Employer must pay wages if emergency alert prevented worker from reaching workplace

Workers who were unable to reach their workplace due to an official emergency alert issued in the Uusimaa region on 15 May are entitled to their wages, according to emeritus professor of labour law Seppo Koskinen. Yle reports that Koskinen has written an article on the matter for the legal database Finlex.

The Finnish Ministry of the Interior’s rescue authority issued an emergency alert in the early hours of 15 May, before 4 a.m., warning of a possible drone in the Uusimaa area. The situation lasted until approximately 7 a.m., when the authority issued an all-clear. Authorities stressed that emergency alerts must be followed.

From a labour law perspective, employer and employee representatives have broadly agreed that workers had valid grounds to stay away from work while the alert was in force, if reaching their workplace would have required them to disregard the official guidance. However, the question of whether employers are obliged to pay wages for that absence has proven more contentious, with employer and employee sides offering differing interpretations, including in the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat.

Koskinen argues that the situation constitutes a case of force majeure, which under Finnish law obliges the employer to pay wages for a period of up to 14 days.

“In my view, this situation cannot be compared to travel difficulties, such as an airline strike or bus service stoppages. This concerned an official instruction that individuals were obliged to follow,” Koskinen said.

He said the closest comparable cases in Finnish legal practice are bans issued by authorities during the coronavirus pandemic. There are no directly applicable precedents in Finnish case law for a situation of this kind.

Koskinen noted an exception for personnel with specific duties related to managing emergency situations, such as in the Defence Forces, the police, and rescue services, who may be obliged to report to work regardless of an alert. “If a person holds a special duty, then specific legislation applies,” he said.