Before You Pack Your Holiday Bags: Do You Have These Essential Employment Law Updates Under Control?

Authors: Anna Nyberg and Ina Seppänen Read time: 5 min

The past year has been eventful on the labour market: collective bargaining agreement negotiations, various proposed and accepted legislative amendments, significant court rulings… The list goes on. Does the information flow feel overwhelming? Don’t worry – we’ve got you! Here is a list of a few things you might still need to take care of before going on holiday, or that you may need to be prepared for when you get back to work in the autumn.  

1. New requirements regarding the equality plan

Employers who employ at least 30 persons must have an equality plan for necessary measures to promote equality at the workplace. Going forward, it is not sufficient to include merely measures necessary to promote equality, but employers are also required to include the conclusions of their equality assessment and an explanation of how the conclusion has been reached. The conclusion should identify the necessary measures to promote equality at the workplace, as well as any potential challenges in the realisation of equality. While the legislative amendment entered into force already two years ago, the applicable two-year transition period ended now at the beginning of June 2025. Thus, if your organisation employs at least 30 employees and you have not yet updated your equality plan, you should do so straight away to ensure compliance.

2. Accepted legislative amendments regarding change negotiations and other co-operation within undertakings

Changes to the Co-operation Act will enter into force on 1 July 2025. As of then, the said Act will, as a main rule, apply to organisations that regularly employ at least 50 people (currently, the said Act applies to organisations that regularly employ at least 20 employees). Further, the minimum duration of change negotiations will be reduced to three weeks or seven days, depending on, for example, the number of employees affected by the employer’s plans, the matters to be handled in the negotiations, and the number of employees employed by the organisation (the current minimum duration is six weeks or 14 days, depending on the situation). Note that although the Co-operation Act, as a main rule, will apply to organisations with at least 50 employees, certain regulations will also apply to organisations with 20-49 employees. Thus, it is a good idea to already now check what kind of obligations your organisation will be subject to going forward, if any, considering the number of employees in your organisation.

3. Implementation of the Pay Transparency Directive

The national implementation of the Pay Transparency Directive is in progress: a draft government proposal was published in May 2025, and the government proposal is planned to be submitted to the Parliament in autumn 2025. The EU directive, and thereby the future national legislation, is intended to ensure pay transparency, applicants’ and employees’ rights to certain information on salary, and employers’ reporting obligations, among other things. Technically, the EU directive will mainly be implemented by some amendments to existing Finnish legislation, such as the Act on Equality between Women and Men. The legislative amendments are intended to enter into force on 18 May 2026. It might be a good idea to assess any needed preparations as soon as you get back from your holiday, if you have not done so yet.

4. Proposed amendments to the Employment Contracts Act

When you return from your holiday, you might want to keep an eye on proposed legislative amendments regarding fixed-term employment agreements, lay-off notices, and re-employment obligations. The draft government proposal was published in June 2025, and the actual government proposal is expected to be submitted to the Parliament in early autumn 2025. If accepted as proposed, it would as of 1 January 2026 be possible to under certain circumstances conclude fixed-term employment agreements without a justified reason (for example, provided that the fixed-term is a maximum of one year and that the employee has not been employed by the same employer during the past five years). Further, the statutory lay-off notice period is proposed to be reduced from 14 days to seven days (there would be exceptions to this length, though). Also, the employer’s statutory re-employment obligation regarding employees, who have been made redundant, is proposed to be removed from organisations with less than 50 employees. In addition to the above, you may also want to keep an eye on another proposed legislative amendment regarding dismissal rules. Currently, proper and weighty reasons are required for an employer to terminate an employment, but according to a draft government proposal, employments could in the future be terminated with merely proper reasons. Also a few other related amendments are proposed. If the amendments are accepted as proposed, they would enter into force on 1 January 2026.

So, this was a short summary of some legislative amendments that may impact your business going forward (there are other ones in progress, as well). Before taking any actions, it is naturally important to first check any collective bargaining agreement that may apply to you, as collective bargaining agreements may include derogating regulation on some of the above-described matters. We are happy to assist you in any types of employment-related questions you may have. You can turn to us anytime during the summer, or when you return from your summer holiday.

Wishing you a nice summer,

Hannes Snellman’s Employment Team