Pay transparency rules in Finland
No. As of 30 June 2026 Finland has not yet passed a law to bring in the EU Pay Transparency Directive. A draft bill has been written and consulted on, but it is still working its way towards Parliament and is not yet law, so Finland has missed the 7 June 2026 EU deadline. The draft would amend the Act on Equality between Women and Men (tasa-arvolaki) and was proposed to take effect on 18 May 2026, a date that has now passed without the law being enacted. Employers should prepare now, because the core rules are already drafted and unlikely to change much.
The EU Pay Transparency Directive (Directive (EU) 2023/970) is an EU law that strengthens equal pay for equal work between women and men by making pay more open. It gives workers the right to know average pay levels for their role split by sex, requires employers to share pay information in recruitment, bans asking candidates about their pay history, and makes larger employers report their gender pay gap and, where an unexplained gap appears, carry out a joint pay assessment with worker representatives. EU countries had until 7 June 2026 to write it into national law. In Finland this is being done by amending the Act on Equality between Women and Men (tasa-arvolaki) and related laws. As of 30 June 2026 Finland's bill is still in draft, so the existing equality and pay-survey rules continue to apply until the new law passes.
Current status in Finland
Finland has not transposed the Directive yet; it is at draft-bill stage and has missed the 7 June 2026 deadline.
Finland is implementing the Directive mainly by amending the Act on Equality between Women and Men (tasa-arvolaki). A tripartite working group (employers, unions and ministries) published its proposal on 16 May 2025. The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health (STM) opened a public consultation on the draft government bill on 22 December 2025, closing on 9 February 2026. The bill was only expected to be presented to Parliament around week 25 of 2026 (mid-June), and the responsible minister, Sanni Grahn-Laasonen, publicly confirmed it would not be finished on the summer timetable because of disagreement among labour-market partners. The draft proposed an entry-into-force date of 18 May 2026, but that date has now passed without the law being enacted. So as of 30 June 2026 there is no transposing law in force, and the existing Finnish equality and pay-survey rules still apply.
What changes for an employer
More openness from the first job advert through to ongoing pay, with extra reporting duties for employers of 100 or more.
Under the draft, every employer must follow clearer, sex-neutral and objective pay criteria. In recruitment, you must tell applicants the pay or pay range for the role in good time, for example in the job advert or before the interview, and job titles must be gender-neutral. You cannot ask a candidate what they earned in a previous job, and contracts cannot include pay-secrecy clauses. Employers with at least 50 staff must give employees easy access to the criteria used to set and progress pay. Workers gain a right to ask for the average pay level, split by sex, of people doing the same or equivalent work. Finland's existing pay survey (palkkakartoitus) for employers with at least 30 staff continues alongside the new rules.
Reporting, joint pay assessment and penalties
Gender pay-gap reporting applies at 100+ employees; a 5% unexplained gap triggers a joint pay assessment.
Under the draft, employers with regularly at least 100 employees must report gender pay-gap data to the Ombudsman for Equality (tasa-arvovaltuutettu), who acts as the monitoring body. Much of this data flows automatically via the Incomes Register and Statistics Finland to keep the admin burden low, with a separate employer declaration by worker category. Employers with 250 or more staff report annually; those with 100 to 249 report every three years. If the average pay gap between women and men is at least 5% in any category of workers and the employer cannot justify it on objective, sex-neutral grounds and does not fix it within six months, the employer must carry out a joint pay assessment with employee representatives. Exact penalty levels are set by the final law; the Directive requires effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions, so confirm specifics once Finland's law is enacted.
How this works with an Employer of Record
With Teamed as the Employer of Record, Teamed is the legal employer in Finland and carries these statutory duties for you.
When you hire in Finland through Teamed as Employer of Record (EOR), Teamed is the legal employer on record, so the statutory pay-transparency duties sit with Teamed: publishing pay or pay ranges in recruitment, not asking for salary history, giving workers pay information on request, and, where thresholds apply, gender pay-gap reporting and any joint pay assessment. In practice you and Teamed share the work: you decide pay and provide role and pay-band information, and Teamed makes sure the Finnish-law process is followed. Because the law is still in draft, the most useful step now is to agree clear, objective and sex-neutral pay bands for your Finnish roles so you are ready when the rules take effect.
At a glance
| Pay shown in job ads | Proposed |
|---|---|
| Salary-history question banned | Proposed |
| Gender pay-gap reporting from | Proposed: 100+ employees |
| First report due | Not yet (law not passed) |
| Penalties | Proposed: negligence fee EUR 5,000 to 80,000 (Ombudsman for Equality) |
Key figures
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Transposition status | Not transposed; draft bill in progress (deadline 7 June 2026 missed) (source) |
| Implementing instrument | Amendments to the Act on Equality between Women and Men (tasa-arvolaki) and related laws (source) |
| Consultation period on draft bill | 22 December 2025 to 9 February 2026 (source) |
| Proposed entry into force (draft) | 18 May 2026 (proposed in draft; has passed without enactment) (source) |
| Gender pay-gap reporting threshold (draft) | 100+ employees report; 250+ annually, 100-249 every three years (source) |
| Joint pay assessment trigger (draft) | At least 5% unexplained pay gap in any worker category, not corrected within 6 months (source) |
| Pay information in recruitment (draft) | Mandatory: pay or pay range disclosed to applicants in good time (e.g. in the job advert or before interview) (source) |
| Salary history ban (draft) | Yes: employers may not ask applicants about pay in previous jobs; no pay-secrecy clauses in contracts (source) |
| Pay-setting criteria disclosure (draft) | Employers with 50+ employees must give staff easy access to criteria used to set and progress pay (source) |
| Existing pay survey (palkkakartoitus) | Continues for employers with regularly at least 30 employees (source) |
| Monitoring body | Ombudsman for Equality (tasa-arvovaltuutettu) (source) |
| Penalties | Draft proposes a negligence fee (laiminlyontimaksu) of EUR 5,000 to 80,000, imposed by the Ombudsman for Equality, scaled by nature, repetition and turnover; final amounts confirmed on enactment (source) |
Frequently asked questions
Has Finland passed the EU Pay Transparency Directive into law?
No. As of 30 June 2026 it is still a draft bill. A public consultation on the draft ran from 22 December 2025 to 9 February 2026, and the bill was only expected to reach Parliament around mid-June 2026. Finland has missed the 7 June 2026 EU deadline.
Which employers will have to report their gender pay gap?
Under the draft, employers with regularly at least 100 employees. Those with 250 or more report annually; those with 100 to 249 report every three years. The reports go to the Ombudsman for Equality, largely via the Incomes Register and Statistics Finland.
What triggers a joint pay assessment?
Under the draft, if the average pay gap between women and men is at least 5% in any category of workers, the employer cannot justify it on objective, sex-neutral grounds, and it is not corrected within six months. The assessment is then done with employee representatives.
Can an employer in Finland ask about my previous salary?
The draft bans asking job applicants about their pay in previous jobs, and bans pay-secrecy clauses in contracts. This is not yet in force, but it is a settled part of the draft and employers should expect it once the law passes.
If we hire through an Employer of Record, who is responsible for these duties?
The Employer of Record is the legal employer in Finland, so it carries the statutory pay-transparency duties, working with you on pay bands and role information. With Teamed, Teamed handles the Finnish-law process while you set pay and provide role details.
Pay transparency is moving at different speeds across the EU. When Teamed is your legal employer in Finland, these duties sit with us: compliant pay ranges, the salary-history rule, employee pay-information requests, and reporting where it applies. We track the law as it changes so your hiring stays compliant.
