The coverage for FUURT members concerning working life conflicts and expensive legal processes is now more comprehensive than ever. The new legal protection benefit can cover up to 30,000 euro in legal costs.The amount increases with each year of membership.
Not everything goes smoothly in working life and anyone can face a situation where issues have to be solved in court. This can get very expensive.
“Typical cases for our members are, for example, unjustified dismissal, unpaid wages or the illegal chaining of fixed-term agreements. The legal protection benefit has been planned to improve members’ position in legal processes related to working life. It provides members with financial protection in conflicts with employers if the matter has to be taken to court”, says Union Lawyer Salla Viitanen.
The legal protection benefit that was taken into use at the start of the year basically covers the same things as the earlier legal expenses insurance. The biggest improvement is the larger amount of legal protection, which improves with each year of membership up to 30,000 euro. The application process for the legal protection benefit is also more flexible.
“Without union membership and the legal protection benefit, an employee is in a very vulnerable position when faced with an unpleasant situation in working life. The compensation from the new legal protection benefit now increases with the duration of the membership to a much higher amount than earlier. This allows us to strengthen our legal supervision of interests for our members”, Viitanen states.
The legal protection benefit covers:
- Legal disputes related to the member’s own employment relationship and the research work of grant-funded researchers.
- Members’ issues and job application matters related to the Act on Equality between Women and Men (609/1986) and the Non-discrimination Act (1325/2014), if the Union views such actions as being necessary.
- Certain situations that deal with criminal matters within employment relationships.
Using the benefit through the Union’s lawyer
The primary course of action in issues related to employment relationships is seeking a conciliatory solution with the help of the Union’s lawyer, but some instances require a legal process.
Members apply for the legal protection benefit from the Union prior to accruing any costs for the handling of the matter. Its use requires that the dispute has started during union membership and that the duration of the membership is a minimum of six months.
If you transfer to the Finnish Union of University Researchers and Teachers from another union where you have been a member for at least 6 months, the legal protection benefit is available as soon as your membership with FUURT begins.
If you need the legal protection benefit, always contact the Union’s legal counselling first.
Table 1: The amount of the legal protection benefit increases with each year of continuous membership. It can reach up to 30,000 euro with a decreasing rate of deductible as shown in the attached table.
| Duration of membership | Amount of legal protection | Deductible |
| 6–12 months | 15,000 euro | 15% |
| 1 year | 16,000 euro | 14% |
| 2 years | 17,000 euro | 13% |
| 3 years | 18,000 euro | 12% |
| 4 years | 19,000 euro | 11% |
| 5 years | 20,000 euro | 10% |
| 6 years | 21,000 euro | 9% |
| 7 years | 22,000 euro | 8% |
| 8 years | 23,000 euro | 7% |
| 9 years | 24,000 euro | 6% |
| 10 years | 25,000 euro | 5% |
| 11 years | 26,000 euro | 4% |
| 12 years | 27,000 euro | 3% |
| 13 years | 28,000 euro | 2% |
| 14 years | 29,000 euro | 1% |
| 15 years | 30,000 euro | 0% |