The Swedish Labour Court Declared a Non-Solicitation Clause in an Accountant’s Employment Agreement Unreasonable

A Swedish employer may provide protection for customer relations by including a non-solicitation clause in the individual employment agreement to be applied post-termination. However, the enforceability of non-competition clauses post-termination is questionable in Sweden. In a recent case, the Swedish Labour Court (AD 2015 no. 8) declared a non-solicitation clause in an accountant’s employment agreement unreasonable, and the clause was entirely set aside. Due to the wide scope of the clause, and the fact that the accountant was not compensated during the restricted period (2 years), and some other circumstances at hand, the Labour Court appears to have seen the clause as a non-compete clause, and therefore declared it unreasonable. Thus, it is important to carefully review clauses that by its wording looks like a pure non-solicitation clause, to avoid that it actually may have the similar effects as a non-compete clause.