Pursuant to the Working Hours Act, employees’ regular working hours must not, as a rule, exceed eight hours in each 24-hour period or 40 hours per week. The regular weekly working hours of an employee can also be arranged in such a way that they average 40 hours over a period of no more than 52 weeks.

The Working Hours Act also specifies certain sectors of the economy where working hours can be period-based. In the case of period-based work, working hours should, as a rule, be arranged so as to not exceed 120 hours in any three-week period or 80 hours during any two-week period.

Occupational safety and health authorities can also, in special circumstances, permit employers to introduce period-based working hours for jobs other than those listed in the Working Hours Act, if a period-based schedule is necessary in order to organise work in a practical way.

Application

A derogation permit for the use of period-based work can be sought from the Division of Occupational Safety and Health of the Regional State Administrative Agency for Southwestern Finland. Contact information. 

If you submit the application via e-mail, it is recommended that you use the secure connection of the regional state administrative agency. Use the encrypted e-mail connection at least when sending data which contains confidential or otherwise sensitive information. The form itself is in Finnish. Secure e-mail

Form (pdf, in Finnish): Application: Derogation permit for the use of period-based work

A decision on an application can only be taken once the shop steward or an elected representative has been heard. If there is no such representative at the workplace, the occupational safety and health representative must be allowed to comment on the application. In the absence of any kind of personnel representative, each of the affected employees must be reserved an opportunity to express their view.

Extensions to derogation permit

Unless there has been a significant change in the employees’ working conditions since a permit was granted, either the employer or the shop steward or another representative of the employees within the meaning of section 36 of the Working Hours Act can decide on extensions to the derogation permit granted for a limited period. However, the parties cannot agree to extend a temporary derogation permit granted before 1 January 2020. In this case, a new request for permit must be made in order to extend period-based work.

In situations where it is possible to extend the permit by agreement, but no contract arises, the employer may submit a new request for permit to the occupational safety and health authorities.