1. Brief Description of Anti-Discrimination Laws The anti-discrimination legislation consists of the Discrimination Act, which prohibits both direct and indirect discrimination as well as harassment in working life based on sex, ethnicity, religion or other belief, disability, sexual orientation, transgender identity or expression and age. Furthermore, employers may neither discriminate against part-time nor fixed-term employees, […]
Generally, citizens of countries outside the EU must have a work permit to work in Sweden. In order for a person to get such a permit the employer must have prepared an offer of employment and advertised the job in Sweden and the EU for 10 days (this applies to new recruitments). It is also […]
1. Employees’ Rights In conjunction with the transfer of a business from one employer to another, the rights and obligations under employment agreements and employment relationships that existed at the time of the transfer to the new employer shall also be transferred. Prior to the decision to transfer the business (or a part of it), […]
1. Brief Description of Employees’ and Employers’ Organizations There are approx. 110 different trade unions and employer’s organizations on the Swedish labour market. The parties have agreed on more than 650 collective bargaining agreements. Almost one out of ten employers in Sweden are members of an employers’ organization and approx. 70 percent of the employees […]
1. Minimum Requirements An employment agreement does not have to take any specific form. However, Sweden has implemented the directive on an employer’s obligation to inform employees of the conditions applicable to the contract or employment relationship. As such, an employer must provide certain information in writing to the employee concerning the principal terms of […]
Employers have limited possibilities of obtaining information from registers containing information regarding applicants, such as medical information and criminal records. An applicant can, on the other hand, voluntarily present information about himself or herself, if the employer should request it. There is no obligation for the applicant to comply with such a request, but the […]
1. Definition of Restrictive Covenants Post-termination covenants are valid under certain conditions. In principle, covenants regarding confidentiality are normally used for all kinds of employees. However, when it comes to non-compete covenants, such covenants should normally only be used for employees whose position in the company makes such restrictions necessary. The period of a non-compete […]
1. Can the employer restrict the employee’s use of Internet and social media during working hours? An employer has the right to direct and allocate work and thus is able to restrict the employees’ use of Internet and social media during work hours. However, practically, this depends on the type of work that is being […]
1. Legal Framework There is no overall legislation regarding employee benefits, but there are some statutory provisions that give the right to payment in certain specific areas. For example, the Annual Leave Act entitles employees to vacation pay, the Sick Pay Act prescribes the right to sick pay during periods of sickness and the Employment […]
1. Grounds for Termination Employers may dismiss employees either with or without notice. A dismissal with notice must be based on objective grounds. Objective grounds are not defined by statute or case law, but can be either for objective reasons or subjective personal reasons. Objective reasons are dismissals based on redundancy, re-organisation or the economic […]
1. Minimum Working Conditions There are mandatory rules concerning minimum working conditions in Swedish law that must be observed by the employer. For example, there are regulations regarding working hours, working environment and non-discrimination. However, the terms and conditions are mainly regulated in the individual employment agreement and/or, if applicable, in the collective bargaining agreement. […]
