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Employment advice and legal aid from PAM 

All sorts of things can happen in working life. That’s why it’s important to make sure you have expert support when you need it. 

Last updated: 20.12.2024

Did your employment end suddenly? Is there something unclear about your pay? Or do you have some other question about working life? We can help!

Expert support at all stages of working life

If there are challenges at work, we have experts in collective agreements and labour law to help you. We know the working conditions in the services sector inside out, because we negotiate them directly with employers’ associations. 

We can help you quickly and easily in situations such as: 

  • Unpaid or wrongly paid wages
  • Making an employment contract
  • Ending your employment
  • If you suspect you were dismissed illegally
  • Questions about a trial period
  • Days off, bonuses, working hours…or any other concerns you have about your employment!

Problems in your job? Here’s what to do:

  1. Go to our Guide to working life and see if the answer to your question is there.
  2. If there is a union representative at your workplace, you can ask them to help. The union representative helps workers with employment issues and makes sure your workplace respects agreements and laws.
  3. First try to sort the matter out yourself by discussing the situation calmly with your manager. If you need information or support in preparing for that discussion, you can contact our employment advice service.
  4. If you can’t sort it out, contact the employment advice service – call, send a message in PAM’s eService or make an appointment at your PAM regional office. Our employment experts are here to help you.
Contact us

1. Member lets PAM handle the case

  • The member lets the union sort out the dispute and promises to give all the correct information to deal with the matter.
  • Membership fees must be paid for us to go forward.

2. Expert starts to look into the case

  • PAM’s employment expert investigates the situation.
  • They can also talk to other experts in the union and contact your employer and the authorities.

3. Negotiations between the parties

  • Your expert negotiates the dispute with your employer.
  • The aim is to reach an agreement without going to court.
  • If an agreement is reached, the matter is resolved. If not, the expert decides if it makes sense to continue.

4. Apply for legal aid

  • If PAM’s experts think there are enough reasons to continue, legal aid is granted and PAM’s lawyer starts working on the case.
  • The lawyer assesses the situation and may decide to take legal action.
  • A case is only taken to court if there are good reasons and enough evidence.

5. Court case

  • Both sides present their view and evidence to support it.
  • If there is no agreement, the court decides.
  • A decision by the District Court can be appealed to the Court of Appeal. You cannot appeal against a decision by the Labour Court.

6. End of the procedure

  • When the court ruling is final, the case ends.

Legal aid 

We answer nearly 50 000 questions every year and help our members in around 700 workplace disputes every year. Most cases are solved by negotiating. Very few cases end up in court.

If the situation cannot be solved by negotiating, as a PAM member you can get legal aid to sort it out. PAM’s legal aid is support and advice from the union if a problem with your job calls for legal action.

Legal aid may be granted under the following conditions:

  • You have been a member for at least 6 months before the dispute started. If you have transferred from another trade union, you must have been a member of PAM for at least 3 months and a trade union member for at least 6 months in total.
  • Your membership fees have been paid regularly all the time you have been a member.
  • You give the necessary information and are ready to negotiate.
  • Your membership is valid for the duration of the case.

PAM pays all the legal costs, including the other party’s costs if you lose the case. There is no upper limit on legal costs and no own contribution.

Legal aid is not granted retroactively.

Note: Student members do not pay the membership fee and therefore cannot get legal aid. If you were first a student member and then a paying member, you can get legal aid if you were a paying member for three months before the dispute started.

Legal costs can easily amount to tens of thousands of euros. If a service sector worker takes a case to court on their own, they risk taking on large expenses. If you lose a case you also have to pay the legal costs of the opposing side.

As a PAM member, you are protected against this risk. If the union decides to take the dispute to court, it also pays all expenses. You can also be sure that the lawyer defending your case has in-depth knowledge of employment conditions and disputes in the private services sector. 

Granting legal aid is always decided case by case. The decision to grant legal aid is made by PAM on a legal basis, so first we consider if the case can be successful. In making that decision, PAM checks to see if the law has been broken and if enough evidence is available.

Getting a court decision can sometimes also be important more generally and can help to make the law easier to interpret.

Frequently asked questions

PAM’s employment advice is free and is available to all PAM members. Our employment advice service gives support mostly for questions about employment relationships, working conditions or employment contracts.

Not a PAM member yet? Join PAM here

Keep your pay slips, employment contracts, time sheets and other documents related to your case close at hand so we can help you in the best possible way.

You cannot hire a lawyer yourself at PAM’s expense. If you are granted legal aid, PAM appoints a lawyer to handle your case and pays all the bills.

The union’s legal aid working group assesses if the case has a chance of success from a legal and factual point of view.

Getting a court decision can sometimes also be important more generally and can help to make the law easier to interpret.

Legal aid is not granted or it may be withdrawn later if

  • the member cannot be reached
  • the member does not give the correct information necessary to handle the case
  • the member does not agree to the mediation solution negotiated by the union
  • the member hires his/her own lawyer
  • the member has not paid his/her membership fees regularly.

Become a member

PAM is your union if you work in the private service sector as a salesperson, cleaner, waiter, cook, security guard or caretaker, for example. We negotiate the terms and conditions of your job.

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