancy and payment during maternity leave 

Redundancy is regulated under Chapter 5 of the Employment Contracts Act. Redundancy 
rules may not be applied in a discriminatory manner, but it may be more difficult to prove 
discrimination  because  there  is  no  similar  legal  presumption  concerning  the  employer’s 
obligation to substantiate redundancy as there is concerning obligation to substantiate a 
dismissal of an employee who is pregnant or on family leave. In case a pregnant employee 
is entitled to pay during maternity leave, her right to pay when she is made redundant 
depends on the collective agreement. There is no legal regulation of the issue.  

5.2.10 Employer’s obligation to substantiate a dismissal 

75   Ohjeet vaaran arvioimisesta erityisäitiysrahan tarvetta harkittaessa (Guidelines on risk assessment at 
decisions on the need of special maternity benefits), at http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe201504225419. 

35 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
In the event of dismissal due to economic or production reasons, the employer is to explain 
the  grounds  for  dismissal  (Chapter  9,  Section  3  of  the  Employment  Contracts  Act),  but 
there  is  no  explicit  requirement  to  provide  this  explanation  in  writing.  If  an  employer 
dismisses a pregnant employee or an employee on family-related leave, the dismissal is 
assumed to be caused by pregnancy or use of family-related leave unless the employer 
can provide a different credible reason (Chapter 7, Section 9(2)). An employer may dismiss 
a  pregnant  employee  or  an  employee  on  family-related  leave  using  normal  grounds  of 
dismissal only if the employer ceases all operations. Under Chapter 12 Section 1 of the 
Employment Contracts Act, the employer is liable for the loss suffered by the employee by 
the employer’s intentional or negligent breach of obligations arising from the employment 
relationship or the Act on Employment Contracts. Chapter 12 Section 2 provides rules on 
compensation for unfounded termination of employment contract (3-24 months’ pay).  

5.2.11 Case law on the protection against dismissal 

The  Equality  Ombudsman’s  opinion  (TAS/2019,  8.11.2019)  concerns  a  case  of  an 
employee  who  returned  to  work  after  family  leave.  The  employee’s  replacement  was 
nominated permanently to the the job s/he had held during the employee’s leave, and the 
employee  was  given  another  similar  job.  Three  months  afterwards,  the  employee  was 
dismissed  due  to  financial  and  production-related  grounds  for  termination  of  the 
employment  contract.  An  employer  may  terminate  an  employment  contract  for  these 
reasons  (Employment  Contracts  Act,  Chapter  7,  Section  3).  The  Ombudsman  used  the 
Equality Act test of whether the employee would have been treated similarly if s/he had 
not been on family leave. If the employer uses different criteria for dismissals than usual 
when selecting persons to be dismissed due to financial and production-related grounds, 
this  raises  a  presumption  of  discrimination,  and  the  employer  has  to  justify  the  use  of 
different criteria. Chapter 7, Section 6 of the Employment Contracts Act requires that if an 
employer needs new  employees within four  months of termination to  do the  same  or  a 
similar job that the dismissed employee had been doing, the employer must offer work to 
the  former  employee.  The  Equality  Ombudsman  found  that  employing  the  former 
replacement permanently could be compared to hiring a new employee to a similar job. 
This creates a presumption of discrimination. The Ombudsman also held that there were 
hints of an attempt to circumvent the prohibition of dismissal of an employee returning 
from  family  leave,  because  the  employee  had  been  dismissed  after  s/he  had  been 
appointed to another position after returning to work. As usual, the Ombudsman pointed 
out that the opinion is based on documents submitted to him alone, as the Ombudsman 
does not have the mandate to take judicial evidence. Final decisions in discrimination cases 
are given by courts. 

5.3  Maternity leave 

5.3.1  Length 

Normal  maternity  leave  lasts  105  weekdays,  which  amounts  to  the  maternity  benefits 
period. Maternity leave  may start 30 to 50 days before the  expected  date of birth.  The 
days from Monday up to and including Saturday (six days per week) are defined as week 
days, meaning the leave lasts approximately four months. Relevant provisions are detailed 
in Chapter 4, Section 1 of the Employment Contracts Act, and the maternity benefits period 
referred to is defined in the Sickness Insurance Act.  
5.3.2  Obligatory maternity leave 

Women  are  not  allowed  to  work  in  the  two  weeks  immediately  prior  to  and  following 
delivery of the child. However, the employee may work with the employer’s consent during 
the maternity benefits period, if the work in question does not endanger her or the child’s 
safety.  Both  the  employee  and  the  employer  may  at  any  point  interrupt  the  work 
(Employment Contracts Act Chapter 4, Section 2(1)).  

36 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
5.3.3  Legal protection of employment rights (Articles 5, 6 and 7 of Directive 92/85) 

Under Chapter 2, Section 3(2) of the Employment Contracts Act, if the working duties or 
conditions of a pregnant employee endanger the health of the employee or the foetus and 
if the hazard cannot be eliminated from the work and working conditions, the employee 
shall, if possible, be transferred to other duties suitable in terms of her working capacity 
and skills for the period of pregnancy. The employee’s right to special maternity leave is 
stipulated under Chapter 4, Section 1 of the Employment Contract Act, which refers to the 
conditions  for  benefit  under  the  Sickness  Insurance  Act  (1224/2004)  for  the  material 
content of the right. Chapter 9, Section 4 of the Sickness Insurance Act entitles a pregnant 
insured person, who is in employment, the right to special maternity benefit, if her own or 
her foetus’ health is endangered by a chemical substance, radiation or other similar cause. 
A Regulation further defines the danger. A condition for the  special maternity benefit is 
that  the  employer  cannot  transfer  the  employee  to  other  duties.  The  right  to  special 
maternity benefit extends until the right to ordinary maternity benefit begins (Chapter 9, 
Section 5 of the Sickness Insurance Act).  

5.3.4  Legal protection of rights ensuing from the employment contract 

Chapter 4 of the Employment Contracts Act provides for the right to take up family-based 
leave,  including  maternity  leave.  Chapter  9  of  the  Sickness  Insurance  Act  (1224/2004) 
defines the length and conditions of leave and contains provisions on benefits to be paid 
under those periods of leave, including maternity benefits (Sections 1-5 of Chapter 9 of 
the Sickness Insurance Act). There is no definition of the different types of family-related 
leave under the Employment Contracts Act. 

5.3.5  Level of pay or allowance 

The allowance during  maternity leave (the entitlement begins when  a woman has been 
pregnant for 154 days)  is calculated on the basis  of  an  employee’s  former  employment 
income. For the first 56 weekdays, the maternity benefit is 90 % of the former income up 
to EUR 50 606, and then 32.5 % for income exceeding that sum. For the first period of 
maternity leave, the benefit is higher than sick leave benefit. After that, benefits are similar 
to the sick leave benefits, which amounts to 70 % of the income up to EUR 32 892; to 
40 % of the income that exceeds that sum but does not exceed EUR 50 606; and 32.5 % 
of the income exceeding that sum (Chapter 11, Section 1 of the Sickness Insurance Act). 
There  is  no  absolute  ceiling,  but  in  higher  income  brackets  the  benefit  covers  a  lower 
percentage of income.  

5.3.6  Additional statutory maternity benefits 

There are no statutory benefits to supplement the benefits based on social insurance, but 
collective agreements often have clauses that stipulate for the employee to be paid her 
normal pay for a time, while the employer is entitled to receive the employee’s maternity 
benefit. It is very common that the employer pays the normal pay during the first months 
of maternity leave, but usually not more than three months.76 The higher benefits during 
the first period of maternity leave are in fact intended to compensate the employers for 
the expenses incurred by the collective agreements – when the employee receives full pay 
during maternity leave, her employer is entitled to the maternity benefits under Chapter 
7, Section 4 of the Sickness Insurance Act.  

76   It is common that employees covered by the collective agreement receive pay during the 72 first weekdays 
of maternity leave, see for example the site of the Union of Health and Social Care Professionals in Finland, 
https://www.tehy.fi/fi/apua/vapaat/aitiysvapaa-ja-aitiysajan-palkka. The collective agreement of 
employees in the tourist, restaurant and leisure services allows three months of pay in the beginning of the 
maternity leave for employees who have worked for a minimum of one year before the leave, as well as for 
adoptive leave. Six days of paternity leave are also paid by the employer. https://www.pam.fi/media/pdf-
tessit/marava-tes-1.5.2014-31.1.2017.pdf. 

37 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
5.3.7  Conditions for eligibility (Article 11(4) of Directive 92/85) 

The  right  to  any  family-related  benefits  including  maternity  benefits  requires  that  the 
person  in  question  has  been  insured  in  Finland  for  180  days  immediately  prior  to  the 
expected  date  of  delivery.  However,  according  to  Chapter  9  Section  1  of  the  Sickness 
Insurance Act, being insured in another EU Member State is considered equivalent to being 
insured in Finland. Even women who do not earn an income receive a minimum benefit.  

5.3.8  Right to return to the same or an equivalent job (Article 15 of Directive 2006/54) 

Under Chapter 4, Section 9 of the Employment Contracts Act, an employee has the right 
to return from family-related leave (maternity, paternity, parental, childcare and partial 
childcare leave) to their former job. If that is not possible, s/he is to be offered equivalent 
work under his or her employment contract, and if that is not possible, alternative work 
under his or her employment contract. The preparatory works list some criteria for defining 
what is equivalent work; namely, the nature of the employee’s previous work and his or 
her education and work experience.77 Collective agreements often contain more detailed 
guidelines on the matter. 

5.3.9  Legal right to share maternity leave 

Maternity  leave  as  such  cannot  be  shared,  but  paternity  leave  may  be  taken 
simultaneously with maternity leave. 

5.3.10 Case law 

In three cases brought before the Labour Court, an employee had become pregnant during 
childcare leave and commenced a new period of maternity leave without returning to work. 
The  employer  had  refused  to  pay  the  employee  during  maternity  leave  based  on  the 
provisions of a collective agreement. The Labour Court requested a preliminary ruling from 
the CJEU on the issue.  The CJEU decided that  the Parental Leave Directive 96/391/EEC 
was to be interpreted in such a way as to prohibit national rules that prevent an employee 
who  discontinues  unpaid  parental  leave  and  commencing  a  new  maternity  leave  from 
obtaining  benefits,  based  on  Directive  92/85/EEC.  In  joined  cases  TT:2014-2016,  the 
Labour Court decided that collective agreements to that effect are discriminatory.  

5.4  Adoption leave 

5.4.1  Existence of adoption leave in national law 

Chapter 9, Section 11 of the Sickness Insurance Act entitles adoptive parents to benefit 
during parental leave and partial parental leave. The right to parental leave only applies 
in  external  adoptions,  not  when  a  spouse  adopts  the  other  spouse’s  child.  An  adoptive 
father  entitled  to  parental  benefit  is  also  entitled  to  paternity  benefit.  Amendments 
introduced in 2017 give same-sex couples rights and benefits equal to those of adoptive 
parents.78  When  a  same-sex  couple  adopts  a  child  together,  they  may  decide  which  of 
them is entitled to paternal benefit. Chapter 9, Section 12 of the Sickness Insurance Act 
contains provisions on the parental benefit period for adoptive parents. The benefit is paid 
for  234  weekdays  (Monday  up  to  an  including  Saturday)  after  the  birth  of  the  child,  or 
minimum 200 weekdays if the child comes into the custody of the adoptive parents later 
than 54 weekdays after the birth. Under the Employment Contracts Act, an employee  is 
entitled to the leave periods defined under the Sickness Insurance Act. The employee also 

77   HE 157/2000 vp Hallituksen esitys Eduskunnalle työsopimuslaiksi ja siihen liittyviksi laeiksi (Government 

Bill for Act on Employment Contracs Act and related acts). p. 22-23. 

78   The amendment of the Sickness Insurance Act, by Act 6/2017, was mainly motivated by the need to take 
into account the amendment of the Marriage Act in 2014, which introduced gender-neutral marriage in 
Finland. It was previously impossible to apply all social security provisions to same-sex marriage partners.  

38 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
has  the  right  to  care  leave  to  take  care  of  his  or  her  child,  or  a  child  who  resides 
permanently  in  his  or  her  household,  until  the  child  is  three  years  old.  The  adoptive 
parents’ right to care leave continues until two years after adoption (Chapter 4, Section 3 
of the Employment Contracts Act). However, this care leave does not carry the right to 
pay or income-related benefits, but only to a flat-rate benefit.  

The  reform  of  family-related  leave  planned  by  the  current  Government  would  treat  all 
parents,  including  adoptive  parents,  equally.  All  families  would  thus  receive  similar 
benefits irrespective of the form of the family.79 

5.4.2  Protection against dismissal (Article 16 of Directive 2006/54) 

An  employee  who  uses  his  or  her  right  to  any  of  the  family-related  leave  under  the 
Employment  Contracts  Act  is  protected  by  Chapter  7,  Section  9  of  the  Employment 
Contracts Act. This stipulates that the employer may not dismiss an employee who uses 
the  right  to  family-related  leave,  and  if  this  occurs  the  legal  presumption  is  that  the 
employer  has  dismissed  the  employee  because  he  or  she  exercised  their  right  to  take 
leave. An employer may dismiss an employee on family-related leave only if the employer 
ceases all business activities.  

5.4.3  Case law 

There is not yet any case law on rights related to adoption leave.  

5.5  Parental leave 

5.5.1  Implementation of Directive 2010/18 

The  provisions  under  Chapter  4  of  the  Employment  Contracts  Act  and  Chapter  9  of  the 
Sickness  Insurance  Act  contain  the  rights  that  are  ensured  in  the  Directive.  These 
provisions were already in place prior to the adoption of the Directive. 

5.5.2  Applicability to public and private sectors (Clause 1 of Directive 2010/18) 

The provisions on parental leave apply to both public and private sectors. 

5.5.3  Scope of the transposing legislation 

The rights ensured in the Directive cover  employment relationships related to part-time 
workers,  fixed-term  contract  workers,  and  persons  with  a  contract  of  employment  or 
employment relationship with a temporary agency. 

5.5.4  Length of parental leave 

The duration is 158 weekdays (Monday up to and including Saturday), or approximately 
six months.  

5.5.5  Age limits 

The  right  to  parental  leave  generally  stops  when  a  child  is  three  years  old  (Chapter  4, 
Section  3  of  the  Employments  Contracts  Act).  However,  partial  parental  leave  may  be 
taken by employees who have worked for the same employer for the last 12 months until 
the child has completed two years of basic education, or in certain cases after completing 

79   Ministry of Social Affairs and Health (2020) Perhevapaauudistus tähtää perheen hyvinvointiin ja tasa-arvon 

lisäämiseen (The family leave reform aims at family welfare and increased equality), press release, 
5.2.2020; https://valtioneuvosto.fi/artikkeli/-/asset_publisher/1271139/perhevapaauudistus-tahtaa-
perheiden-hyvinvointiin-ja-tasa-arvon-lisaamiseen. 

39 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
three years of basic education. A child commences basic education at seven years of age. 
An employer may refuse partial parental leave if such leave would cause serious harm to 
production or service (Chapter 4, Section 4(3) of the Employment Contracts Act).  

5.5.6  Individual nature of the right to parental leave  

Eligibility for parental leave requires that the recipient has social insurance. Each parent 
has an individual right to parental benefit; meaning that, for instance, a father’s right to 
parental benefit does not depend on whether the mother fulfils the criteria for benefit. The 
insured person’s right to parental leave depends on his or her being married to and living 
with  the  mother  of  the  child,  or  living  together  with  the  mother  continuously  in 
circumstances that resemble marriage. If a child has a biological mother and an adoptive 
mother,  the  term  ‘mother’  refers  to  the  biological  mother.  The  rules  thus  exclude  non-
resident fathers but cover same-sex marital partners and cohabitees (Sickness Insurance 
Act, Chapter 9, Sections 1(2) and 1(3)). If the mother does not participate in the care of 
the child, or if the father is solely responsible for the care of the child, the requirement 
that a father is married or cohabits with the mother is waived (Sickness Insurance Act, 
Chapter 9, Section 8). An amendment of these provisions was made in 2017 in the context 
of an amendment of the Marriage Act in 2015, which introduced gender neutral marriage.  

An  insured  person  living  together  with  an  adoptive  parent  in  circumstances  resembling 
marriage (Sickness Insurance Act, Chapter 9, Section 1) is not entitled to parental benefit 
nor parental leave. As stated above, a father who lives separately from the mother has an 
exceptional right to parental leave if he is responsible for the care of the child (Chapter 9, 
Section 8(2) of the Sickness Insurance Act).  

5.5.7  Transferability of the right to parental leave  

The entire parental leave is transferrable between the parents, as the parents have the 
right to parental benefit ‘according to parental agreement’ (Chapter 9, Section 8  of the 
Sickness Insurance Act); the leave may thus be shared between the parents or taken by 
only one. Each parent may take his or her care period in two separate parts. The parents 
may not be on parental leave at the same time, except when they both work part time 
and receive part-time pay.  

The planned family leave reform would introduce a leave period of about 14 months for 
both  parents  (or,  the  only  parent  in  case  of  single  parent  families),  of  which  about  6.6 
months  would  be  non-transferable  for  each  parent,  and  69  weekdays  would  be 
transferable.80  

5.5.8  Form of parental leave 

The parents may divide the parental leave into two parts, which have  to be at least 12 
days long (Employment Contracts Act, Chapter 4, Section 1(2)). Parental benefits may be 
paid as partial benefits if the mother and father agree to share the benefits; they are both 
paid partial benefits simultaneously, provided they have both agreed on part-time work 
with their employer so that they both work at least 40 % and at most 60 % of full-time 
work. The employer has no obligation to agree to part-time work, however, and may refuse 
the  request  by  the  employee,  but  only  if  part-time  work  would  cause  serious  harm  to 
production  and  service  by  the  workplace,  which  cannot  be  avoided  by  reasonable 
reassignment of work. In these cases, the employer must present the grounds for refusing 
the request for part-time work (Employment Contracts Act, Chapter 4, Section 4). Even 

80   Ministry of Social Affairs and Health (2020) Perhevapaauudistus tähtää perheiden hyvinvointiin ja tasa-

arvon lisäämiseen (Reform of family leave aims at family welfare and increased equality), press release, 
2.2.2020; https://valtioneuvosto.fi/artikkeli/-/asset_publisher/1271139/perhevapaauudistus-tahtaa-
perheiden-hyvinvointiin-ja-tasa-arvon-lisaamiseen. 

40 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
an  entrepreneur  has  the  right  to  partial  parental  benefits,  if  the  work  in  his  or  her 
enterprise is reduced to 40-60 % (Chapter 9, Section 9 of the Sickness Insurance Act). 

5.5.9  Work and/or length of service requirements (Clause 3(b) of Directive 2010/18)  

Eligibility for parental benefit requires that the recipient has had social insurance in Finland 
or in another EU member state for 180 days before the calculated day of birth or, in the 
case of adoption, before the child is taken into the care of the adoptive parent. Parental 
benefit is also paid to parents who are not employed and who therefore have no parental 
leave. Employed persons have a right to parental leave irrespective of their work history.  

5.5.10 Notice period 

The employee must inform the employer on the use of maternity, paternity and parental 
leave two months ahead of the planned use of the leave, but when the leave period is 12 
days or less, the notice period is one month. If the employee is unable to provide a two-
month notice period because their spouse has returned to work, the notice period may be 
reduced  to  one  month  provided  that  the  leave  does  not  cause  serious  damage  to  the 
employer’s production or service. The employee may, for an acceptable reason, change 
the time of the leave by informing the employer one month in advance. The parent of an 
adoptive child must inform the employer about a change to the time of the leave for an 
acceptable  reason  as  soon  as  possible  (Chapter  9,  Section  3(a),  Employment  Contracts 
Act).  

5.5.11 Postponement of parental leave (Clause 3(c) of Directive 2010/18) 

Parental leave may not be postponed by the employers when full-time parental leave is 
requested; however, the employer and the employee may agree that the employee works 
part-time during the parental leave (Chapter 4, Section 3(2) Employment Contract Act). 
As part-time work requires an agreement, and the conditions of such an agreement are 
not defined under the Employment Contracts Act, the employer’s agreement may depend 
on the operation of the organisation.  

5.5.12 Special arrangements for small firms (Clause 3(d) of Directive 2010/18) 

There are no special arrangements for parental leave taken by employees of small firms.  

5.5.13 Special rules and exceptional conditions for parents of children with a disability or 

long-term illness (Clause 3(3) of Directive 2010/18) 

A parent of a disabled child or a child with a long-term illness may take partial parental 
leave until the child becomes 18 years of age. (Chapter 4, Section 4(1) of the Employment 
Contracts Act). 

5.5.14 Measures addressing the specific needs of adoptive parents (Clause 4 of Directive 

2010/18)  

No measures were adopted to implement the Directive, although in 2018, the rules on the 
right of adoptive parents were amended. Chapter 9, Section 11 of the Sickness Insurance 
Act  stipulates  that  an  adoptive  parent  has  right  to  parental  and  paternity  benefit  (and 
corresponding  leave).  Both  an  adoptive  parent  and  a  person  married  to  the  adoptive 
parent have the right to parental leave, according to their mutual agreement. There is no 
right to parental leave in cases of adoptions within families. The provision also stipulates 
that when there are two adoptive mothers or fathers in a family, only one has the right to 
paternity benefit (Section 11(3)).  

41 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
5.5.15 Provisions  protecting  workers  against  less  favourable  treatment  or  dismissal 

(Clause 5(4) of Directive 2010/18) 

Chapter 7, Section 9 of the Employment Contracts Act prohibits dismissal of an employee 
on the ground of pregnancy or because the employee uses his or her right to family-related 
leave. Section 9(2) contains the presumption that if a pregnant employee or employee on 
family-related leave is dismissed, the dismissal is caused by the pregnancy or use of family 
leave, unless the employer can prove otherwise. Furthermore, under Section 9(3) of the 
same Act, an employer may dismiss a person on maternity, paternity or parental or care 
leave only if the employer’s activities cease completely. Adoption leave is one of the forms 
of family-related leave. Finally, Section 7(3) of the Act on Equality defines placing a person 
in  a  different  position  due  to  parenthood  and  childcare  responsibility  as  indirect 
discrimination on the ground of sex. 

5.5.16 Right to return to the same or an equivalent job (Clause 5(1) of Directive 2010/18) 

Section  9,  Chapter  4  of  the  Employment  Contracts  Act  entitles  the  employee  to  return 
from  any  family-related  leave  under  the  Employment  Contracts  Act  (maternity  leave, 
paternity leave, parental leave, partial parental leave, childcare leave) primarily to his/her 
former job, but if that is not possible, to corresponding work which is covered by his/her 
employment  contract,  or  if  even  that  is  not  possible,  to  other  work  covered  by  his/her 
employment contract. 

5.5.17 Maintenance of rights acquired or in the process of being acquired by the worker 

(Clause 5(2) of Directive 2010/18) 

In  principle,  the  rights  of  the  worker  are  maintained.  Chapter  4,  Section  9  of  the 
Employment Contracts Act stipulates that employees are in the first place entitled to return 
to their former duties after family-related leave. If that is not possible, employees shall be 
offered equivalent work in accordance with their employment contract, and if this is not 
possible either, other work in accordance with their employment contract. Return to former 
duties  or  work  that  accords  with  the  conditions  of  the  employment  contract  involves 
accompanying rights. Problems may arise with relatively long absences from work, as the 
working conditions and requirements tend to change during the absence. In practice, the 
replacement  doing  the  work  of  the  employee  on  family-related  leave  may  then  have 
acquired new skills needed in the work. The person  returning from  family-related leave 
has the right to return to their former job, and the employer has a duty to provide training 
that is needed. Problems arise when the employer  claims that the former job no longer 
exists.  In  the  Labour  Court  case  TT:2013-150,  the  employer  had  divided  the  sales 
assistant tasks of the person on family-related leave among other employees, and had no 
intention  of  changing  that  arrangement.  The  returning  person  was  offered  work  at  the 
switchboard. The Labour Court ruled that the employer should have offered a similar job 
as a sales assistant in another department.  

5.5.18 Status of the employment contract or relationship during parental leave 

The employment contract remains valid during parental leave. This is not explicitly stated 
in the Employment Contracts Act, but it is clear from several provisions. For example, the 
employer is prohibited from terminating an employment contract due to the pregnancy of 
an  employee  or  because  an  employee  uses  their  right  to  family-related  leave.  If  the 
employer  terminates  the  employment  contract  of  a  pregnant  employee  or  a  person  on 
family-related leave, the termination shall be deemed to have taken place on the basis of 
pregnancy or family leave (Chapter 7, Section 9 of the Employment Contracts Act). 

5.5.19 Continuity of entitlement to social security benefits 

The right to social security benefits continues under family-related leave. 

42 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
5.5.20 Remuneration 

The employer has no legal obligation to  provide remuneration during parental leave. To 
the author’s knowledge, parental leave and paternity leave (unlike maternity leave) are 
seldom  (if  ever)  remunerated  through  collective  agreements.  Individual  employment 
contracts do not contain provisions on pay during family-related leave. 

5.5.21 Social security allowance 

Parental leave benefits are defined in the Sickness Insurance Act, and are similar to the 
sickness  insurance  benefits.  Persons  with  income  from  the  labour  market  and 
entrepreneurs receive a benefit that is related to their income. Persons who do not have 
such income – for instance, those unemployed – receive a minimum benefit. All sectors 
are  covered,  including  self-employment,  agricultural  entrepreneurship,  and  other 
entrepreneurships. 

5.5.22 More favourable provisions (Clause 8 of Directive 2010/18) 

The  personal  scope  of  family-related  benefits  is  clearly  broader  than  what  Directive 
2010/18 requires, as it even covers the  self-employed  and entrepreneurs, and parental 
leave is also longer than the minimum required under the Directive. In 2017, the right to 
parental leave was extended to persons who are married to the mother or live with the 
mother  in  circumstances  that  resemble  marriage,  and  adoptive  mothers  married  to  the 
biological mother. This also exceeds what is required under EU law. 

5.5.23 Case law  

There is no case law on parental leave to report.  

5.6  Paternity leave 

5.6.1  Existence of paternity leave in national law 

Paternity leave covers a maximum of 54 weekdays, of which only 18 days of leave may 
coincide  with  maternity  or  parental  leave  taken  by  the  mother.  The  provision  aims  to 
promote fathers’ use of their right to family-related leave and to alleviate the imbalance 
in the use of parental leave, which is fully transferrable between the parents. The right to 
paternity leave previously depended on the parents living together, but an amendment in 
2017 gave a father who does not live with the mother an individual right to paternity and 
parental leave, provided he is responsible for the care of the baby.81  

5.6.2  Protection against unfavourable treatment and/or dismissal (Article 16 of Directive 

2006/54) 

Protection against unfavourable treatment and dismissal covers all family-related leave, 
including paternity leave. For legislation, see the explanation provided for above at 5.5.14. 

5.6.3  Case law 

In  case  TT:2007-12,  the  Labour  Court  ruled  in  a  case  where  the  Sailors’  Collective 
Agreement  contained  a  condition  on  how  absence  from  work  related  to  working  shifts. 
Absences caused by illness or injury, or for any other reason, during which the employee 
was entitled to pay, did not shorten the employee’s right to free days between shifts. The 
parties to the collective agreement had not discussed paternity leave in this context. The 
Labour Court found that unpaid days of absence were not comparable to paid ones, and 

81   The provision was amended by Act 6/2017. 

43 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
as  the  employee  was  not  entitled  to  pay  during  paternity  leave,  thus  paternity  leave 
shortened the free days between shifts.  

5.7  Time off for force majeure 

5.7.1  Time off for force majeure 

The Employment Contracts Act, Section 7, allows an employee time off for force majeure 
reasons; the  employee  has a right to leave if  his or her presence is required due to an 
unforeseeable  and  compelling  reason  caused  by  illness  or  accident  in  his  or  her  family. 
‘Family’ in this context  refers to persons living in the same household under family-like 
circumstances. The preparatory works indicate that this includes parents and children.82 
The number of times force majeure leave may be taken is not limited.  The employee is 
not entitled to pay during absence, but under some collective agreements, the employee 
may be entitled to pay in relation to certain absences covered by the provision. The death 
and  funeral  of  a  relative,  fire  or  water  damage  at  home,  or  an  accident  requiring  the 
presence of an employee in hospital are examples of unforeseen and compelling reasons. 
The right to time off under Section 7 covers short absences only. 

The  prohibition  against  the  dismissal  of  an  employee  who  uses  his/her  right  to  family-
related leave (Chapter 4, Section 9 of the Employment Contracts Act) covers all forms of 
leave under Chapter 4 of the Employment Contracts Act, including Section 7. 

5.7.2  Case law 

There is no case law concerning the use of force majeure family-related leave. 

5.8  Care leave 

5.8.1  Existence of care (or carers’) leave in national law  

Chapter 4, Section 7a of the Employment Contracts Act contains a provision on care leave, 
which was added to the Act when the force majeure based family leave provisions were 
already in place. The preparatory works  for the amendment that led  to the adoption  of 
Section 7a (absence for care of a family member of someone close to the employee) note 
that the right to absence for compelling family reasons (Section 7) is applied under tight 
conditions only. The number of days the employee may be absent is not limited, but only 
a short, temporary absence can be taken. The possibility for employees to care for family 
members  that  require  constant  assistance  in  their  every  day  life  under  Section  7  was 
therefore  too  limited.  Section  7a  was  adopted  to  give  the  employer  an  obligation  to 
investigate possible arrangements for an employee’s temporary absence. Time off under 
Section 7a may cover longer periods, but is only provided if agreed with the employee.83 
The  provision  puts  an  obligation  on  the  employer  to  act  so  as  to  make  such  absence 
possible, and the obligation to explain to the employee if absence is considered impossible. 
The  personal  scope  of  family  members  refers  to  persons  living  in  the  same  household, 
children and grandchildren, parents and grandparents of the employee and his/her spouse 
or partner, including same-sex partners. The personal scope of the provision is the same 
as for Section 7 (absence due to compelling family reasons).  

5.8.2  Case law  

There is currently no case law to report.  

82   HE 157/2000 vp Hallituksen esitys Eduskunnalle työsopimuslaiksi ja eräiksi siihen liittyviksi laeiksi 

(Government Bill for Act on the Employment Contracts Act and related acts), p. 22. 

83   HE 263/2010 vp Hallituksen esitys Eduskunnalle laiksi työsopimuslain muuttamisesta (Government Bill for 

an Amendment of the Employment Contracts Act), pp. 2-3. 

44 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
5.9  Leave in relation to surrogacy 

Surrogacy is not legal in Finland. 

5.10 Flexible working time arrangements 

The Working Hours Act (872/2019), which came into force at the beginning of 2020, covers 
both private and public work and all employees. Directors and persons with independent 
tasks  comparable  to  directors;  employees  of  religious  communities  performing  religious 
acts;  work  by  an  employer’s  family  members;  or  other  work  where  the  working  time 
cannot be monitored by the employer; or certain work in courts, the diplomatic service, 
or certain work in the Bank of Finland is excluded. The new Act allows exceptions to the 
general  legal  provision  on  working  time,  as  well  as  exceptions  to  the  valid  collective 
agreement.  Sections  12-14  of  the  Act  allow  the  employer  and  employee  to  agree  on 
flexible working hours, departing from the regular hours defined under the Act, or from 
the working time terms of the valid collective agreement. The employee may then, within 
the limits agreed upon, decide when and where he or she will work, or save hours to be 
used  as  free  time  later.  Such  an  agreement  must  include  certain  standard  conditions 
concerning  issues  such  as  days  of  weekly  rest,  and  the  agreement  must  be  made  in 
writing.  The agreement contains mandatory conditions, however. It is assumed that the 
new legal provisions on flexible working time are useful especially for persons whose work 
is based on their expertise. Even before the implementation of mandatory legislation on 
flexible working hours, flexible working times were common in Finnish work places. Local 
collective agreements often contain clauses on flexible work, usually in the form of flexible 
times for starting and stopping daily work. The right to agree on flexible working time only 
concerns  the  individual  employee.  An  amendment  of  the  Employment  Contracts  Act  in 
2018 allows variable working times based on a working contract which defines either the 
maximum  hours,  minimum  and  maximum  hours  or  no  regular  hours  at  all  (a  so-called 
zero-hour agreement), on the employee’s initiative, or on the initiative of the employer, 
provided  that  the  employer  does  not  have  a  continuous  need  of  a  regular  labour  force 
(Employment Contracts Act Chapter 1, Section 11).   

An employee is entitled to partial care leave84 to take care of his or her child or other child 
living permanently in the household until the second school year in basic education ends 
(when the child is about 9 years old), provided the employee has been employed in his or 
her present workplace for at least six months and upon negotiation with the employer. For 
the care of a disabled child, the partial leave may continue until the child is 18 (Chapter 
4, Section 4 of the Employment Contracts Act). The employer may refuse the leave only 
if it causes serious damage to the production and service at the workplace, which cannot 
be avoided by  reasonable rearrangement  of work (Subsection 2 of the provision). If an 
employee  has  the  right  to  partial  leave,  but  the  conditions  cannot  be  negotiated,  the 
employee has the right to one period of partial care leave each year of a length and at a 
time that the employee proposes. The length of the partial care leave must be negotiated 
and  therefore  also  depends  on  the  employer.  If  partial  leave  is  agreed  upon,  then  it 
consists of working days of six hours, or 30 hours per week. Section 15 of the new Working 
Hours Act broadens the possibility to work shorter hours due to social and health reasons 
other than childcare. If the employer refuses to agree to shorter working hours, they have 
to justify their refusal.  

5.10.1 Right to adjust working time patterns 

The regular working time patterns provided by the Working Hours Act may be adjusted by 
national collective agreements so that the average weekly working time in a period of 52 
weeks  is  40  hours,  under  Section  34.  It  is  moreover  possible  to  introduce  many  more 
exceptions from the mandatory working time provisions by means of a national collective 

84   This partial care leave is paid relative to the number of hours worked. 

45 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
agreement. It is also possible to agree through a national collective agreement on flexible 
working times as stipulated under Sections 13 and 14 of the Act. An employer that is not 
party to a collective agreement but is bound by an erga omnes collective agreement may 
also make use of the exceptions to the legal provisions (Section 35). It is possible to allow 
local parties to make a local collective agreement via a clause inserted in an erga omnes 
collective agreement making exceptions to the working time provisions in the Act, Section 
36.  Such  a  local  collective  agreement  is  adopted  between  the  employer  and  the 
representatives of the employees. 

It is also possible to make exceptions to the regular working times  through agreements 
between an employer and an employee, or an employer and a group of employees. Section 
13 of the new Working Hours Act defines the parameters within which it is possible to form 
an  agreement  between  the  employer  and  the  employee  on  regular  working  times  that 
differ from up to half of the clauses of the valid collective agreement. Such an agreement 
must  contain  certain  mandatory  clauses,  and  the  number  of  working  hours  must  be 
balanced  to  a  maximum  of  40  hours  per  week  during  a  period  of  four  months.  The 
agreement must be made in writing, and it may be cancelled without specific reasons at 
the end of the balancing period that follows the ongoing balancing period. Section 14 of 
the  new  Working  Hours  Act  contains  provisions  on  a  ‘working  time  bank’,  which  is  an 
agreement made between an employee representative or a group of employees together 
with the employer on saving working time (a minimum of two weeks per year) to be used 
later. The arrangement makes it possible to ‘save’ and combine working time, leave and 
compensation that is provided instead of leave. The agreement has to include clauses on 
the items that may be saved to bank, limits to saving, how the bank can be dissolved and 
the earned items compensated, and the principles on how leave is to be spent. The right 
is  an  individual  right,  but  the  agreement  that  established  the  right  is  made  on  a  group 
basis. 

5.10.2 Right to work from home or remotely  

Section 13 of the new Working Hours Act covers provisions on flexible working hours, and 
also the right to work remotely. The employer and employee may make an agreement on 
flexible hours and place of work that cover half of the working hours defined under the 
valid collective agreement, but the agreement must include certain mandatory clauses on 
weekly  rest  and  similar  issues.  The  agreement  must  be  made  in  writing.  The  provision 
covers all employees.    

5.10.3 Other legal rights to flexible working arrangements 

Section  15  of  the  Working  Hours  Act  contains  a  provision  for  shorter  working  hours  for 
social and health reasons other than those connected to family that may be agreed upon 
by  request  of  the  employee  and  the  employer  must  try  to  arrange  work  so  that  the 
employee may work part time An agreement for such shorter hours may cover a maximum 
of  26  weeks  at  a  time.  A  denial  of  an  employee’s  request  for  part-time  work  by  the 
employer must be justified.  

5.10.4 Case law  

There is no case law to report. 

5.11 Evaluation of implementation 

At  present,  the  right  to  flexible  work  to  combine  work  and  family  life  depends  on  the 
employer, and often on the field or tasks of the employer’s work. The provisions introduced 
by the new Working Hours Act did not change the situation radically. Flexible working time 
under collective agreements may reflect interests other than those of parents wishing to 
balance  working  hours  with  care  duties.  It  was  assumed  that  employees  undertaking 

46 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
independent expert work may benefit from the reform. A recent study on work and family 
balance85  shows  that  more  than  90 %  of  both  mothers  and  fathers  were  more  or  less 
satisfied with the possibility of combining work and family, but the majority of fathers were 
very positive, while the majority of mothers only rather satisfied. Suitable working hours 
were considered important by 80 % of parents. Half of all parents found that some feature 
of their work made combining work and family difficult. The problems for mothers were 
demanding or exhausting work, while for fathers, long or unpredictable working hours are 
problematic. Increased flexibility of working hours and remote work has helped mothers 
and  fathers  of  small  children,  but  it  seems  that  employees  with  higher  education  have 
benefited more from the increased flexibility than those with a lower education.  

5.12 Remaining issues 

There is nothing further to report.  

85   Sorsa, T, Rotkirch, A. (2020) Työ ja perhe ne yhteen soppii? (Are work and family compatible?), 

Väestöliitto. 

47 

 
 
 
 
 
 
6 

Occupational social security schemes (Chapter 2 of Directive 2006/54) 

6.1  General (legal) context 

6.1.1  Surveys  and  reports  on  the  practical  difficulties  linked  to  occupational  and/or 

statutory social security issues 

The  social  insurance  that  covers  old  age,  sickness  and  disability  as  well  as  maternity, 
paternity and parental benefits is both occupational and mandatory. Mandatory, statutory 
social insurance covers not only employees but also entrepreneurs, including agricultural 
entrepreneurs. The social insurance that covers old age, sickness and disability, as well as 
maternity, paternity and parental benefits, is both occupational and mandatory. For those 
who do not earn a minimum pension through work, pensions are complemented through 
a statutory scheme. Sex disaggregated statistics are conducted by several bodies, which 
indicate that pensions related to previously earned income are higher for men, and women 
more  often  than  men  receive  a  complement  to  their  pensions  from  the  state  pension 
scheme. Women’s lower income from work and entrepreneurship leads to lower benefits 
and pensions. 

6.1.2  Other issues related to gender equality and social security 

There are no further issues related to gender equality and social security to report.  

6.1.3  Political and societal debate and pending legislative proposals 

There  are  currently  no  pending  legislative  proposals  on  this  topic.  The  Government’s 
Programme, published in June 2019, promises to reform the family-related leave system 
which  would  divide  responsibility  for  family  more  evenly  between  mothers  and  fathers. 
Mothers and fathers are to have the same number of non-transferrable months of leave. 
Fathers are to have the right to the same length of income-related leave as mothers have 
at  present,  without  making  the  mothers’  right  to  leave  shorter.  The  parents’  combined 
time to which they are entitled for income-related family leave will thus become longer.  

6.2  Direct and indirect discrimination 

Section  7  of  the  Act  on  Equality  contains  a  general  prohibition  of  discrimination  on  the 
grounds  of  sex,  and  social  security  schemes  fall  within  the  material  scope  of  the  Act. 
However, there is no remedy or compensation for a victim of discrimination in the Act on 
Equality. The general principles of administrative law under  Chapter 2 Section 6 the Act 
on Administration (434/2003) include the principle of equal treatment.  

6.3  Personal scope 

The  Finnish  sickness,  disability,  maternity  and  parental  benefits  as  well  as  pension 
schemes  are  statutory  and  mandatory,  and  cover  all  fields  in  which  people  earn  as 
employees  or  entrepreneurs.  They  cover  also  self-employed  persons  and  agricultural 
entrepreneurs. The scope of the national law is broader than what EU law requires, as it 
even covers entrepreneurs. 

6.4  Material scope 

The material scope covers the scope of Article 7, and as noted in 5.1, even entrepreneurs. 

6.5  Exclusions 

There are no exclusions. 

48 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
6.6  Laws  and  case  law  falling  under  the  examples  of  sex  discrimination 

mentioned in Article 9 of Directive 2006/54 

Article  9(h)  of  the  Act  on  Equality  addresses  setting  different  levels  of  benefit  ‘except 
insofar as may be necessary to take account of actuarial calculation  factors which differ 
according to sex’ in certain cases. 

In the Finnish Employment Accidents Act (608/1948), Section 14(1) (192/1987), Section 
18b(1),  and  Section  18b(3)  (1642/12992)  allowed  a  lump-sum  compensation  for  an 
accident in certain cases, and the lump sum was calculated using sex as an actuarial factor. 
The Supreme Administrative Court referred a case (KHO 2013:105) concerning this type 
of lump-sum compensation to the CJEU. In Case C-318/13, the CJEU interpreted Directive 
79/7/EEC Article 4(1) to preclude national regulation of employment accident insurance 
that uses sex-segregated life expectancy calculations as an actuarial factor, if this results 
in a lower lump-sum compensation for a man than for a similarly situated woman. It was 
for the Finnish Supreme Administrative Court to decide whether Finnish legislation violated 
EU law, in which case the applicant, X, would be entitled to compensation by the State. 
The Finnish Supreme Administrative Court in case KHO:2015:8 found that the use of sex-
segregated life expectancy in calculating lump sum compensation under the Employment 
Accidents Act breached EU law, and that X had suffered a loss due to the provisions of the 
Act.  The  breach  was  not  sufficiently  evident  to  warrant  reparation  by  the  State,  as  the 
CJEU’s ruling in Case C-236/09 occurred after relevant decisions concerning X’s right to 
benefit by Finnish courts, and no infringement procedure had taken place. 

The Act on Employment Accidents and Occupational Diseases (459/2015) does not contain 
a provision which would use sex as an actuarial factor, unlike the former legislation that 
the Act replaced.  

6.7  Actuarial factors 

Sex is not used as actuarial factor under Finnish social security legislation now in force. 
The  Finnish  occupational  pension  schemes  are  mandatory,  as  mentioned  above.  Some 
employers may complement the mandatory schemes of some of their key employees with 
private schemes previously offered to directors. The author has not been able to find out 
whether sex is used as an actuarial factor in such private schemes.  

6.8  Difficulties 

The Finnish occupational security schemes are not easily comparable to either statutory 
or occupational social security schemes. They are mandatory and based on statute, but 
the benefits paid under the schemes are related to occupational income (including income 
from acting as an entrepreneur, as well as persons on stipends). The classification problem 
does not involve special problems of equality, although the broad coverage is a bonus. 

Section  7  of  the  Act  on  Equality  contains  a  general  prohibition  of  discrimination  on  the 
grounds  of  sex,  and  social  security  schemes  fall  under  the  material  scope  of  the  Act. 
However, there is no remedy or compensation for a victim of discrimination in the Act on 
Equality. The general principles of administrative law under Chapter 2 Section 6 of the Act 
on Administration (434/2003) include the principle of equal treatment.  

6.9  Evaluation of implementation 

Implementation  of  the  requirement  of  non-discriminatory  occupational  social  security 
schemes  is  broader  than  what  is  required  under  EU  law,  as  such  schemes  cover  even 
entrepreneurs. It may be considered problematic, however, that while Section 7 of the Act 
on  Equality  prohibits  both  direct  and  indirect  discrimination  on  the  grounds  of  sex,  and 
occupational social security is within the scope of the Act on Equality, there is no remedy 

49 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
under  the  Act  for  a  victim  of  discrimination.  Administrative  law  remedies  and  legality 
supervision are available. 

6.10 Remaining issues 

There are no remaining issues to report.  

50 

 
 
 
7 

Statutory schemes of social security (Directive 79/7) 

7.1  General (legal) context 

7.1.1  Surveys and reports on the practical difficulties linked to statutory schemes of social 

security (Directive 79/7) 

As  explained  above,  the  occupational  (mandatory)  social  security  covers  ‘the  working 
population, including self-employed persons, workers and self-employed persons whose 
activity  is  interrupted  by  illness,  accident  or  involuntary  unemployment  and  persons 
seeking employment, and retired or invalidated workers and self-employed persons’. The 
Finnish  mandatory  social  insurance  covers  old  age,  sickness  and  disability,  as  well  as 
family-related benefits, and both occupational and residence-based social security. When 
a person who resides in Finland is not working on an employment contract, s/he does not 
have a right to leave, but a right to benefit for a similar period of time as an employed 
person has. Pension rights are twofold: either earnings-related (based on employment or 
entrepreunial  activities),  or  national  and  guarantee  pensions,  which  are  meant  for 
pensioners who have no earnings-related pension or whose pension is very small.   

Statutory schemes further cover persons who have no income from these sources or under 
the  national  pension  scheme,  as  well  as  persons  receiving  unemployment  benefits.  The 
overall  model  for  social  security  consists  of  rights  to  benefits,  based  either  on  one’s 
earnings, or based on residence in Finland.  

7.1.2  Other relevant issues  

There are no further issues to report. 

7.1.3  Overview of national acts 

There are no further remarks. 

7.1.4  Political and societal debate and pending legislative proposals 

There is currently no political or societal debate or pending legislation on this issue. 

7.2  Implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women in 

matters of social security 

The  Sickness  Insurance  Act  covers  sickness  and  family-related  benefits.  Employees’ 
Pensions Act (945/2006) covers pension schemes for the private sector, and Pensions Act 
for Public Occupations (81/2016) covers state and municipal officials’ pensions, as well as 
pensions  of  the  Lutheran  Church.  Sailors’  Pensions  Act  (1290/2006)  contains  pension 
schemes for sailors. These pension acts cover old age pensions, pensions for the disabled, 
as  well  as  rehabilitation  pensions.  Under  the  Unemployment  Security  Act  (1290/2002), 
unemployed  persons  receive  either  basic  or  earnings-related  unemployment  allowance. 
Both basic and earnings-related allowance requires that the applicant lives permanently in 
Finland, has registered as an unemployed jobseeker, is seeking full-time work, is able to 
work, and has either been in paid employment or self-employed for a required time. The 
right to earnings-related allowance further requires that the jobseeker has been insured 
for  a  minimum  of  26  weeks  in  an  unemployment  insurance  fund.  The  duration  of  the 
unemployment allowance depends on the person’s employment history.  

Section  7  of  the  Act  on  Equality  contains  a  general  prohibition  of  discrimination  on  the 
grounds of sex, and social security schemes fall under the material scope of the Act. There 
is  no  remedy  or  compensation  for  a  victim  of  discrimination  in  the  Act  on  Equality, 

51 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
however.  The  general  principles  of  administrative  law  under  the  Act  on  Administration 
(434/2003); Chapter 2, Section 6 includes the principle of equal treatment.  

7.3  Personal scope 

As  explained  above,  the  occupational  (mandatory)  social  security  covers  ‘the  working 
population – including self-employed persons, workers and self-employed persons whose 
activity  is  interrupted  by  illness,  accident  or  involuntary  unemployment  and  persons 
seeking  employment  –  and  retired  or  invalidated  workers  and  self-employed  persons’. 
Statutory schemes further cover persons who have no income from these sources or under 
the  national  pension  scheme,  and  persons  receiving  unemployment  benefits,  but  with 
benefits that are not income related. 

7.4  Material scope 

The material scope of the Finnish mandatory social security, both basic and income-based, 
covers the risks which Directive 79/7 mentions (sickness, invalidity, old age, accidents at 
work and occupational diseases and unemployment).  

7.5  Exclusions 

There  are  no  exclusions  concerning  equal  treatment  for  men  and  women  in  mandatory 
social security. The family pensions scheme under the Employees Pensions Act is gender 
neutral, and involves both widows’ and widowers’ rights to a pension. There are no gender-
based differences concerning pension age. 

7.6  Actuarial factors 

Sex is not used as an actuarial factor in social security legislation. 

7.7  Difficulties 

There are no specific difficulties. 

7.8  Evaluation of implementation 

It is difficult to compare the Finnish social security system to what is legislated at the EU 
level,  as  the  Finnish  occupational  and  statutory  social  security  are  both  based  on 
mandatory  provisions,  and  the  occupational  security  extends  to  groups  not  protected 
under EU law, such as entrepreneurs, agricultural entrepreneurs and persons receiving a 
grant. The occupational social security is complemented by mandatory social security not 
related to income from employment or entrepreneurial activities, providing basic benefits 
based  on  residence.  The  provisions  are  not  discriminatory  on  the  ground  of  sex,  but  a 
person allegedly discriminated against is not entitled to a remedy through gender equality 
law.  The  Act  on  Equality  provides  the  victim  of  discrimination  the  right  to  demand 
compensation for discrimination in working life (Section 8), in an educational institution 
(8b), in a labour market organisation (8c), or in the provision of goods or services. Section 
8 does not cover mandatory social security. Direct and indirect discrimination is prohibited 
under  Section  7  of  the  Act,  and  the  Equality  Ombudsman  who  monitors  the  Act  should 
intervene in gender discrimination. Complaints may be filed with the Chancellor of Justice 
and  the  Parliamentary  Ombudsman,  who  make  decisions  on  the  legality  of  acts  of 
authorities.  These  are  not  remedies,  in  the  sense  that  they  do  not  involve  a  justiciable 
right  and  compensation  for  the  victim.  Administrative  law  remedies  also  must  consider 
prohibitions of discrimination in the Constitution and in the Act on Equality. For example, 
a municipal decision may be overturned if it violates legislation by being discriminatory. 

52 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The Finnish mandatory social security that covers the scope of Directive 79/7 are gender 
neutral, and do not discriminate directly on the ground of sex, concerning the scope of the 
schemes  and  conditions,  the  obligation  to  contribute  and  the  calculation  of  the 
contributions. Finnish mandatory social security is based on individual benefits and does 
not include increasing benefits due to a spouse and dependants, the only exception being 
the  right  to  family  pensions  under  the  pensions  acts.  The  pensions  acts  reform  started 
with the reform of the Employees’ Pensions Act, and a gender impact analysis was then 
carried  out.  With  the  reform,  time  spent  on  maternity,  special  maternity,  paternity  and 
parental leave was added to the calculation of the right to benefit. The pension benefit for 
this unpaid time is calculated as  a percentage  of the income that was the basis  for the 
family-related benefit under the Sickness Insurance Act.   

7.9  Remaining issues 

There are no remaining issues. 

53 

 
 
 
 
 
 
8 

Self-employed  workers  (Directive  2010/41/EU  and  some  relevant 
provisions of the Recast Directive) 

8.1  General (legal) context 

8.1.1  Surveys and reports on the specific difficulties of self-employed workers 

The  European  Commission’s  ad  hoc  query  into  entrepreneurship  in  2017  prompted 
Statistics  Finland  to  draft  a  special  report  on  entrepreneurship.86  The  study  divided 
entrepreneurs into three categories: agricultural entrepreneurs, employer entrepreneurs, 
and the self-employed. The last group consists of persons who are neither employed by 
another  nor  employ  others.  The  category  covers  persons  who  identify  themselves  as 
entrepreneurs and those who are self-employed in a narrow sense, such as professionals, 
freelancers not employed by others, and persons working on a grant. The number of self-
employed  has  risen  and  was  circa  171 000  in  2017,  and  while  other  entrepreneur 
categories  were  predominantly  male,  the  self-employed  were  more  evenly  divided 
between men and women.  

Entrepreneurs in general have a lower level of education than employees, but the level of 
education of self-employed resembles that of employees. The self-employed presented a 
varied profile, the biggest of them being experts in law and social and cultural issues. The 
income distribution of the self-employed differed from employer entrepreneurs, as more 
self-employed were in low income groups, but many worked relatively short hours (circa 
35 hours per week). The self-employed are not always well informed of their right to social 
security.  Entrepreneurs  can  define  the  level  of  their  social  security  payments,  and  they 
often end up with low benefits – 49 % of men and 43 % of women entrepreneurs thought 
they had paid enough, often because they felt they could not afford a higher level. Some 
self-employed even had private pension insurances. 58 % of the self-employed who had 
children considered they had not been able to have long enough family-related leave. The 
self-employed, as well as other entrepreneurs, are entitled to family-related leave, but the 
right to leave is not used to full extent. 

8.1.2  Other issues 

There are no further issues to report.  

8.1.3  Overview of national acts 

Maternity, paternity and parental benefits are paid for all entrepreneurs and their spouses 
under Chapter 9 of the Sickness Insurance Act (1224/2004). Provisions on how to calculate 
the income – divided between spouses for tax and social welfare purposes – are addressed 
in various Acts. The Act on Entrepreneurs’ Pensions (1272/2006) covers entitlement to an 
old-age pension, part-time pension, rehabilitation pension, disability pension, and family 
pension for an entrepreneur’s widow or widower. The pension accrues in a manner similar 
to employment-based pension schemes on the basis of occupational income, and it also 
accrues  during  maternity,  paternity,  parental,  and  sickness  leave  periods.  There  is  no 
regulation as to how spouses or life partners run an enterprise (other than an agricultural 
enterprise) together are to divide the income from the enterprise between themselves for 
purposes of the entrepreneurs’ pension scheme.  

Benefits are calculated on the basis of occupational income during a preceding period, and 
persons without an income are entitled to minimum benefits on the grounds of residence. 
The Act on Entrepreneurs’ Pensions (1272/2006) covers entitlement to old-age pension, 

86   The report consists of two parts: Yrittäjät Suomessa (Entrepreneurs in Finland), which is based on 

questions defined by Eurostat, and of Yrittäjyys (Entrepreneurship), based on nationally defined questions. 
Sutela, Hanna and Pärnänen, Anna Yrittäjät Suomessa (Entepreneurs in Finland), Statistics Finland 2018, 
http://www.stat.fi/tup/julkaisut/tiedostot/julkaisuluettelo/ytym_201700_2018_21465_net.pdf.  

54 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
part-time  pension,  rehabilitation  pension,  disability  pension,  and  family  pension  for  an 
entrepreneur’s  widow  or  widower.  The  pension  accrues  in  a  manner  similar  to 
employment-based  pension  schemes  on  the  basis  of  occupational  income,  and  it  also 
accrues during maternity, paternity, parental, and sickness leave periods.  

8.1.4  Political and societal debate and pending legislative proposals 

There is currently no political or societal debate or pending legislative proposals on this 
issue.  

8.2  Implementation of Directive 2010/41/EU 

The Act on Equality is the main legal instrument to implement Directive 2010/41/EU. The 
prohibition of discrimination under Section 7 of the Act is general and  can be applied to 
self-employed  persons,  but  the  Section  8  guarantees  of  justiciable  rights  and  access  to 
remedies  against  discrimination  in  working  life  are  not  fully  applicable  to  the  self-
employed.  Section  3,  subsection  1  of  the  Act’s  definition  of  an  ‘employee’  applies  ‘as 
appropriate,  to  persons  working  in  other  legal  relationships  that  are  comparable  to  an 
employment relationship.’ The preparatory works explain that the definition refers to forms 
of work that take place under circumstances similar to those under employment contracts, 
such  as  independent  workers  or  entrepreneurs,  freelancers,  persons  with  their  own 
professional  practice,  or  persons  who  are  engaged  in  care  work  in  families  under  an 
assignment  agreement  that  is  paid  by  public  funds  under  social  welfare  legislation. 
Independent workers and entrepreneurs are only covered if they sell their own skills, even 
though they may act as entrepreneurs in the sense meant by unemployment or pension 
legislation.  A  person  similar  to  an  ‘employee’  cannot  engage  in  activities  that  involve  a 
proper enterprise risk or employ others. The definition of an employee thus covers self-
employed  persons  in  work-like  situations,  and  in  these  cases  offers  remedies  and 
sanctions.  The  definition,  however,  does  not  provide  protection  against  discrimination 
when establishing a business and in other business-related situations. 

8.3  Personal scope 

8.3.1  Scope 

The  personal  scope  of  the  Act  on  Equality  is  broad,  as  the  general  prohibition  of 
discrimination on the grounds of sex (Section 7 of the Act) does not have any personal 
limitation. However, the general prohibition of discrimination does not provide a victim of 
alleged discrimination with a remedy; it merely involves a monitoring duty for authorities. 
The  Equality  Ombudsman  monitors  implementation  of  the  Act  on  Equality,  but  other 
authorities such as the Chancellor of Justice and the Parliamentary Ombudsman monitor 
legality in general. 

8.3.2  Definitions 

It is not  entirely clear  what the term ‘self-employed’ refers to under  Finnish legislation, 
and especially what the term ‘spouse of a self-employed person’ refers to. A person may 
establish an  enterprise, but the obligation to  register  only  exists if the  enterprise has a 
business  location  or  employs  persons  other  than  the  spouse  or  under-age  child  of  the 
entrepreneur.  No  documents  are  needed  to  establish  an  enterprise,  unless  the 
entrepreneur  wishes  to  run  it  in  a  company  form,  although  the  entrepreneur  is  still 
obligated to submit a tax declaration and follow any special regulations on his or her line 
of activity. There is no specific legislation on self-employed persons, who are considered 
entrepreneurs. The scope of the Employment Contracts Act is defined by a rather strict 
definition  of  employment  contract.  Agricultural  entrepreneurs  are  not  considered 
entrepreneurs, as there is specific legislation concerning the occupation. In general, the 
self-employed are not a specific category. Statistics Finland considers the self-employed 

55 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
to be persons who are not in employment and who have no employees, while they may 
have partners.87 For example, persons working on a scholarship are considered to be self-
employed entrepreneurs. 

8.3.3  Categorisation and coverage 

Entrepreneurs,  including  agricultural  entrepreneurs,  are  covered  by  social  security 
legislation, as well as the Act on Equality. Certain provisions, such as how the income is 
to be divided between spouses and a right to a replacement during family-related leave, 
only  cover  agricultural  entrepreneurs.  As  the  information  based  on  surveys  shows  (see 
8.1.1), there is no de jure categorisation between entrepreneurs and the self-employed, 
although  there  exist  considerable  de  facto  differences  in  the  circumstances  of  different 
types of entrepreneurs. 

8.3.4  Recognition of life partners 

Life partners88 are  considered family members,  and if they participate in their partner’s 
enterprise they are covered independently. There is no regulation as to how spouses or 
life partners who run an enterprise together are to divide the income from the enterprise 
between  themselves  for  purposes  of  the  entrepreneurs’  pension  scheme.  The  Act  on 
Agricultural Entrepreneurs’ Pensions (1280/2006) provides pensions similar to those in the 
Entrepreneurs’ Pension Act. An agricultural entrepreneur is defined under Section 3 as a 
person who alone or together with others runs an agricultural business on a minimum of 
five hectares of agricultural land, is a professional fisherman/fisherwoman without being 
in employment, runs reindeer husbandry, performs these activities as a family member of 
the  entrepreneur,  or  is  in  a  life  partnership  with  the  entrepreneur.  The  provisions  on 
agricultural  enterprises  in company  form are similar to those  for other enterprises, and 
the  annual  income  from  agriculture  is  calculated  per  hectare  of  land  or  forest  (or  the 
number of reindeer herders). Unlike in other entrepreneurs’ pension schemes, the income 
cannot be divided freely between the spouses or life partners for pension purposes. Under 
Section 18 of the Act, the agricultural income is to be shared so that one third is calculated 
for each spouse, and only one third may be divided between them as they agree. 

8.4  Material scope 

8.4.1  Implementation of Article 4 of Directive 2010/41/EU 

There is no explicit implementation of the principle of equal treatment concerning the self-
employed  in  Finland.  Becoming  a  private  entrepreneur  happens  by  filing  an  online 
notification  to  the  Trade  Register,  and  filing  notifications  with  the  Finnish  Tax 
Administration. The provisions on establishing or  launching an extension to activities as 
an entrepreneur are gender neutral. A new full-time entrepreneur may apply for a startup 
support grant from public employment and business services. The conditions for a grant 
are gender neutral, but there are no studies available on whether indirect discrimination 
occurs  when  the  conditions  are  applied.  A  person  who  wishes  to  finish  acting  as  self-
employed and become a jobseeker may find difficulties in showing that self-employment 
has come to an end. For example, persons working on a scholarship need to show a clear 
termination of the activity. While these difficulties have been discussed in public debate, 
there is no information on indirect sex discrimination being involved. The social insurance 
of  entrepreneurs  is  arranged  under  the  Entrepreneurs’  Pensions  Act  (1272/2006).  The 
provisions of the Act are gender neutral.  

87   Sutela, H. Pärnänen A. (2018) Yrittäjät Suomessa 2017 (Entrepreneurs in Finland 2017). Statistics Finland 
2018. http://www.stat.fi/tup/julkaisut/tiedostot/julkaisuluettelo/ytym_201700_2018_21465_net.pdf. 

88   Life partner in these provisions is a very open term referring to persons living together under circumstances 

that resemble marriage. 

56 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
8.4.2  Material scope 

The material scope of the Act on Equality is broad, as the Act is applied to all fields of life, 
excluding  the  religious  activities  of  religious  communities  and  personal  relations  within 
families. Members of Parliament and the President are not liable to give an explanation on 
their acts or pay compensation, as stipulated by the Act. The material scope of the Act is 
limited similarly to its personal scope by the lack of remedy for a person who has been 
discriminated  against.  Administrative  remedies  and  compensation  may  be  available  in 
these cases. 

8.5  Positive action 

The  Act  on  Equality  requires  many  positive  action  measures  for  the  employed,  but  no 
positive action measures are stipulated concerning the self-employed.  

8.6  Social protection 

Entrepreneurs and agricultural entrepreneurs  are  covered by statutory social insurance, 
as  explained  below,  under  8.8.  The  self-employed  person  has  access  to  statutory 
unemployment  services  and  benefits,  but  s/he  needs  to  show  that  activities  as  self-
employed have come to an end.  

8.7  Maternity benefits 

The  self-employed  are  covered  under  health  and  social  welfare  legislation,  including 
maternity benefits under the Sickness Insurance Act, Chapter 9, Sections 2 - 5. Maternity 
benefits, as well as  other family-related benefits, are defined under Chapter 9, and the 
level of benefits under Chapter 11 of the Sickness Insurance Act. The level of the benefit 
is related to an entrepreneur’s income during the previous year (Chapter 11, Section 2). 
The income brackets used as the basis of the benefit for the self-employed are the same 
as for the employed, as explained under section 5.3.5 of this report.  

8.8  Occupational social security 

8.8.1  Implementation of provisions regarding occupational social security 

The  self-employed  are  covered  by  occupational  security.  Statutory  social  insurance 
through  the  Entrepreneurs’  Pensions  Act  includes  old  age,  disability,  rehabilitation  and 
family  pensions.  Persons  working  on  a  scholarship  are  insured  under  Agricultural 
Entrepreneurs’  Pensions  Act  (1280/2006),  Section  8a.  An  entrepreneur  under  the 
Entrepreneurs’ Pensions Act is a person who is in gainful activity without being under an 
employment relation or in public office (Section 3). Income under EUR 5504 is excluded, 
as well as entrepreneurship of persons under 18 and over 68 years (Section 4). Because 
the  income  of  self-employed  persons  is  on  average  lower  than  that  of  persons  in 
employment,  their  social  security  benefits  are  lower.  Directive  2010/41  applies  to  self-
employed  workers.  Irrespective  of  the  interpretation  given  to  the  term  (employed  or 
entrepreneur),  Finnish  social  insurance  covers  the  self-employed,  either  as  employed 
persons, entrepreneurs or agricultural entrepreneurs. 

8.8.2  Application  of  exceptions  for  self-employed  persons  regarding  matters  of 

occupational social security (Article 11 of Recast Directive 2006/54) 

There are no further remarks. 

57 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
8.9  Prohibition of discrimination 

Section 7 of the Act on Equality, which defines and prohibits direct and indirect gender-
based  discrimination,  applies  to  gender-based  discrimination  of  self-employed  persons. 
The prohibition under Section 7 is not a justiciable provision, and a victim of discrimination 
has no right to compensation for violation of the Section. The prohibitions of discrimination 
in working life extends to the self-employed only in cases explained under 8.2.  

8.10 Evaluation of implementation 

Finnish law in some ways exceeds what is required under EU law. For example, family-
related leave with benefits are extended to the self-employed. On the other hand, Finnish 
legislation distinguishes problematically between an employee and a self-employed, which 
has an impact on the right to remedy.  

8.11 Remaining issues 

There are no further issues to discuss.  

58 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
9 

Goods and services (Directive 2004/113)89 

9.1  General (legal) context 

9.1.1  Surveys and reports about the difficulties linked to equal access to and supply of 

goods and services 

There  are  no  general  surveys  on  these  issues.  The  main  source  of  information  are  the 
reports by the Equality Ombudsman, which cover specific forms of alleged discrimination 
in the context of the supply of goods and services. Special offers and pricing to women 
and time slots reserved for women and men in swimming halls and saunas often induce 
questions to the Ombudsman. The Ombudsman has explained several times that different 
prices  for  men  and  women  at  hairdressers’  are  prohibited,  but  the  practice  of  separate 
prices lists is quite common. 

9.1.2  Specific  problems  of  discrimination 

in 

the  online  environment/digital 

market/collaborative economy 

The expansion of the collaborative economy has been noted in Finland, but so far, there 
are no legal responses to problems arising in that context. Problems of discrimination in 
the  online  environment  are  not  yet  reported,  except  for  online  gender-based  violence 
against  women.  There  are  currently  no  public  reports  of  problems  in  the  collaborative 
economy. 

9.1.3  Political and societal debate 

There are no further remarks. 

9.2  Prohibition of direct and indirect discrimination 

Section  8(e)  of  the  Act  on  Equality  defines  the  offering  of  goods  and  services  as 
discriminatory if it falls under the definition of discrimination (including direct and indirect 
discrimination) under Section 7 of the Act. 

9.3  Material scope 

The material scope of the provision mirrors the material scope of the Directive. 

9.4  Exceptions 

Section 8(e)(3) contains the exceptions provided for by Article 3(3) of the Directive. 

9.5  Justification of differences in treatment 

Section  8(e)(2)  allows  the  provision  of  goods  or  services  exclusively  or  primarily  to 
members of one sex if it is justified by a legitimate aim, and if the means of achieving that 
aim are appropriate and necessary. The Equality Ombudsman has considered that offers 
to one sex only are justified if their value in money is small; e.g., when special offers are 
made due to the yearly mothers’, fathers’, or women’s day celebrations. Some public baths 
and  swimming  halls  offer  some  time  slots  for  men  and  women  separately,  and  public 
saunas  are  offered  for  men  and  women  separately.  A  recent  opinion  of  the  Equality 
Ombudsman  concerns  an  island  on  which  an  enterprise  established  a  resort  for  women 
only  (SuperShe  Island),  with  the  aim  of  providing  business  women  a  possibility  of 
networking together. The Ombudsman found that the size of the island was small and the 

89   See e.g. Caracciolo di Torella, E. and McLellan, B. Gender equality and the collaborative economy (2018) 

European network of legal experts in gender equality and non-discrimination, available at 
https://www.equalitylaw.eu/downloads/4573-gender-equality-and-the-collaborative-economy-pdf-721-kb. 

59 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
premises such that it would be difficult to divide them for men and women. Provision of 
services  for  women  served  a  legitimate  aim,  and  offering  them  for  women  only  was 
appropriate  and  necessary  for  reasons  of  privacy  and  decency,  and  the  limited  space 
available.  Provision  of  services  to  women  only  on  the  island  did  not  breach  the  Act  on 
Equality.90  

9.6  Actuarial factors 

Section 10, Chapter 31 of the Act on Insurance Companies (521/2008) prohibits the use 
of  sex  as  an  actuarial  factor  in  the  calculation  of  premiums  and  benefits  in  consumer 
insurances.  Sex  may  be  used  as  an  actuarial  factor  in  other  types  of  insurance  policies 
than those marketed to consumers, and in that case, on the condition that sex is a factor 
that  affects  risk  calculation,  assessed  on  the  basis  of  actuarial  facts  and  statistics. 
Insurances not marketed to consumers involve, for example, tailored insurance offered to 
entrepreneurs against risks to property. 

9.7  Interpretation of exception contained in Article 5(2) of Directive 2004/113 

The provisions that allowed the use of sex as actuarial factor were repealed and the new 
provision described above adopted in 2012.  This means that the  exception is no longer 
relevant  concerning  consumer  insurances.  Employers  have  started  to  provide  pension 
schemes for some of their employees (typically for directors or high executives) that are 
not considered as consumer insurances, and as they are not statutory schemes, sex may 
then be used as actuarial factor. 

9.8  Positive action measures (Article 6 of Directive 2004/113) 

There are no positive action measures for provision of goods and services. 

9.9  Specific problems related to pregnancy, maternity or parenthood 

There are no specific problems related to pregnancy, maternity or parenthood.  

9.10 Evaluation of implementation 

EU  gender  equality  law  is  applied  correctly  at  the  level  of  legislation.  Differently  priced 
services at hairdressers remain common, but no effective measures have been taken to 
prevent the usage. It is the opinion of the writer that marketing goods and services in a 
gender-differentiated  manner  irritates  many,  but  that  there  is  little  in-depth  analysis  of 
whether  indirect  discrimination  may  occur,  as  there  are  few  studies  or  gender-impact 
assessments on the issue. 

9.11 Remaining issues 

There are no remaining issues. 

90   TAS 75/2018, 4.6.2018. 

60 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
10  Violence  against  women  and domestic violence  in  relation to  the Istanbul 

Convention 

10.1 General (legal) context 

10.1.1 Surveys and reports on issues of violence against women and domestic violence 

Surveys  and  statistics  on  violence  against  women  have  been  available  for  decades.  An 
important official attempt to gather information on the issue was made by the Council for 
Gender  Equality  in  1990,  which  established  a  committee  to  undertake  a  fact-finding 
mission on violence against women in Finland. Today, information is collected from crime 
statistics, national victim surveys and special studies on violence against women and men. 
These  sources  provide  information  on  different  aspects  of  violence  against  women. 
According  to  the  latest  survey  on  violence  against  women,  one  in  five  women  had 
experienced violence or the threat of violence by her present partner at some point of the 
relationship.91  The  results  of  an  EU-wide  survey  conducted  by  the  Fundamental  Rights 
Agency revealed that in Finland, the percentage of women that had experienced physical 
and/or sexual violence was among the highest in the EU.92  

10.1.2 Overview of national acts on violence against women, domestic violence and issues 

related to the Istanbul Convention 

Finnish legislation on violence, including both criminal law and victim services, is strictly 
gender neutral. In the Criminal Code (39/1889), for example, several provisions in Chapter 
20  on  sexual  crimes,  Chapter  21  on  crimes  against  life  and  health,  and  Chapter  25  on 
crimes against freedom have been amended. Earlier amendments of Chapter 20 involved 
a gender-neutral definition of rape. In the past ten years, most sexual crimes have been 
brought  under  public  prosecution,  physical  harassment  has  been  criminalised,  and  the 
definitions of several sexual crimes have been changed. So far, the definition of rape is 
based  on  force  and  not  lack  of  consent.  There  is  a  citizens’  initiative  pending  for  an 
amendment  of  the  provision  on  rape  to  be  based  on  lack  on  consent.  Physical  sexual 
harassment was criminalised in 2014. As to crimes against life and death (Chapter 21), 
the  crime  of  petty  assault  against  the  offender’s  spouse,  former  spouse  or  partner  was 
brought under public prosecution in 2011. Until then, the prosecutor could not act unless 
the  victim  required  the  perpetrator  to  be  punished.  Stalking  was  criminalised  under 
Chapter 25 of the Criminal Code in 2013. Amendments were made over several years. The 
Act on Protection Orders (898/1998) was adopted in 1998, and the State provides funding 
for shelters for victims of violence in intimate relations under the Act on State Subsidies 
for Providers of Shelters (1354/2014). In April 2019, the Ministry of Justice announced a 
reform of Chapter 20 of the Criminal Code on sexual crimes. The preparatory works should 
be ready by the end of May 2020.  

The first GREVIO report on Finland93 noted a number of issues for improvement. The report 
found  that  key  professionals  are  not  systematically  trained  to  tackle  cases  of  violence 
against  women.  The  report  also  criticised  the  implementation  of  the  Act  on  restraining 
orders, the failure to secure the position of children who have experienced or witnessed 
violence  in  custody  issues,  the  lack  of  resources  for  victim  services,  as  well  as  making 
several  other  observations.  It  was  noted  that  the  gender-neutral  approach  followed  in 

91   Sukupuolistuneen väkivallan yleisyys Suomessa (Prevalence of gender based violence in Finland), Centre 

for Gender Equality Information, National Institute for Health and Welfare, 
https://thl.fi/fi/web/sukupuolten-tasa-arvo/hyvinvointi/sukupuolistunut-vakivalta/sukupuolistuneen-
vakivallan-yleisyys-suomessa. 

92   Violence against women: an EU-wide survey, European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, 

https://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra-2014-vaw-survey-factsheet_en.pdf. 

93   Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO) (2019) 

Baseline Evaluation Report Finland, Grevio/Inf(2019)9, https://rm.coe.int/grevio-report-on-
finland/168097129d. 

61 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Finland does not always do justice to the particular experiences of women as victims of 
domestic violence. 

10.1.3 National provisions on online violence and online harassment 

Violation of peace of communication was criminalized in 2013 by Chapter 24, Section 1(a) 
of  the  Criminal  Code.  The  crime  consists  of  harassing  another  person  by  repeatedly 
sending  messages  that  cause  disturbance  or  harm.  However,  the  provision  does  not 
explicitly cover all forms of violence and harassment online, but may be applied to online 
sexual  harassment.  Stalking  (Chapter  25,  Section  7(a))  covers  repeatedly  threatening, 
observing,  contacting  and  otherwise  stalking  a  person,  and  thus  some  forms  of  online 
harassment.  

10.1.4 Political and societal debate 

Societal debate on the legal sanctions for sexual crimes has been active for a long time, 
and  the  sanctions  on  sexual  crimes  have  been  considered  unduly  lenient  in  the  public 
debate.  The  Ministry  of  Justice  announced  in  January  2019  that  it  aims  to  establish  a 
working group to amend the provisions on rape. The aim of the amendment  is to make 
lack of consent more central in the definition of the crime, but also to amend provisions 
on  sexual  intercourse  with  a  minor.94  That  consent  should  be  the  decisive  factor  in  the 
definition of rape under the Istanbul Convention was one of the factors behind the decision 
to start the reform, but media attention on crimes committed by persons with a refugee 
status strengthened the political motivation. A citizens initiative on adopting consent as 
the decisive criterion of rape was presented to the Parliament in 2018, and delegated to 
the Legal Affairs Committee in 2019. 

10.2 Ratification of the Istanbul Convention 

Finland has ratified the  Istanbul Convention, which came into force 1 August 2015. The 
Penal Code was amended before the ratification (introducing stalking and physical sexual 
harassment as crimes), and an Act on compensation for shelter providers from state funds 
was introduced at ratification. This latter Act was introduced to provide compensation for 
the municipalities and (a few) private providers of shelters. When Parliament accepted the 
Government  Bill  on  ratification  (HE  155/2014)  in  2014,  it  requested  that  the  shelter 
provision be improved, that special services to victims are provided, and that the NGOs 
that  are  active  in  the  area  receive  appropriate  funding  (Response  of  Parliament 
EV 307/2014 vp – HE 155/2014 vp). There was notable expert criticism on the failure of 
Finnish  law  to  fulfil  the  substantive  law  requirements  of  the  Convention;  Parliament’s 
Employment and Equality Committee noted this criticism and called for follow-up measures 
(Report  of  the  Committee  TyVM 15/2014  vp).  The  Ministry  of  Social  Affairs  and  Health 
coordinates  the  implementation  across  all  ministries  involved,  and  has  nominated  a 
committee to draft an action plan on the implementation of the Convention for years 2018-
2020. The plan stresses coordination, victim protection, and services.95  

94   Oikeusministeriö käynnistää raiskauslainsäädännön uudistuksen (Ministry of Justice starts amendment of 

legislation on crime), Ministry of Justice 15 January 2019, https://oikeusministerio.fi/artikkeli/-
/asset_publisher/ministeri-hakkanen-oikeusministerio-kaynnistaa-raiskauslainsaadannon-
kokonaisuudistuksen. 

95   Istanbulin sopimuksen toimeenpanosuunnitelma 2018-2020 (Action Plan for Implementation of the Istanbul 

Convention 2018-2020), Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, publications 2017:16, 
http://julkaisut.valtioneuvosto.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/160401/16_2017_Istanbulin%20sopimuksen%20
tps%202018-21_suomi.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y. 

62 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
11  Compliance  and  enforcement  aspects  (horizontal  provisions  of  all 

directives)  

11.1 General (legal) context 

11.1.1 Surveys  and  reports  about  the  particular  difficulties  related  to  obtaining  legal 

redress 

There are no surveys or reports concerning legal redress. 

11.1.2 Other issues related to the pursuit of a discrimination claim 

Finnish procedural law does not allow amicus curiae briefs or give an independent position 
to social actors. There is very limited access to low threshold bodies as an alternative to 
court procedures. This is true of the remedies available under the Act on Equality, which 
only allows access to the Equality and Non-Discrimination Tribunal for a person alleging 
discrimination if the Equality Ombudsman or a Social Partner brings the case before the 
Tribunal. Finnish procedural law does not give specific standing to interest groups in legal 
cases. Such groups may, of course, subsidise or assist a complainant, but they have no 
formal role.  

11.1.3 Political and societal debate and pending legislative proposals 

There is currently no political and societal debate or pending legislative proposals on this 
issue.  

11.2 Victimisation 

The  provisions  on  victimisation  are  implemented  by  the  Act  on  Equality.  Under  Section 
8(a)(1),  it  is  discriminatory  if  an  employer  dismisses  an  employee  or  disadvantages  an 
employee  in  some  other  manner  when  the  employee  has  referred  to  the  rights  and 
obligations  under  the  Act  on  Equality,  or  has  been  party  to  handling  a  case  of 
discrimination. Under Section 8(a)(2), it is discriminatory if a provider of goods or services 
disadvantages a person after that person has referred to the rights and obligations under 
the Act on Equality, or participated in handling a case of discrimination.  

11.3 Access to courts 

11.3.1 Difficulties and barriers related to access to courts 

Although victims of discrimination have access to court, the high costs prevent this from 
being realised, and there is a risk that the losing party has to pay the costs of the other 
party. The evidence required to prove discrimination is often difficult to obtain. 

11.3.2 Availability of legal aid 

The Equality Ombudsman provides opinions and advice to alleged victims of discrimination 
under Section 19 of the Act on Equality. The Ombudsman has a mandate to assist a victim 
in court, but the mandate has not yet been used. Legal aid is provided by public legal aid 
offices for persons with low income, and the right to free trials is income-related and not 
available for persons with a higher income.  

63 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
11.4 Horizontal effect of the applicable law 

11.4.1 Horizontal effect of relevant gender equality law 

The horizontal effect of EU gender equality law is recognised by courts which frequently 
refer to EU law in cases involving private parties. For example, in KKO:2017:25, a case on 
an  employee’s  right  to  start  a  new  period  of  paid  maternity  leave  directly,  without 
returning to work from childcare leave, was decided in all instances with arguments that 
referred  to  EU  gender  equality  law.  The  Court  of  Appeals  referred  to  national  law  and 
extensively  to  EU  case  law.  A  condition  of  the  collective  agreement  required  that  pay 
during maternity leave required six months’ work between two periods of leave. Also, the 
Labour Court has referred to EU law, for example, in several cases concerning pay during 
maternity leave.  

11.4.2 Impact of horizontal direct effects of the charter after Bauer 

There have been no cases where the direct effect of Articles 20 and 23 of the Charter of 
Fundamental Rights would have been considered. The courts may not deem it necessary 
to  look  at  the  direct  effects  of  equality  provisions  in  the  Charter,  as  the  national 
constitutional provisions, eqality before the law and the duty to promote gender equality, 
guaranteed under Section 6 of the Finnish Constitution, have an important horizontal effect 
in Finnish case law.  

11.5 Burden of proof 

Section 9(a) of the Act on Equality stipulates that if the alleged victim of sex discrimination 
shows in a court (or before an authority) facts on the basis of which it may be assumed 
that discrimination has taken place, the respondent has to show that no wrongdoing has 
occurred and that the treatment was caused by an acceptable ground, other than sex. This 
provision on the burden of proof is not applied in criminal-law matters.  

Under Section 10, the employer has a duty to explain his/her acts to a person who alleges 
to have been discriminated against in employment or access to employment.  Regarding 
access to employment, the employer is to provide information on the grounds of selection 
to the post, the education, work and other experience of the selected person and other 
grounds that have had an impact on that person being selected. Access to proof is more 
difficult in cases of pay discrimination, where the necessary information on comparator’s 
pay  needs  to  be  received  with  the  help  of  an  employee  representative  or  the  Equality 
Ombudsman. The alleged victim has no independent right to receive the information. In 
practice, the right to receive comparator’s pay information has not been used at all.96 The 
lack  of  information  makes  it  difficult  to  present  sufficient  evidence  of  discrimination  to 
reverse the burden of proof. 

11.6 Remedies and sanctions  

11.6.1 Types of remedies and sanctions 

The remedies under the Act on Equality include the right to compensation through a court 
within two years after the violation has taken place (Section 12 of the Act). Compensation 
is available for violations of Section 8 and 8(a)-(d), which cover discrimination in working 
life, in educational institutions, in labour-market organisations, and in the provision of and 
access  to  goods  and  services.  The  compensation  under  the  Act  on  Equality  does  not 
exclude compensation under the Act  on Torts  or labour legislation, nor does it preclude 
the victim’s right to use administrative-law remedies. A municipal decision to employ an 
official  may be reversed, if the decision is  found to violate the Act on Equality, and the 

96   This concerns the right to receive information by asking for it via the Ombudsman. There are other routes 

to receiving pay information, especially in the public sector where pay information is largely public. 

64 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
person discriminated against may thus be reinstated. Discrimination is criminalised under 
Chapter 11 Section 11 of the Criminal Code. The scope of the provision covers market and 
occupational activities, services to the public, activities of the authorities and other public 
activities  and  in  arrangements  of  a  public  occasion  or  general  meeting.  The  prohibited 
grounds cover sex and family relations. Under Chapter 47 on work-related crimes, Section 
3  criminalises  work  discrimination,  and  Section  3(a)  criminalises  extortionate  work 
discrimination.  Under  the  Criminal  Code,  the  act  must  be  intentional  and  the  burden  of 
proof lies with the prosecutor or claimant. 

11.6.2 Effectiveness, proportionality and dissuasiveness 

The compensation under the Act on Equality is appropriate in the sense that there is no 
upper  limit,  except  for  cases  where  several  applicants  to  a  post  have  suffered 
discrimination. It is problematic, however, that under Section 11 the compensation may 
be  reduced  or  removed  altogether,  if  considered  reasonable  when  considering  the 
economic  circumstances  of  the  violator,  his  or  her  attempts  to  prevent  harmful  effects 
caused  by  the  act,  or  other  circumstances.  These  grounds  are  not  in  line  with  the 
requirements of effectiveness, proportionality, and dissuasiveness of compensation. It is 
possible  to  be  compensated  through  criminal  law  or  on  a  tort-law  basis,  although  the 
corresponding rules on the burden of proof and the intention requirements are different 
from those under the Act on Equality.  

11.7 Equality body 

The equality bodies include the Equality Ombudsman,97 who monitors the Act on Equality 
and sex discrimination, and the Non-Discrimination and Equality Tribunal.98 The Tribunal, 
merges the functions of the former Gender Equality Board and the Discrimination Tribunal 
and monitors the Act on Equality between Women and Men and the Non-Discrimination 
Act, the latter of which covers all grounds of discrimination except sex/gender. 

The tasks of the Equality Ombudsman are to advise, monitor, and decide on cases to be 
brought  to  the  Non-Discrimination  and  Equality  Board.  An  amendment  to  the  Act  on 
Equality  in  2016  provided  the  Ombudsman  with  the  mandate  to  conciliate  parties  to  a 
discrimination case (in practice, the Ombudsman had often attempted to help parties to 
reach an agreement  even before the amendment was made). The Ombudsman has the 
right to visit workplaces, educational institutions, labour-market organisations and service 
providers  in  order  to  monitor  the  Act  on  Equality.  The  Non-Discrimination  and  Equality 
Board may decide discrimination cases brought to the Board by the Ombudsman or by the 
social  partners.  Victims  of  gender  discrimination  may  not  bring  a  case  to  the  Board 
themselves.  An  amendment  of  the  Act  on  Equality  in  2016  gives  parties  in  a  case  of 
discrimination  that  have  reached  an  agreement  the  right  to  have  that  agreement 
confirmed by the Non-Discrimination and Equality Board. 

11.8 Social partners  

The social partners have the right to bring cases of sex discrimination (but not other cases 
of discrimination) to the Non-Discrimination and Equality Board. The social partners are 
influential in proposing and drafting legislation in all issues of working life, including gender 
equality law. The collective agreements have a strong impact on work conditions and pay, 
and traditionally the social partners jointly discuss gender equality issues. 

11.9 Other relevant bodies 

There are no other relevant bodies to discuss.  

97   https://www.tasa-arvo.fi/fi/etusivu. 
98   http://yvtltk.fi/en/index.html. 

65 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
11.10 Evaluation of implementation 

The implementation is formally sufficient, although access to justice is not facilitated by 
quasi-legal  bodies  or  simplified  procedures.  The  number  of  court  cases  on  gender 
discrimination is low, which partly reflects lack of access. 

11.11 Remaining issues 

There are no remaining issues to report. 

66 

 
 
 
 
 
12  Overall assessment  

EU  law  has  generally  been  implemented  correctly.  However,  access  to  remedies  and 
legislation  on  compensation  are  not  de  facto  satisfactory,  even  where  there  is  no 
infringement  of  the  formal  aspects  of  EU  law.  The  strongest  national  gender  equality 
provisions are those involving positive measures and an access to social security, both of 
which exceed the requirements of EU law. 

The following specific transposition problems are mentioned in this report: 

1. 

2. 

3. 

The  complicated  structure  of  the  prohibitions  of  discrimination  under  the  Act  on 
Equality (separate sections: general prohibition and definition of discrimination under 
Section 7, and specific prohibitions for different areas of life under other sections) 
may make interpretation difficult. 
Access to justice is not sufficiently facilitated, as victims of discrimination have no 
independent right to bring cases to the Non-Discrimination and Equality Board. The 
only  option  is  the  ordinary  court,  which  in  most  cases  involves  a  considerable 
economic risk.  
The  gender  pay  gap  is  relatively  big  and  prohibition  of  pay  discrimination  has  not 
been an effective tool for reducing the gap.  

67 

 
 
 
 
 
Bibliography 

Ahtela, K., Bruun, N., Koskinen, P.K. (2006) Tasa-arvo ja yhdenvertaisuus Talentum. 

Anttila, O. (2013) Kohti tosiasiallista tasa-arvoa? Sukupuolisyrjinnän kiellot oikeudellisen 
pluralismin aikana Suomalainen lakimiesyhdistys. 

Anttila, O. (2008) Sukupuolisyrjinnän kiellosta Suomen ja EU:n oikeudessa. Edilex. 

Nummijärvi, A. (2004) Palkkasyrjintä: Oikeudellinen tutkimus 
samapalkkaisuuslainsäädännön sisällöstä ja toimivuudesta Edita. 

Nieminen, K. (2005) Tasa-arvolaki työsuhteessa WSOY. 

68 

 
 
 
 
 
GETTING IN TOUCH WITH THE EU 

In person 

All over the European Union there are hundreds of Europe Direct information centres. 
You can find the address of the centre nearest you at:  
https://europa.eu/european-union/contact_en.  

On the phone or by email 

Europe Direct is a service that answers your questions about the European Union.  
You can contact this service: – by freephone: 
00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 (certain operators may charge for these calls), –  
at the following standard number: +32 22999696, or – by email via: 
https://europa.eu/european-union/contact_en. 

FINDING INFORMATION ABOUT THE EU 

Online 

Information about the European Union in all the official languages of the EU is available 
on the Europa website at: https://europa.eu/european- union/index_en.  

EU publications 

You can download or order free and priced EU publications from: 
https://publications.europa.eu/en/publications . Multiple copies of free publications may 
be obtained by contacting Europe Direct or your local information centre  
(see https://europa. eu/european-union/contact_en). 

EU law and related documents 

For access to legal information from the EU, including all EU law since 1952 in all the 
official language versions, go to EUR-Lex at: http://eur- lex.europa.eu. 

Open data from the EU 

The EU Open Data Portal (http://data.europa.eu/euodp/en) provides access to datasets 
from the EU. Data can be downloaded and reused for free, for both commercial and non-
commercial purposes. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

PDF  

ISBN: 978-92-76-18963-3 doi: 10.2838/477417