Law defines the age of resignation, but does not prevent working after this

Under the Employment Contracts Act, an employee's employment relationship ends without notice and a period of notice at the end of the calendar month during which they reach the age of resignation if the employer and the employee do not come to an agreement on the continuation of the employment relationship despite the employee having reached the age of resignation. In this case, the employment contract may be valid until further notice or for a fixed term. No other reason than exceeding the age of resignation is required for entering into a fixed-term contract. However, this should be entered in the new employment contract in order to avoid ambiguities.

The age of resignation is 68 years for persons born before and in 1957, 69 years for those born between 1958 and -1961, and 70 years for those born in 1962 and after that.

The employment relationship ends automatically when the employee reaches the age of resignation. The employee is not obliged to hand in their notice prior to this, and the employer cannot terminate employment claiming grounds such as entitlement to an old-age pension.

Working can affect a person’s pension. For more information on matters related to pensions, see the Finnish Centre for Pensions' website Työeläke.fi: Working while getting a pension.

Law does not specify an order of dismissal

Employers have the right to terminate employment contracts if the amount of work that they can offer diminishes substantially and permanently due to financial or production-related reasons or as a result of restructuring. These are referred to as financial and production-related grounds for termination, and there may be several employees under threat of dismissal. It is the employer's choice to determine who terminations will apply to, but the choice must not be based on age. Some collective agreements contain provisions on the order of dismissal.

Age does not constitute grounds for altering terms of employment so they are less favourable

The Non-Discrimination Act prohibits placing an employee at a disadvantage on the basis of age. This may be discrimination. An employer may not terminate an employee's employment relationship on the basis of age or otherwise alter the terms of their employment relationship to place them at a disadvantage solely on the basis of age. Placing an employee at a disadvantage can only be justified if it is based on real and decisive requirements concerning the quality of their work and the performance of their work. The treatment of an employee must be proportionate to the achieve the employer's legitimate objective. Sometimes such grounds may include factors related to the physical hardship of work and the impact of age on occupational safety. Even then, it is important that only the necessary measures be taken.

Employers may not treat employees inappropriately on the basis of their age. An employer merely asking an employee's retirement plans does not constitute harassment and inappropriate treatment as referred to in the Occupational Safety and Health Act, even though this may seem unpleasant for the employee. However, an employee cannot be pressured or guilted into retiring. For example, the employer may not pressure an employee who has exceeded the old-age pension age to resign as a solution to a poor financial situation encountered in the workplace. The employer must also intervene in abusive and unpleasant speech by other employees at the workplace.

Right to occupational health care and pay during sick leave

Every insured person living in Finland aged 16–67 is entitled to sickness allowance if the inability to work caused by the illness has started after the insured has turned 16. A daily allowance may be paid up to the end of the calendar month during which the insured turns 68. Even if the right to sickness allowance ends by the aforementioned age, the employee is still entitled to pay during sick leave. There is no corresponding restriction in the Employment Contracts Act.

The insured party’s obligation to pay the daily allowance contribution for health insurance ends after the calendar month during which the insured employee turns 68. However, this does not affect the employer's obligation to provide statutory occupational health care also for those who have exceeded this age.

Annual leave to take place during an employee's part-time pension period

Working after the age of resignation accumulates annual leave in accordance with the calculation rules of the Annual Holidays Act. For example, if an employee is working part-time on a part-time pension on a 1 week work - one week retirement basis, it is not possible to grant a continuous four-week summer holiday for a work period alone. In this case, the holiday can be granted in such a way that part of the holiday takes place during the employee’s retirement period (Opinion of the Labour Council TN 1376-2001, pdf, in Finnish).