Joint recommendation for workplaces: Wages should be paid when a person is unable to work due to an emergency warning about a drone threat

A joint recommendation for workplaces on how to handle drone threats has been prepared by labour market organisations and ministries. PAM’s Collective Bargaining Director, Sirpa Leppäkangas, is pleased with the outcome.

Summary

For a month it was unclear whether wages were due after the May 15 Uusimaa drone emergency. PAM and other unions insisted employees who followed government instructions should be paid, and employer representatives now also recommend payment.
We welcome this joint recommendation — it helps ensure you don't have to choose between your livelihood and your safety. PAM will work with service-sector employers to implement the recommendation and to prepare actions if drone threats grow more common.
In early June PAM issued clear instructions for members on claiming wages lost for May 15; we expect employers to pay any outstanding wages, and if they do not, members should follow the guidance previously provided.

The obligation to pay wages in situations of an emergency warning related to a drone threat has been unclear for the past month. The uncertainty began after a wide emergency warning was issued for the Uusimaa region on 15 May, advising people to stay indoors.

From the beginning, PAM and other trade unions have maintained employees should be paid when they are unable to work because they have complied with instructions issued by a government authority in an emergency warning about a drone threat. Employer representatives initially took the opposite view, but they now also recommend that wages should be paid.

— It is very positive that we now have a joint recommendation on wage payments. We hope that this recommendation will ensure that employees do not have to choose between their livelihood and their safety in drone threat situations, says PAM’s Collective Bargaining Director Sirpa Leppäkangas.

PAM will discuss with the employer organisations in the services sectors what measures are needed to put the joint recommendation into practice and what actions may be required if drone threats become significantly more common than currently expected.

At the beginning of June, PAM issued instructions to its members on what to do if an employer did not pay wages for 15 May, when work was prevented because the employee followed the government authorities’ instructions.

— We expect employers to follow the joint recommendation and to pay any wages from May that may still be outstanding. If this does not happen, our message to members is to act in accordance with the instructions issued earlier, says Leppäkangas.

You can find PAM’s instructions here

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Membership

Guide to working life

Collective agreements

Workplace representatives

In society

News & Events

Joint recommendation for workplaces: Wages should be paid when a person is unable to work due to an emergency warning about a drone threat

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Joint recommendation for workplaces: Wages should be paid when a person is unable to work due to an emergency warning about a drone threat

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