Legal Advice for Employment Issues

The Legal Assistance service is a service package designed for members of YTK Worklife, through which members can receive legal assistance with questions and issues related to their employment or civil service relationships. The service package is also available to combined members who serve as CEOs.

The Legal Assistance service consists of four different components, which differ in terms of content and membership duration requirements:

• The Employment guide for employment matters, which you can find on our website.
• Legal Assistance’s general advice, which is available to you as soon as your membership begins.
• Legal Assistance’s Premium service, which you can access through the advice service once your membership has lasted at least 6 months prior to the incident.
• Professional legal expenses insurance is your safety net if the matter is not resolved through general advice or the Premium service and your membership has lasted at least 6 months prior to the incident.

Does your matter concern daily allowances or other unemployment fund issues? Please contact YTK Unemployment Fund!

The Legal Assistance service’s employment guide, labor law advice, and Premium service are included in the membership fee for YTK Worklife, which is 31 € in 2026.

If a case requires the use of professional legal protection or liability insurance, the combined member must pay at least the insurance deductible.

Phone counseling, the employment guide on our website, and the chatbot are available to you immediately upon becoming a member of YTK Worklife. The Premium service is available to you if you have been a member for at least 6 months prior to the start of the chain of events requiring clarification and the case originated no earlier than 2021. The terms and conditions of the legal expenses insurance are determined by the insurance company.

You can contact Legal Assistance regarding matters related to employment and civil service relationships as soon as your YTK Worklife membership becomes active. You will be assisted by lawyers or payroll specialists from the OpusLex network of attorneys. You can receive general advice over the phone regarding legal issues in the workplace. If necessary, you will be referred to the Premium service.

The Premium service includes a preliminary review of legal questions and issues related to employment or civil service relationships by a lawyer from the OpusLex network. This may include, for example, case analysis and document preparation. The service also assists CEOs who are members of YTK Worklife. Matters occurring prior to 2021 will not be considered. In addition, full membership must have been in effect for at least 6 months prior to the start of the chain of events requiring clarification.

Professional legal expenses insurance covers civil and criminal matters related to employment or public service relationships. The terms and conditions of the legal protection insurance are determined by the insurance company.

Professional legal expenses insurance starting in 2022

In our Employment guide you’ll find information on topics such as payroll, employment contracts, annual leave, and working hours.The chatbot Sulo can also help you with employment-related questions.

A lawyer from the OpusLex network can take on a member’s employment or civil service issue – such as unpaid wages or ambiguities related to the termination of employment – and handle it. They will determine whether any wrongdoing has occurred and, depending on the situation, take the matter further. The goal is to bring the parties together as equals to address the problem and reach a settlement. If this is not successful, the case may proceed to court, in which case you may be eligible for reimbursement of expenses through legal expenses insurance, provided the policy terms are met.

If you are a member of YTK Worklife and have a question or problem related to your employment that you would like help with, you must first contact a lawyer through the OMA+ service >>

If the matter cannot be resolved at this stage, the lawyer will determine whether the case can be handled through the Premium service. If so, the OpusLex lawyer will confirm with YTK Worklife that you are eligible for the Premium service and will request the necessary consents from you to proceed with the case.

Once the OpusLex lawyer has received the necessary permissions, the investigation of the matter begins. The lawyer will review the details of the case and proceed as the situation requires. Often, the matter is resolved during the investigation. If the matter cannot be resolved and a dispute arises, you should discuss with the lawyer the possibility of utilizing legal expenses insurance. An OpusLex lawyer can inquire with the insurance company whether the legal proceedings in this case are covered by legal expenses insurance. The insurance company makes the compensation decision when legal expenses insurance is utilized. If the case is not covered by legal expenses insurance, the matter may end there or continue, for example, through administrative proceedings.

If the case cannot be resolved through labor law advice or the Premium service, the Legal Assistance lawyer can inquire with the insurance company whether legal proceedings regarding the case are covered by legal expenses insurance. If this is not the case, the case may end there or continue, for example, through administrative proceedings.

No, you cannot. Labor law advice and the premium service are provided by the OpusLex network of law firms, a partner of YTK Worklife.

This means that you must use a law firm that is part of the OpusLex network. OpusLex has approximately 60 lawyers specializing in employment law in 22 locations across Finland. As a general rule, the lawyer is assigned based on your location, and you cannot choose a lawyer yourself.

In most cases, this is because the full membership requirement has not been met. Membership in YTK Worklife must have been in effect for at least 6 months prior to the start of the chain of events. For example, in the case of termination, membership must have been in effect for at least 6 months when the member receives the notice of termination in order for the case to be covered by the Premium services.

No. In the Premium service, the decision on a member’s eligibility for the service is made by a lawyer from the OpusLex legal network (legal assessment) and YTK Worklife (compliance with membership and other service terms). In legal protection insurance, the insurance company decides on coverage. Therefore, a negative decision regarding the lawyer’s advisory services does not mean a negative decision regarding legal expenses insurance.

Legal expenses insurance and the Premium service differ in their terms and conditions. For example, commentary and advice related to termination agreements fall under the scope of Premium services, but the terms of employment termination are excluded from legal expenses insurance.