Legal counselling for members
Counselling on employment and other professional legal matters and grant-funded work
The Union offers its members legal counselling in matters pertaining to employment and grant-funded work. The Union’s experts help with issues such as employment, collective agreement, fixed-term contracts, grants, research ethics, copyright, equality and non-discrimination issues, unemployment security, social security, funding and other issues related to our members’ working lives.
In the workplace, immediate help can usually be found by contacting your local shop steward (employee representative). For occupational health and safety issues, it is also possible to contact the health and safety representative.
If the matter concerns the operations of the The Unemployment Fund for Education and Science, the effect of part-time entrepreneurship on unemployment security or the accumulation of the amount of earnings-related unemployment benefit, we recommend contacting the The Unemployment Fund for Education and Science’s customer service directly.
Contact instructions
Contacts related to the legal issues of working life are primarily made by e-services. It is a good idea to include the necessary background information in the first message, such as the name of the employer, a description of the problem, information on the employment relationship (permanent/fixed-term, duration etc.) and a copy of the employment contract if the matter is related to the terms and conditions of employment.
The majority of legal issues are resolved through counselling and negotiation. Taking legal action in the matter is always the final resort. Please note that it is solely the member’s right to decide whether legal actions shall be taken. The Union does not handle any legal disputes in court on behalf of its members.
If a member chooses to forward the matter to the courts for handling, that member is responsible for hiring an external legal adviser (lawyer or attorney specialising in labour law). The Union will recommend a suitable adviser and support the member throughout the legal process by providing a legal protection benefit. Members should always ensure the suitability of the legal protection benefit to their own case prior to initiating any legal action. The Union shall not cover, on behalf of the member, any legal expenses that exceed those covered by the legal protection benefit.
Legal counseling
Telephone service is available on Tuesdays at 9 a.m. – noon and Thursdays at noon – 4 p.m., tel. +358 (0)207 589 621.
At other times please contact via e-services.
In our e-service, you can send us messages using a secure connection.
Legal protection benefit
FUURT is offering its members a new legal protection benefit that aims to improve the amount and availability of legal protection.
The terms and conditions of the legal protection benefit will improve with each year of membership. The amount of the benefit provided by FUURT increases in relation to each year of continuous membership up to as much as 30,000 euro with a decreasing rate of deductible, as shown in the attached table. The Union office can provide you with more detailed information about the terms of the benefit.
| 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% |
The legal protection benefit covers legal disputes related to the member’s own employment relationship and the research work of grant-funded researchers. The legal protection benefit also covers 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. The legal protection benefit can also be used to cover certain situations that deal with criminal matters within employment relationships.
Members should always ensure the suitability of the legal protection benefit to their own case prior to initiating any legal action.
The use of the legal protection requires that the member apply for the benefit from the Union prior to accruing any costs for the handling of the matter in question. Always contact the Union if you find yourself in need of the legal protection benefit. The Union’s lawyer can provide more detailed information about the content of the legal protection benefit and advice on finding the right person to handle your matter.
Counselling on private legal matters
In legal matters pertaining to private life, members can contact the lawyers of Eversheds Attorneys Ltd.
The advisory number is available in e-services.
The price of the call is the mobile charge for calls made from a mobile phone and the local network charge for calls made from a landline.
Issues covered by private legal matters counselling include:
- matters concerning inheritances, wills and distributions;
- matters related to family law, such as marriage settlement agreements, divorce, division of the property, maintenance allowance;
- legal matters concerning unmarried couples such as dissolution of joint ownership;
- inheritance taxation and gift taxation;
- matters related to tenancy and housing associations, housing transactions;
The telephone counselling service covers matters a lawyer can solve over the phone without consulting any documents. The counselling does not apply to the preparation of documents.