Pension insurances
Every employer must underwrite pension insurance for their employees. Any work executed under a private employer must be insured under Employees Pension Act (TyEL) if the employee earns at least € 61.37 per month in 2021 and is between 18 and 67 years of age. The insurance obligation starts from the beginning of the month succeeding the person’s 18th birthday and ends at the end of the month, during which the employee turns 68. In principle, any person working alongside their pension must be insured until the age of 68.
The insurance policy must be underwritten in the month following the first month paid to the employee.
The pension provision can be arranged by taking a policy from an employment pension insurance company (employer by contract) or paying the contributions monthly to an employment pension insurance company (temporary employer).
The employer is considered “by contract” if at least one permanent employee is employed or if the continuous total salary bill during six months reaches € 8,790 (the year 2021).
The employer is “temporary” if there are no permanent employees, and the total salary bill of the temporary employees during six months is under € 8,790 (the year 2021).
A member employed by the cooperative may be covered by Self-Employed Persons’ Pensions Act (YEL) if the member in question is in an executive position in the cooperative: he or she might be authorized to sign alone on behalf of the cooperative or have a place in the bodies of the cooperative, the member’s shareholding and voting rights are more than 30 % or, together with members of his or her family, more than 50 %.
More information the updated percentages concerning TyEL and YEL:stä are available from the companies and from the Finnish Centre for Pensions as well as from the pages “cooperative as an employer”.
Occupational injury insurance, unemployment insurance, and group life insurance
As an employer, the cooperative must take statutory occupational injury insurance for their employees under contract if there are more than 12 working days in a year (Workers’ Compensation Act).
Furthermore, the statutory occupational injury insurance is complemented by a group life insurance according to the industry’s collective agreement in question and as statutory unemployment insurance.