I have started my employment with Checkfin in June 2024 and I’m writing this blog post during my orientation period. One part of the orientation is how to act as a representative of posted workers, so I was given the task of getting to know what is meant by a representative of posted workers and why one is needed. I also clarified the responsibilities between different operators and in this blog post I will explain who is, for example, responsible for possible penalty consequences.
Who must appoint the representative of the posted workers?
Each company that operates and conducts significant business in a country other than Finland and sends its employees temporarily to Finland for fixed-term work, needs a posted worker representative to its employees. The obligation is determined by the law Act on posting of employees (447/2016). The goal of the law is to guarantee posted workers equal status compared to Finnish workers. A representative is not needed for short-term postings, but if the duration of the work exceeds ten days, a representative must be appointed. When calculating work durations, it must be noted that the calculation rule is company-specific, not employee-specific. The time period takes into account periods of work in Finland within the last four months for all posted employees.
Who can act as a representative of the posted workers?
A natural or a legal person can act as posted worker representative. A foreigner who can be reached in Finland can also act as a representative, so the representative does not have to be a Finnish citizen or the representative company does not have to be a Finnish company. The most important thing is that the representative must be accessible to both the represented and the authorities in Finland throughout the duration of the workers’ posting.
Duties of the posted worker’s representative
The most important task of the representative of the posted workers is to act as a ‘channel’ between the posting company and the authorities, so the representative must have the right to forward necessary documents to the authorities as well as the eligibility to receive official documents on behalf of the company. In practice, the representative is authorized to act on behalf of the company.
However, the representative has no employer responsibilities.
The posting company must inform the regional administrative authority, before the start of work, who has been appointed as the representative of the posted workers. Contact information (name, phone number, e-mail and address in Finland) must be completed on the electronic notification form. The name of the electronic form is Notification of posting of workers. It is important to remember that if there are changes to the information, the changed information must also be immediately reported to the authority by using the same form.
Division of responsibilities
Appointing a representative is the responsibility of the posting company, but the customer must also require, when concluding the contract, that a representative is appointed if the duration of the employees’ posting to Finland exceeds 10 days.
With the amendments to the law on the posting of workers that entered into force on 1 May 2024, a provision on the prohibition of countermeasures was added to the law. In this way, the aim is to secure the employee’s rights according to the law, without fear of countermeasures, if they start legal or administrative procedures to claim their rights. With the change in the law, the representative no longer has to represent the posting company in court.
It should be noted that if the posting company does not appoint a representative of the posted workers, there will be a negligence fee of 1,000 to 10,000 euros as a result. The penalty applies to the company that sends its employees to Finland and the customer is not obliged to pay the negligence fee. However, it is important to note that the customer faces, for example, the risk of reputation damage if a representative has not been appointed.
Lastly
The requirement to appoint a representative of the posted workers is just one of the many obligations that apply to foreign companies operating in Finland. The foreign company and customer company must be aware of the obligations and comply with them when operating in Finland. If wading through the legal text seems too heavy, you can find more clearly expressed information on the website of the Regional State Administrative Agency. Checkfin also offers a representative service for posted workers and can act as a representative of a foreign company if necessary. If a foreign company wants to act as a representative themself, but wants to know more about the duties and tasks of the representative, or the customer wants to be sure that things are handled as they should be, we consult and train on the subject.
After learning about representing posted workers, the representative’s duties were not as extensive as I initially thought. It is certainly possible for a foreign company to survive them. Next, I’m going to learn about employee-specific reports, which the representative must have available for the entire duration of the assignment. So there is a lot to explore, but learning is wonderful!
