In a situation of redundancy, a number of employees in a grocery chain were offered continued employment with shortened working hours. The employees signed the employment offers, but added “under protest” on the documents. The Labour Court found that the offers should be regarded as an offer of new employment with the employer and that the employees had accepted the offers, regardless of their note of “under protest”. Consequently, the employees could not be considered to have been dismissed by the measure. This case overrules previous case law in favour of the employer, since it declares that this kind of measure from employees – “to eat the cake and have it too” – is not a lawful practice. The case also clarifies that it is possible to change working hours with a background of redundancy.
Sweden