Svenska
Labour Law
Labour law regulates the relationship between employer and employee. In Sweden labour law is to a large degree based on collective bargaining and is in a constant state of flux as new agreements are reached between the labour market’s various parties.
KBM are always up-to-date on the issues surrounding employment contracts, pensions, redundancies, leave of absence, competitive relationships and more. We help you to deal with labour law issues, for example during mergers & acquisitions and reorganisations; matters of enormous consequence for you and your company.
KBM provide labour law advice across the board, to both Swedish and international companies. Whether it be formulating employment contracts, confidentiality agreements, pensions or bonuses, protecting sensitive business information or issues of competition and loyalty.
KBM collaborates with Arbetsrättsjouren Sverige AB, an organisation providing online labour law advice.
It is possible to enter into an employment contract both orally and in writing, so there are no formal requirements. As an employer, however, you should provide a written confirmation of employment to the employee within one month of the start of the employment if it will last for longer than three weeks. The required content of the confirmation is set out in Section 6c of the Employment Protection Act (anställningsskyddslagen).
However, as a law firm, we recommend that you sign an employment contract setting out the rights and the obligations between the parties. This will allow the employer and employee to avoid uncertainty and potential disputes about that you have agreed.
We have assisted many employers who have had disputes with employees. These experiences have shown us several examples of where there was no employment contract in place or where the employment contract was not fit for purpose. We therefore urge all employers to sign a suitable employment contract from the start, and we can help you to do that.
A dismissal by the employer must be objectively justified. In the case of permanent employment, it is possible to dismiss an employee for personal reasons or due to redundancy. Personal reasons include everything related to the employed person, such as misconduct, unauthorised absence, refusal to work etc. Redundancy is everything else, including actual redundancy, for example, the company may want to make more profit by reducing staff costs in the business or there might be a reorganisation of the business.
In the case of temporary employment, the parties have usually agreed terms and conditions in the employment contract. The contract might include a termination clause, otherwise these types of employment have a start and an end date.
The process of a dismissal requires a great deal of knowledge and should be handled by someone who has this knowledge. Before some dismissals, the employer is obliged to negotiate with the union, and in other cases the employer must give notice to the union. You are obliged to look into the possibility of redeployment, etc. If the employer makes an error in any of the stages of the dismissal process, it can be expensive for the employer.
The employer and employee can also reach a voluntary agreement that the employment relationship will be terminated. This kind of agreement must be drawn up by an experienced person in the field of employment law.