New legal protection: stronger security year by year

The Professionals of Business and Technology's legal protection offers its members new, personalised protection for working life. For the majority of members, the protection doubles with the reform. 

From time to time, work life may bring unexpected hardships, and you might find yourself in a dispute with your employer. For these situations, we provide our members extensive legal protection, which is there to prevent and resolve disputes with employers, even in court, if necessary.

In our new and unique legal protection model, the compensation for legal costs in employment related cases goes up with the membership annually whilst the members' excess goes down. The membership benefit, which is tied to the length of the membership, offers, to the majority of members, up to €30,000 worth of legal protection completely free of excess.

In the new model, the compensation for employment related legal expenses increases in stages up until €30,000 based on the duration of the membership. The excess decreases annually by one per cent down to 0%.

"The improvement compared to the previous liability and legal expenses insurance is significant and may be a deciding factor on whether members have the courage to hold on to their rights in work life," says Project Manager Aleksi Rankka, who was in charge of the reform.

"Members reach maximum protection after 15 years of membership. The legal protection is strengthened at a quicker rate in the beginning of the membership, because the regrettable fact is that the weaker knowledge of work life rules of those at the start of their careers can at times be abused," Rankka continues. 

WITH LEGAL PROTECTION, DISPUTES CAN BE SOLVED IN COURT

Sometimes disputes cannot be settled outside court, and litigation offers the only way to solve the matter.

In the event of a defeat, the member may be expected to pay, not just their own but also the opposing sides, fees, so the financial risk in litigation is significant. The risk in taking legal action in, for example, the case outstanding wages, unfair dismissal or harassment would be exorbitant without the legal protection offered by a membership.

"For us, here at the Professionals of Business and Technology, it is important that our members also have the opportunity to take legal action in cases of dispute. Without legal protection that covers litigation costs, this would often be impossible. Our lawyers, specialised in employment law, help to evaluate the case before legal action, but the final decision on taking a case to court is always with the member," Rankka explains.

LAWYER'S ASSISTANCE INDISPENSABLE IN WORK LIFE

The legal protection includes legal advice from our lawyers, which helps prevent the majority of problems. A carefully drawn employment contract or a non-competition agreement inspected by a lawyer can help ensure that the jointly agreed rules of employment are not ambiguous in any way. Our lawyers also help with any questions that may arise when an employment relationship comes to an end.

However, if a dispute arises regardless, our lawyers are there to help our members. On the request of a member, our lawyers will contact the employer directly and evaluate in settlement negotiations whether common ground can be found and the dispute settled.

"Usually both parties are keen to find a quick solution to the dispute. We may come to a settlement instead of starting a legal process, if that is in the best interest of our member," Rankka says.

The new protection will come into force on 1 January 2020. The benefit will cover full memberships, family memberships and Black-level student memberships as well as entrepreneur memberships with some conditions.

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