Finnish shipyard subcontractor convicted for misleading Ukrainian workers with false light entrepreneurship scheme

A Finnish court has sentenced the chair of the board of a Turku shipyard subcontractor to a suspended prison term for exploiting Ukrainian workers through a deceptive “light entrepreneurship” arrangement, public broadcaster Yle reports.

The District Court of Southwest Finland ruled that the company misled 18 Ukrainian workers by hiring them as false light entrepreneurs—a self-employment model—while treating them as employees. The workers reportedly did not understand the implications of the arrangement, which the company presented as the only way to work in Finland and claimed was standard practice.

The court found the chair guilty of aggravated fraud, workplace accident insurance fraud, and aggravated pension insurance fraud, issuing a 1.5-year suspended sentence and a three-year business ban. According to the Finnish Patent and Registration Office (PRH), the company withheld overtime pay, allowances, holiday compensation, and approximately €60,500 in basic wages, resulting in an unlawful financial gain of around €138,800.

While the company claimed ignorance of wrongdoing, the court dismissed this as implausible, ruling that the scheme was a deliberate attempt to evade employer obligations. The judgment also noted that the company exploited the workers’ lack of familiarity with Finnish labor laws and their dependent position.

The ruling is not yet legally binding and may be appealed.