Gender equality and non-discrimination at work

The status of irregular workers must be improved

Compulsory self-employment, successive temporary employment contracts and involuntary part-time work are all approaches that enable employers to cut labour costs and circumvent their legal obligations. Various casual jobs impose uncertainty and financial pressures on employees.

Achieving the objective

• The conditions for using temporary labour must be tightened by specifying the need for permanent labour more clearly.
• Criteria for using employer-initiated part-time work must be prescribed by law, as is already the case when using temporary employment contracts.
• The Annual Holidays Act should be reformed to ensure that employees earn 2.5 days of holiday per working month, even when working on short employment contracts. A directly enforceable right to annual holiday must be prescribed for casual workers.
• Work to prepare and implement national and EU legislation to prevent the misclassification of employment and self-employment (i.e. misrepresenting employment as self-employment) should be promoted.
• The competence of the Labour Council must be enlarged to include demarcation of the scope of the Employment Contracts Act, the temporary character of employment and variable working time, and the establishment of working time by custom and practice. This will give employees access to justice at a lower threshold and more swiftly.
• The genuinely self-employed must be guaranteed the right to bargain and improve the terms and conditions of their work collectively.

Why is this objective important?

Even though more than 80 per cent of employees still have a regular job, temporary and part-time employment has been rising steadily. The lack of permanent employment is most noticeable among workers aged between 25 and 34 years, and among women.
The Employment Contracts Act normalises permanent full-time employment, regarding temporary and part-time work as exceptional. Employees may not be disadvantaged due solely to duration of employment or length of service. These principles must be strengthened.

For example, temporary contracts are often used unlawfully because the law is open to interpretation. Many part-time workers do not secure the desired number of working hours, and are therefore really part-time unemployed. The financial risk arising from fluctuating demand is often passed on to casual workers.

There is no justification for earning less annual holiday when employment lasts for less than one year. Casual workers must also be entitled to a paid holiday in the same way as other workers.

For example, camouflaging of employment in the form of various assignments and partnerships has increased, with technological progress and platform work further accelerating this trend. A low-threshold legal remedy is needed for demarcation of employment and self-employment in unclear cases.

The status of victims of discrimination must be improved

Equality is a fundamental right. The Non-Discrimination Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of age, origin, citizenship, language, religion, conviction, political opinion, trade union activity, family relations, health, disability, sexual orientation or other personal characteristics. Discrimination nevertheless remains an everyday experience for many, with no access to justice for victims.

Achieving the objective

• Enforcement must be enhanced, with easier access to justice for victims of discrimination.
• The competence of the National Non-Discrimination and Equality Tribunal must be enlarged to include the world of work.
• Non-discrimination advocacy organisations must be empowered to represent one or more victims before the Tribunal without naming the victim. The Tribunal must also be empowered to order compensation for a victim.

Why is this objective important?

Victims of discrimination are often unable or lack the courage to defend their rights. Enforcement of rights is costly and takes years. Low-threshold methods of swift and inexpensive access to justice are required for victims of discrimination.

A reform of the child home care allowance system is needed, and the quality and availability of early childhood education services must be ensured

There is still a great deal of room for improvement in making the world of work more family-friendly. Work, family and equality can be harmonised in the world of work through more flexible support for home care, and by ensuring that high-quality early childhood education services are available.

Achieving the objective

• Support for home care must be reformed in the following ways to realise greater equality and flexibility:
  1. Benefit to be shared between parents as a general rule.
  2. A higher level of benefit 6 months, with access to a period of 12 months at half rate also available.
  3. Benefit also to be available in shorter periods, such as until the child’s third birthday.
  4. Abolition of the sibling increase in home care allowance.
  5. Increasing the flexible and partial care allowance to facilitate harmonisation of work and family.
• Charges for early childhood education services should be gradually eliminated, with service availability also ensured through such instruments as national guidelines for families in which the parents work at varying times.
• Staff shortages in early childhood education should be prevented by providing more flexible training paths, modifying qualification requirements and redimensioning staffing

Why are these objectives important?

The vast majority (92 per cent) of home care support users are women. Prolonged home care support affects the status of women in the labour market, as well as their pay and pension accrual. The family leave reform that took effect in August 2022 seeks a more even division of family leave between parents, so a reform of home care support in accordance with this objective would also be a natural step.

Early childhood education boosts the linguistic and cognitive development of children. Abolishing the sibling increase in home care support would support the participation of older siblings in early childhood education.
Increasing the flexible and partial care allowance would make it easier for a growing number of parents to harmonise work and family when their child is under 3 years old, and during the earliest years of schooling.
The rate of participation in early childhood education is low in Finland compared to other Nordic countries. Obstacles to such participation must be cleared, because early childhood education supports families, fosters equality, and ensures equal opportunities for children to develop and enjoy support.

Providing early childhood education free of charge would ensure that participation does not depend on family wealth. Shift care should in turn ensure that caregivers are able to combine childcare with various life situations and working hours. Regional disparities in round-the-clock care can be reduced and the local service principle implemented by establishing national guidelines for municipalities on how to arrange services.

To avoid a critical staff shortage in early childhood education, a tripartite task force must be appointed to study the causes of the current situation and seek a range of solutions.

The number and availability of staff, decent working conditions and the skills of employees are vital factors for ensuring high-standard early childhood education services. Flexible training paths must be provided in particular for childcare workers in early childhood education, or the qualification requirements under the new Act on Early Childhood Education and Care must be modified to ensure adequate staffing levels.

Staffing must also be redimensioned to ensure that a nursery school has one teacher and two childminders for each group of children. The current Act requires a structure of two teachers and one childminder by 1 January 2030.