An employee was employed through an oral agreement at a Swedish law firm. The employer and the employee had agreed that the total salary should consist of commission based on the work performed by the employee. A dispute arose after the employee’s termination of employment concerning the right to vacation pay and general damages for the law firm’s breach of the Annual Leave Act. The main question concerned whether the parties had agreed that the vacation pay should be included in the salary and thus, whether the employee had received less vacation benefits than provided for by the Annual Leave Act. Initially, the Labour Court found that the employer had violated section 6 c of the Employment Protection Act by not providing the employee with the terms and conditions of employment in writing. Regarding the vacation pay, the Labour Court concluded that the law firm had been unsuccessful in proving that the parties had agreed that the vacation pay should be included in the salary. The law firm was therefore obligated to retroactively pay vacation pay and damages amounting to SEK 20,000 to the employee.
Sweden