JHL (26.03.2014 - Heikki Jokinen) JHL sees the compromise reached concerning the alternation leave system as a bad decision. This came about by way of three-party negotiations between trade union confederations, the employers' federation and the Finnish Government.
"The decision makes it more difficult to use alternation leave as it sets unreasonable limits on or to becoming a substitute", says Teija Asara-Laaksonen, Chief Executive Officer of JHL.
In the future it will only be permissible to employ a substitute who has been unemployed for at least 90 days during the last 14 months. At the moment there is no such time limit on the length of unemployment.
"This tightening of the rules puts various branches in a very difficult position, and without reason. In the public social and health services the use of alternation leave will become much more problematic as it is already difficult to find substitutes. To find substitutes who have been unemployed for months is difficult in the extreme."
The new demand for longer unemployment does not apply to people under 25 years or over 55 years of age. Those under 30 who have just passed their exams are also exempted from the rule.
Job alternation leave is an arrangement whereby an employee and employer can come to an agreement allowing the employee to take leave for an agreed time of between 90 and 359 days. The employee then gets an allowance that is 70 - 80 per cent of his/her estimated unemployment benefit.
The employer then undertakes to hire a registered unemployed jobseeker for the duration of the employee’s absence. To be entitled to the allowance the employee must have worked for at least 10 years, as things now stand. Under the new rules it is 17 years.
Teija Asara-Laaksonen says that the practical consequences of the new rules have to be examined carefully. Now we just taken a step back, she says. We have to be ready to take two steps ahead, if needed.