Le_Forgeron <jgr### [at] freefr> wrote:
> You were expected to work double time for free. You are a picky a*****e
> to have ask a salary.

Technically speaking it's illegal here (and I'm sure in most civilized
countries) to ask an employee to work extra hours without pay, and it's
also quite illegal to fire them just because they refuse. Yet it happens
all the time here.

Finnish law protects employees from being fired at a whim, without a good
reason (monetary problems or employee misconduct are good reasons; the
refusal of an employee to work extra hours for free certainly isn't). Even
when the employer does have a good reason to fire the employee, the
employer must give a three-month notice (except in special circumstances).

Employers get around this tiny problem with a trick: Rather than employ
people indefinitely, they employ them a few months at a time, always
renovating the employment contract at the end of the previous one. This
way they can "soft-fire" someone by simply not renovating the contract.
This is *technically* legal (because they are not firing anybody), yet
achieves practically the same effect as firing someone at a whim.

Of course now the employers have leverage over the employees: If they refuse
to make extra hours without pay, then the employer might have no option but
to let him go... You know, difficult times, economic recession and all
that... (Never mind that they immediately hire someone else to fill the
vacancy. Someone who *is* willing to donate the extra hours.)

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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