Finland’s government has agreed to remove underperformance as a legal ground for dismissal from its proposed employment reform, resolving a months-long coalition dispute. The matter was first reported by Yle.
Government sources confirmed the changes to Ilta-Sanomat, Helsingin Sanomat and Yle, following internal negotiations led by Prime Minister Petteri Orpo and Finance Minister Riikka Purra. The issue had stalled progress on legislation intended to lower the threshold for terminating employment on personal grounds.
Under the revised draft, employers would be able to dismiss employees for an “acceptable reason,” instead of the current requirement for a “serious and acceptable reason.” However, the proposal will not define underperformance as a valid basis for termination, nor will it alter existing procedures related to employee warnings.
The reform aims to make hiring less risky for employers by clarifying the grounds for termination. Business advocacy group Suomen Yrittäjät has pushed for changes, arguing that overly strict protections discourage recruitment.
The initial version of the bill, circulated for comment earlier in the summer, had included underperformance as a legal ground for dismissal. This led to sharp resistance from the Finns Party, with Riikka Purra declaring at the party congress in June that such a clause would be impossible to apply in a legally consistent way. She said only “undisputed and verifiable” reasons should be written into law.
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