Labour Court

Composition

The Labour Court is composed of a president and a vice-president, both of whom act as full-time chairmen of the court. In addition, there are 14 part-time members and each one of them has two deputies. The chairmen are appointed by the President of the Republic. The members, as well as their deputies, are appointed by the President of the Republic for a period of three years.

The operation of the Labour Court is based on the principle of tripartism. The president, the vice-president and two other members are appointed from among persons having the legal degree required for judges in Finland and who cannot be considered to represent either employers' or employees' interests. Other members are appointed upon the nomination by the most representative central organizations of the employers' and employees' associations. These members are not required to have a law degree but they must have a sound knowledge of labour relations or must be familiar with the employment relationships of civil servants.

Most cases are heard and tried in panels, where, in addition to a chairman and another so-called neutral member, two members representing the employers' interests and two members representing the interests of employees are present.

In certain situations stipulated in the Act, the chairman is able to rule upon a case alone provided that this is asked for by the parties concerned and the case is simple and does not involve any hearing of witnesses.

The president may decide that a case will be heard and tried in a plenary session of the court, if so required by consistency in the application of law, by the fact that the decision to be made in a particular case may have far-reaching consequences, or for any other important reason. The plenary session is attended by all 14 members and the vice-president together with the president who chairs the session.

Full-time secretaries prepare the judgments to be given and refer them to the Labour Court. Also the secretaries must be familiar with labour relations and they must hold the legal degree required for judges in Finland.