Browse through brief employment and labor law updates from around the globe. Contact a Littler attorney for more information or view our global locations.

View all Q4 2023 Global Guide Quarterly updates   Download full Q4 2023 Global Guide Quarterly

Employee’s Work-Related Legal Expenses Considered Taxable Income

Precedential Decision by Judiciary or Regulatory Agency

Authors: Samuel Kääriäinen, Partner and Head of Employment, and Noora Ollitervo, Associate – Dottir Attorneys Ltd

The Supreme Administrative Court recently held that payments made by an employee’s employer to cover defense costs in work-related litigation were a taxable economic benefit equivalent to salary.

Employer Could Not Unilaterally Change Working Hours Clause

Precedential Decision by Judiciary or Regulatory Agency

Authors: Samuel Kääriäinen, Partner and Head of Employment, and Noora Ollitervo, Associate – Dottir Attorneys Ltd

In a case involving employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement, the Supreme Court of Finland held that the employer could not unilaterally change the employees’ working hours from shift work hours to regular work hours. The court also held that the employer could not introduce an unpaid meal break, despite previous practices allowing employees to eat during work hours.

Referring to previous legal precedents, the Supreme Court held that a binding clause regarding working hours is an essential contractual provision that cannot be unilaterally changed by the employer.

Employers Can Pursue Provisional Measures to Enforce Non-competition Agreements

Precedential Decision by Judiciary or Regulatory Agency

Authors: Samuel Kääriäinen, Partner and Head of Employment, and Noora Ollitervo, Associate – Dottir Attorneys Ltd

In another recent ruling the Supreme Court held that a non-compete agreement made at the beginning of or during employment does not constitute an exception to the general rule prohibiting breach of contract. Accordingly, the court held, an employer can pursue provisional measures, such as an injunction, to enforce a non-compete agreement.

Claims Made under a Collective Agreement Not Governed by the Limitation Period Set Out in the Working Hours Act

Precedential Decision by Judiciary or Regulatory Agency

Authors: Samuel Kääriäinen, Partner and Head of Employment, and Noora Ollitervo, Associate – Dottir Attorneys Ltd

In a case involving a claim by an employee covered by a collective bargaining agreement, the Supreme Court held that the two-year statute of limitations in the Working Hours Act did not apply because the claims were based on the collective agreement's terms, not the Act's provisions.

Government Reforms Cause Industrial Strikes

Trend

Authors: Samuel Kääriäinen, Partner and Head of Employment, and Noora Ollitervo, Associate – Dottir Attorneys Ltd

Industrial strikes have recently occurred in response to the government's proposed and partially implemented labor measures. Labor unions oppose the government's labor reforms and reductions in unemployment benefits, and the government's efforts to limit the right to strike by restricting the maximum strike duration for political strikes, prohibiting support strikes deemed disproportionate, and increasing fines for illegal strikes. More strikes are to be expected, as labor unions are announcing planned strikes for the start of 2024.