Borenius successfully represented Kesko Oyj in redundancy dismissals and Co-operation Act compliance case

We successfully represented Kesko Oyj in litigation concerning alleged wrongful dismissals under the Finnish Employment Contracts Act and alleged breaches of statutory consultation requirements under the Finnish Co-operation Act. Multiple dismissed employees claimed that their dismissals were unjustified and discriminatory. They also claimed procedural breaches had occurred regarding the calculation of part-time employees on an FTE basis for determining consultation period obligations in exceptional and unforeseeable post-consultation circumstances.

With respect to the dismissals, the ruling confirms the employer’s right to use multi-skilling and the breadth of job duties as selection criteria in redundancy situations, provided that the selection criteria are not discriminatory.

Regarding the Co-operation Act, the ruling emphasises that the required length of the consultation period is determined on the basis of the employer’s genuine assessment at the commencement of and during the negotiations. The employer’s assessment of the impact on personnel at that time is decisive. If exceptional and unforeseeable circumstances arise afterwards and additional redundancies become necessary, this does not render the consultation process invalid.