The Act on Posting Workers lays down certain obligations for the contractor as well. The Aliens Act also obliges clients to ensure that the contracting partner’s posted workers have the right to work. The contractor is a company, user company or other party that purchases services from a posting company. In this context, “client” and “contractor” mean the same thing.

Verifying the right to work as a client/contractor

The client is obliged to verify that a foreign contracting partner’s employees have the right to work when they work in Finland in contracting or subcontracting, as temporary agency workers or as internal transfers within a company. In addition, information on the right to work must be kept for two years after the end of the work. The client is the party awarding the contract or the subcontract or the party commissioning the work.

Contractor’s obligation to provide information on submitting a notification of posting

The contractor must inform the company that posts workers to Finland that the company has to notify the occupational safety and health authority of the posting. The contractor may fulfil this obligation by including a mention of the notification obligation in its contract. If there is no written contract, the contractor may use an email message or similar piece of evidence to demonstrate that they have ensured that the posting company is aware of the notification obligation.

Contractor’s obligation to provide information on the appointment of a representative

The contractor must inform the posting company of the obligation to appoint a representative. The contractor may fulfil this obligation by including a mention of the obligation to appoint a representative in its contract. However, the parties to such agreements do not always execute the agreements in writing. For this reason, the contractor may also demonstrate in some other way, such as an email message, that they have ensured that the posting company is aware of the requirement to appoint a representative and the related obligations.

Provision of information on temporary agency work to the posting company

If the contractor acts as the user company of a temporary agency, it must provide the posting company with the information it needs to fulfil its employer obligations in temporary agency work.

The user company, i.e. the contractor, must also notify the posting company of a change in the place of work so that the posting company can, as the employer, fulfil its employer obligations. The user company must notify the employer company if the posted temporary agency worker is transferred to work:

• under the direction or supervision of another company in Finland or abroad
• at the user company’s other worksite that is located abroad.

Contractor’s obligation to provide information to the occupational safety and health authority

The occupational safety and health authority has the right to receive from the contractor all information and documents that the contractor has to prepare, retain or submit. The occupational safety and health authority also has the right to obtain the information and documents necessary for supervision from the contractor that has been in a contractual relationship with the posting company during the past 12 months.

Provision of information to the contractor

Under the Act on Posting Workers, the contractor must obtain from the posting company, i.e. its contracting partner, a report on the determination of workers’ social security. The Act obliges the posting company acting as the employer to provide the contractor with said report before the workers start working in Finland. Reports on the determination of social security refer here to certificates concerning pension and accident insurance cover, such as A1 certificates. Provisions on the contractor’s obligation to check are laid down in the Act on the Contractor’s Obligations and Liability when Work is Contracted Out.