As an employee on an indefinitely valid employment contract, you may give notice to terminate at any time. You are not required to give any grounds for giving notice, but you must observe the period of notice specified in the Employment Contracts Act and/or the collective agreement applicable to your work.

You may not give notice to terminate a fixed-term employment contract unless this has been agreed with the employer or if the term of the contract is more than five years. If you wish to terminate a fixed-term employment relationship, check whether it has been agreed in the employment contract that you may do so. If not, you may ask your employer whether he would agree to termination.

If you start in a new job, you may agree on a trial period when signing the employment contract. If the employment contract specifies a trial period, both you and your employer may cancel the contract without notice during the trial period. However, the employment relationship may not be cancelled on discriminatory grounds or grounds inappropriate in view of the purpose of the trial period. If no trial period has been agreed, there is no trial period.

The employee may cancel the employment relationship if the employer violates or neglects his responsibilities arising from the employment contract or the law in such a way as to have an essential impact on the employment relationship. Cancellation is only ever allowed for an extremely weighty reason. The employer may also cancel the employment relationship if there is an extremely weighty reason for doing so.

Procedure for resignation

Deliver your notice to terminate your employment relationship in person to the employer or the employer’s representative. If this is not possible, you may submit the notice by mail or electronically. In the latter case, notice is considered to have been received no later than seven days after it was sent.

You may also give notice to terminate your employment relationship verbally, but it is recommended to give notice in writing so that you can verify it afterwards if necessary.

You may use this occupational safety and health administration form to give notice:
Notice to terminate an employment relationship (pdf, in Finnish).

If your employer terminates your employment relationship

For your employer to terminate your employment relationship, he must have grounds acceptable by law for doing so. At your request, your employer must give you without delay a written statement indicating the date when the employment relationship is to end and the reasons on the basis of which it is to be terminated or cancelled.

Before your employment relationship is terminated, you must be given an opportunity to state your opinion of the grounds for termination. You are entitled to use an assistant in doing so.

You may request a written statement of the grounds for termination using this form:
Document request to employer (doc, in Finnish).

Final settlement paid on the end date of the employment relationship

The employer is required to pay the last wage payment or final settlement, including any holiday compensation due, on the end date of the employment relationship at the latest, unless otherwise agreed in the employment contract or the applicable collective agreement. If payment of the final settlement is delayed from what was agreed, you are entitled to receive full pay plus penalty interest for the period of delay, though not for more than six days.

In making payment, the employer must issue you a pay slip showing the amount of your wages and the basis on which they were calculated. The pay slip is issued so that you can check that your wages have been correctly paid. Your employer is required to pay you for work you have done even if the termination of your employment relationship is subject to dispute.