Finnish social security agency ordered to pay damages over remote work monitoring

A Finnish labour court has ordered the Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela) to pay nearly €50,000 in compensation to a worker wrongfully dismissed over remote work monitoring, Yle reports.

The ruling, the first of its kind in Finland, found Kela used a flawed system called Oiwa to track employees’ work time. Workers were required to account for their days months in the past, with gaps in system activity flagged as unexplained breaks.

Two former Kela employees, speaking anonymously to Yle, described receiving thick reports of Oiwa logs showing long pauses in activity. Both said the system failed to capture much of their actual work, such as phone consultations with colleagues. One noted it was impossible to recall details of tasks performed nine months earlier.

Kela acknowledged in court that Oiwa’s timestamps did not fully reflect work performed. The agency said the ruling concerned an individual case but confirmed it had dismissed ten employees in 2024 for similar reasons, with others receiving warnings.

Both workers had previously received positive performance reviews and bonuses. They told Yle they were unaware Oiwa data was being used to monitor their work hours until early 2024.