Sweden: Swedish Labour Court Upholds Summary Dismissal After Positive Workplace Drug Test
Author: Karolina Sundqvist
In a recent judgement, the Swedish Labour Court held that an employer had lawful grounds to summarily dismiss a warehouse employee who drove a forklift with amphetamine in his body. The court found that the forklift driving was both clearly dangerous and unlawful, and that this applied notwithstanding the low concentration shown by the saliva test, since there is currently no test method capable of measuring the degree to which a person is affected by amphetamine.
In AD 2026 no. 21, the Swedish Labour Court considered whether an employer had lawful grounds to summarily dismiss a warehouse employee after a random workplace saliva test showed amphetamine while working as a forklift driver. The employee worked in a warehouse environment involving significant safety risks, and the employer’s policies prohibited drug use in the workplace.
The union challenged the dismissal and argued, among other things, that the saliva test was not sufficiently reliable and that the measured concentration was too low to justify summary dismissal. The central issues for the court were whether the positive test result was reliable, whether it was proven that the employee had intentionally used amphetamine, and whether that conduct amounted to gross misconduct justifying summary dismissal.
The court held that the test result was reliable. It found that the saliva testing method used was sufficiently established and that the testing and control procedures were adequate. The court therefore concluded that it had been proven beyond reasonable doubt that the employee had amphetamine in his saliva during working hours.
The court also held that the employee had intentionally ingested amphetamine. It described a reliable positive test result showing narcotics in the body as very strong evidence of intentional use, unless the employee can provide a reasonable and acceptable explanation for why the substance was present. In this case, the employee had told the reviewing doctor that he used nasal spray and dietary supplements, including creatine, and suggested that those products might explain the result. The court found that explanation had been disproved by the doctor’s assessment and noted that the employee had not otherwise given any reasonable or verifiable explanation for the presence of amphetamine. It therefore also rejected the argument that the low concentration pointed to unintentional ingestion.
The court further noted that there is currently no test that can reliably show whether, or to what extent, a person is affected by a particular concentration of narcotics. Since the employee was driving a forklift in a safety-sensitive environment, the court held that the conduct was both clearly dangerous and unlawful. There were therefore lawful grounds for summary dismissal, notwithstanding the low concentration shown by the saliva test.
Key Action Points for Human Resources and In-house Counsel:
Employers in Sweden, particularly in safety-sensitive businesses, should ensure clear drug policies, robust testing procedures, and proper documentation of the testing process.
