Background information

Between 4 April 2020 and 31 May 2020, food service businesses’ operations were severely restricted by legislation to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus in Finland. These restrictions had a significant impact on the business activity of restaurants, cafes, and bars. Many companies had to either temporarily or permanently lay off employees.

To compensate for the economic losses and to encourage companies to re-employ workers, the Government proposed in May 2020 a model that consists of two measures:

• support for re-employment and
• compensation for the imposed restrictions on activities.

This text focuses on the former measure. The legal basis of this measure is Laki ravitsemisyritysten uudelleentyöllistämisen tukemisesta ja toiminnan rajoitusten hyvittämisestä (403/2020) (unofficial translation: Act on support to restaurants for re-employment and compensation for the imposed restrictions on activities).

Content of measure

Support for re-employment is a measure that seeks to support companies’ ability to employ people.

The maximum amount of support is €1,000 per employee. This measure covers employees whose salary has been paid by the employer after the expiry of the restriction and for a period of three months and has totaled to at least €2,500.

Support for re-employment may be granted to cover at least 2,500 companies that employ up to 800 people.

Companies that have received other forms of financial support may apply but it may decrease the final amount.

Companies need to apply for this support measure at Keha Centre.

Use of measure

As of 31 August 2020, in total 2,242 companies had applied for support. The number of companies that had been granted support was 598 and the number of rejected applications was 102.

In total €5,240,000 had been paid out to companies.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Applies to all workers	Sector specific set of companies	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government	National funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Consulted	Consulted
Form	Direct consultation outside a formal body	Direct consultation outside a formal body

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• No involvement
• Main level of involvement: Sectoral or branch level

Involvement

At the design stage of this measure, the Committee of Economic and Monetary Affairs requested a statement from the sectorial employers’ union The Finnish Hospitality Association MaRa and from the sectorial the trade union the Service Union United PAM.

They do not have a role in the implementation or monitoring of this measure.

Views and reactions

According to Service Union United PAM, continuation of the employment should be set as a requirement of eligibility for this measure. Otherwise, companies could apply first apply for this support and then dismiss newly recruited employees. Another point of criticism is the exclusion of agency workers.

Even the employers’ organisation MaRa has critisised the exclusion of agency workers. In addition, they argue that the amount paid out to companies should not be dependent on the number of employees but financial losses the restrictions on activities caused.

Sectors and occupations

This case is not occupation-specific.

Sources

• 05 May 2020: Support to restaurants for re-employment and compensation for imposed restrictions on activities (tem.fi)
• 08 May 2020: Government proposal regarding support for restaurants (Hallituksen esitys eduskunnalle laiksi ravitsemisyritysten uudelleentyöllistämisen tukemisesta ja toiminnan rajoitusten hyvittämisestä) (www.eduskunta.fi)
• 11 May 2020: PAM's statement regarding the Government's proposal on support to restaurants (PAM:in lausunto: Hallituksen esitys eduskunnalle laiksi ravitsemisyritysten uudelleentyöllistämisen tukemisesta ja toiminnan rajoitusten hyvittämisestä) (www.pam.fi)
• 12 May 2020: MaRa's statement regarding the Government proposal for support to restaurants (Lausunto eduskunnan talousvaliokunnalle koskien lakiesitystä ravitsemisyritysten uudelleentyöllistämisen tukemisesta ja toiminnan rajoitusten hyvittämisestä) (www.mara.fi)