Compliance with the Act on Posting Workers is enforced by the occupational safety and health authorities. The occupational safety and health authority is responsible for enforcing the actions of employers. The same applies to the employer of a worker posted to Finland when the employer is a foreign company. The purpose of enforcement is to ensure compliance with the obligations concerning posted workers and to ensure that all workers have access to an equal labour market based on the same terms of employment and equal treatment.

The inspection of a posting employer assesses how the employer has fulfilled the obligations laid down in the Act on Posting Workers, such as the notification obligation and the obligation to appoint a representative. In addition, the inspection enforces compliance with Finnish labour legislation and minimum terms of employment, which are applicable through the Act on Posting Workers.

The inspector has the right to receive documents and reports from the employer to the extent required by the enforcement. The inspector requests access to the documents either with a workplace inspection or a written request for clarification to investigate whether legislative requirements are met. A written request for clarification is used to request information and copies of documents within a deadline. A request for clarification may also be issued to the employer in connection with a workplace inspection. If there is a justifiable reason to do so from an enforcement perspective, we may also carry out inspections without prior notice.

Inspection report

The inspection report is a written description of the occupational safety and health inspection process and key observations. An inspection report is drawn up for each inspection. The Occupational Safety and Health Inspector sends the report to the employer and the occupational safety and health representative within 30 days of the inspection or when all the necessary material is available to them.

In the inspection report, the inspector describes the key observations that they made during the inspection, the obligations they have imposed on the employer and other matters that were addressed. In the inspection of a posting employer, issued obligations are typically either written advice or improvement notices. As a result of the inspection, a negligence fee may also be proposed to be imposed on the posting employer. The decision on imposing the fee is made by the occupational safety and health authority after hearing the employer in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act. For more information on the negligence fee, see the page Consequences of neglecting obligations.

Written advice

The inspector can issue written advice on the correction of a minor and individual deficiency when the minimum level required by legislation is not met. Failure to comply with written advice may result in an improvement notice or an obligating decision by the occupational safety and health authority. The occupational safety and health authority may impose a conditional fine in this situation as well.

Improvement notice

An inspector will issue an improvement notice in a matter which the inspector observed to be non-compliant with legislation and which poses a greater than minor risk or hazard. If the employer fails to comply with the improvement notice within the deadline, it may lead to an obligating decision by the occupational safety and health authority. To accompany such a decision, the occupational safety and health authority may impose a conditional fine.