Working at sea

The conditions of seamen’s employment contracts differ from other employment relationships. They are provided for under the Seafarers' Employment Contracts Act and applied to work performed by a worker under a contract for an employer on board a Finnish ship or, upon the orders of the employer, elsewhere on a temporary basis. The Seafarers' Employment Contracts Act comprises the basic legislation concerning the rights and obligations of both the employer and employee.

Separate provisions are laid down concerning seamen’s working hours in foreign trade as well as in domestic trade, seamen's annual holidays and seamen's pay security. For the sake of maritime security and environmental protection, separate provisions are laid down on the manning of ships and certification of seafarers (MTC). The health requirements of seamen are also stricter than the average requirements for people engaged in other types of work.

The Act on Registering of Ship’s Crew lays down provisions on the master of the ship’s obligation to maintain a ship’s crew list, the shipowner’s duty to enter the service times at sea of seamen in his service in the seamen’s register, kept by the Finnish Transport Safety Agency, and the right of seamen to receive information on the data so entered.

For instance, matters related to a seaman’s medical examination fall under the administrative sector of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, and regulations on navigation and shipping fall under the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MTC).

Further information on matters related to maritime labour are provided by the Occupational Safety and Health Authorities and maritime authorities and, on issues concerning pay security,  the ELY Centre for Uusimaa.

Seaman's contract of emloyment (pdf) (6.4 KB)

Act on the Registering of Ship's Crew, updated 2011 (pdf) (14.1 KB)