What can you do?

• You can sell the wild berries you pick to who you want.
• You can decide how, where and when you pick berries. 
• You can choose where you live and how you get your food.
• You can decide when to enter the country and when to leave the country. 

What is not allowed?

• You are not allowed to do any other paid work in Finland, if you have not received a work permit from the authorities.
• You cannot walk in the yards, near houses or in the fields without the owner's permission. You must not drop litter or make a fire without the landowner's permission. The berry company will tell you more about what is allowed in the forest. 

Also remember:

• You must be treated in accordance with the law. Read the section ”2. Obligations of the berry company”.
• You do not have to pay taxes on the sale of berries.

The berry company must teach you:

• How to pick the berries 
• How to move and behave in the forest 
• Everyman's Rights, i.e. what is allowed in nature
• What equipment and clothing you need 
• The legal relationship between you and the berry company, i.e. what obligations you have towards each other
• Berry picker's rights and obligations in Finland
• Where to get advice and help 
• Other matters that are important for berry picking

The berry company also has obligations:

• The company must tell you where to find as many berries as possible.
• The company must ensure that you can check at any time how much money you have earned. The company must tell you the price of the berries and the costs it will charge you.
• The company must provide you with healthy and safe accommodation. 
• The company must provide you with appropriate food services. 
• The company must ensure that you (berry pickers) have a safe and functional car, with which you can reach the picking site and transport the berries. 
• The company must provide you with the equipment and gear you need, to pick the berries.
• If necessary, you have the right to request help from the Finnish authorities. The company must keep the contact details of the authorities visible.
• The company must inform the authorities in advance, where the pickers accommodate and sell the picked berries to the company.

The berry company must tell you how much it will pay you for wild berries. It must also tell you what you have to pay for yourself and how much. Then you can estimate how much money will be left for you from the berries you collect.

If the company invites you to Finland, it must explain the prices and costs before you arrive in Finland.

Make sure you always know how much money you have earned. The berry company must give you this information.

The company must pay for the berries before you leave Finland.

The berry company or its partner may request payment from you for:

• Accommodation
• Food
• Car
• Equipment you need in picking.

The payment must not be too big. It must not be clearly bigger than the normal price of the service. The berry company may not make profits with these payments.

It is normal for you to pay for these things yourself:

• Visa fee and service fee when applying for a visa
• Medical examination
• Flight ticket 

You do not have to pay the berry company or its partner for:

• Workplace
• Services related to travelling to or from Finland 
• Interest on the financing of travel costs
• Berry picking guidance in Finland
• Monitoring the number of berries and place of growing

You can also pick berries as an employee of a berry company. If you are an employee, you are entitled to employees’ rights. These include for example:

• paid annual holiday
• paid sick leave
• accident insurance
• hourly pay or contract pay meeting at least the level specified in the collective agreement.

An employee and an employer usually enter into an employment contract. However, it is possible that you are an employee even if you do not have an employment contract. Finnish law determines the situations in which you are an employee. 

For example, if the berry company assigns working hours to you, supervises your work or prevents you from selling berries to others, you may be an employee. If you are not sure whether you are an employee, you can ask for advice from the occupational safety and health authority. See section "6. Where can you get help" for contact details.

If you pick berries grown on a farm, you are usually an employee.

Read more about employees’ rights in the ‘As a Foreign employee in Finland’ guide. The guide is available in 18 languages on page As a Foreign employee in Finland.

If you are being mistreated, ask for help:

Occupational safety and health authority

The authority can demand the berry company to comply with the law. You can let us know if your company is doing wrong. You do not have to tell us your name if you don't want to. We will not inform your company of your contact, without your permission.

Telephone: +358 295 016 620 (read more on page Telephone Service) 
Email: [email protected]

Victim Support Finland (RIKU):

RIKU is an organisation that provides support and advice to victims of crime. You can contact them if, for example, you suspect that you have been exploited at work. The service is confidential and free of charge. You can also call anonymously. You can send a message in any language, and you will be called back with the help of an interpreter.

Telephone: +358 40 632 9293 (also SMS and WhatsApp)
Email: [email protected]
www.riku.fi/seasonalwork

For more information on berry picker’s rights and the obligations of the berry company, see page Picking of natural products. The page is also available in Finnish and Swedish.