The City of Helsinki has failed to pay its employees the allowance for agreed increases provided for in the health and social services sector agreement within the timeframe laid down in the collective agreement. The City of Helsinki should have paid its employees covered by the agreement a 2.5% allowance for agreed increases in February 2025 and a 0.8% allowance in June.
The City of Helsinki employs almost 40,000 people and is the largest employer in Finland. However, it has not ensured that the agreed increases provided for in the collective agreement are paid in accordance with the agreement. The City has argued that its payroll administration has had limited resources to process the payments within the timeframe required by the collective agreement.
- “It is irresponsible for an employer the size of the City of Helsinki to blame the busyness of HR for the agreement violations. Helsinki does not seem to be very interested in following agreements,” says Millariikka Rytkönen, President of Tehy.
According to Tehy lawyer Hanna Huotari, Tehy’s view on the underlying issue is that the City did not ensure that the increases were negotiated in time to pay the employees within the agreed timeframe.
- “The problems could have been avoided if Helsinki had started the process early enough and had organised its HR affairs properly,” says Hanna Huotari.
Tehy points out that a breach of a collective agreement is also a breach of Finnish law.
Enquiries: Tehy lawyer Hanna Huotari ,[email protected], tel. +358 40 521 1685