Days off in Lieu of Shorter Working Hours

Days off in lieu of shorter working hours (in Finnish: ‘pekkaspäivät’) are paid leave accrued to the employee. There are no regulations concerning days off in lieu of the shorter working hours. They are based on the collective agreements and the practice of the workplace. The purpose of this is to level out the working hours to correspond to those provided for in the collective agreement.

Within sectors that do not have a binding collective agreement, the employer does not have an obligation to allow days off in lieu of the shorter working hours, unless otherwise agreed upon in the employment contract or otherwise. If the days off in lieu of the shorter working hours are based on a collective agreement, the employer and the employee cannot agree that they don’t apply.

Only the employees who work regularly or on the average 40 hours a week have the right to days off in lieu of the shorter working hours.