New law restricts employer's right to drug testing, CCTV monitoring and access to employee e-mail

Lawyer Timo Koskinen, SAK:

At the beginning of October a new law will take effect in Finland restricting the right of employers to require narcotics testing of job applicants and employees, to arrange CCTV monitoring in the workplace, and to read the work-related e-mail of employees.

Under the new law, the ground rules governing narcotics testing, CCTV monitoring and the right to access e-mail will always have to be agreed between the employer and the employees through a codetermination procedure.

Finland's revised Act on Protection of Privacy at Work is progressive by European standards. No other European Union country has introduced legislative provisions governing such matters as narcotics testing of employees. Finland's new legislation has already been cited in support of a data protection Directive that is currently being prepared by the European Union.

According to Timo Koskinen, a lawyer at the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions &#;8211 SAK, the most significant aspect of the new law is that it requires the parties at the workplace to agree on the ground rules together, thereby reinforcing the rights of employees. For example, narcotics testing and CCTV monitoring of employees has increased rapidly in Finland in recent years, even though there are no statutory provisions in this area.

- Workplace practises will now have to be reassessed and revised if they fail to comply with the new law. Spot checks of employees for narcotics use will have to end, for example, Koskinen says, and he stresses that employers will be fined for failing to comply with the new statute.

Under the new Act, an employer may request a narcotics test certificate from a job applicant only after the applicant has already been selected for the job. Collective screening of job applicants will be banned.

Established employees will be required to provide narcotics test certificates only when there is reasonable cause to suspect that the employee is under the influence of narcotics at work, or if the employer has probable cause to suspect that the employee is addicted to narcotics.

Principle of confidentiality of e-mail

The right of an employer to access the work-related e-mail of an employee will be restricted in several ways under the new law, including specifications as to the person who may exercise the right of access, and to the type of work-related situations in which this may be done. According to Timo Koskinen, the new statute seeks to provide a procedure to follow when an employee is unwilling to allow access to urgent work-related e-mail messages.

- Even previously it was possible to read essential messages belonging to the employer with the employee's consent. The easiest way to avoid problems is for employees to re-route their incoming messages to a colleague during their absence. However, the ground rules must be agreed through a codetermination procedure between the employer and the employees, Koskinen stresses.

CCTV monitoring will continue to be permitted at workplaces where this is essential for the safety of the employee or to prevent criminal offences relating to property.

- CCTV may not be used to monitor employees, for example in employee washrooms, nor may cameras be installed in workrooms intended for the personal use of employees, Koskinen explains.