Employment Law Legislation

Mandatory employment legislation, e.g. the Employment Contracts Act, is at the top of the hierarchy of employment legislation and regulations. The majority of employment law provisions are mandatory. It is not possible to depart from these provisions to the detriment of the employee by agreeing otherwise in a collective bargaining agreement or a contract of employment. Nevertheless, the employee’s rights can be improved in a collective bargaining agreement or a contract of employment. This is known as the principle of favorability.

Some legislation governing employment is discretionary. This means that depending on the provision it is possible to depart from it either in a collective bargaining agreement or a contract of employment. If a collective bargaining agreement or contract of employment deviates from these discretionary law provisions, then it will govern the employment relationship regardless of the fact that it might be less favorable to the employee than what has been provided by legislation.

The principal legislation governing employment relationships are the Employment Contracts Act, the Working Time Act, the Annual Holidays Act, the Co-operation Act, the Act on Protection of Privacy in Working Life and the Act on Equality between Women and Men. For example, the Employment Contracts Act includes mandatory provisions and any attempt to depart from these provisions by agreement is invalid if it is detrimental to the employee, whereas other provisions may be departed from in a collective bargaining agreement even if they are detrimental to the employee. The Working Hours Act has both mandatory provisions and provisions, which may be deviated from by a collective bargaining agreement or a contract of employment.