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06.02.2026 16:45

Are you a part-time worker in the hospitality industry? Now is the time to check your working hours   

The collective agreement requires employers to regularly compare part-time employees’ contract hours with the working hours they actually work. PAM’s collective bargaining specialist Raimo Hoikkala explains what this means in practice and why it is so important.

In the beginning of 2026, it is again time to compare the working hours agreed in the employment contract with the actual working hours. This is called reviewing the average minimum working hours, and it is based on the Collective Agreement for the Hotel, Restaurant and Leisure Industry. The review should be done by the end of March.

– The working hours agreed in a part-time employee’s employment contract should not be just a formality, they must be in sync with the reality, says collective bargaining specialist Raimo Hoikkala.   

If the agreed hours are not met, the employer may be obliged to compensate for the missing hours.   

The review can increase the minimum hours stated in the employment contract   


If the number of working hours is, without a justified reason, higher than what was agreed upon in the employment contract, the number of working hours in the employment contract must be increased.

– Increasing the working hours by even one hour in the employment contract means a 5% “salary increase” for an employee who works 20 hours, says Hoikkala.

An exception to this is a situation where there is a justified reason for the extra working hours.

– A justified reason may be that one of the employees has been on sick leave or family leave for a longer time. In that case, the hours of a part-time employee may have been temporarily increased due to another employee’s absence. This does not mean that the hours in the contract should automatically be increased, but it is still worth discussing the matter with the part-time employee during the review, says Hoikkala.

– The review of working hours ensures that the employee gets the right number of hours and that the working hours stated in the employment contract are in sync with the reality, Hoikkala says.

The employee has the right to request a review if it has not been done

If a review has not been done at the workplace, Hoikkala encourages employees to be active and bring up the issue.  

– A part-time employee has the right to request that the employer conducts a review. The PAM website also provides an email template for requesting a review, which is worth using.

According to Hoikkala, reviewing the average minimum working hours is one of the rights of a part-time employee and the employer’s obligation.

– If the working hours stated in the employment contract are not met, the employee’s livelihood suffers, and the employment contract between the parties has not been respected in this regard. The responsibility and obligation to review the average minimum working hours always lies with the employer, Hoikkala reminds. 

Need help?   

If you need help or have any questions about the review of working hours, feel free to contact the union representative at your workplace or PAM’s employment advice service (if you do not have a union representative at work).

Check out the email template for requesting a review

Text: Minna Raitapuro
Images: Sam Weckman, Jukka Rapo

Keywords:

collective agreement hotel and restaurant industry part-time work supervisors in hotel and restaurant industry

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