Introduction
The labour market in Sweden is to a great extent self-regulated by employers’ organisations and trade unions. The Swedish labour law model is based on civil rules that govern most aspects of the employer-employee relationship. Mandatory laws and regulations in collective bargaining agreements provide a comprehensive framework for the terms and conditions of employment. Disputes are finally settled by the Swedish Labour Court, which is the final instance in employment related disputes. However, the majority of disputes are solved by the parties on the labour market through consultations and negotiations.
Key Points
- An employment agreement does not have to take any specific form to be valid.
- An employment may only be terminated for objective reasons, such as redundancy or personal reasons.
- An employer has certain consultation and information obligations towards trade unions even if the employer is not bound by any collective bargaining agreement.
- Generally, citizens of countries outside the EU must have a work permit to work in Sweden.
Legal framework
Swedish employment law is regulated by statutes and case law, as well as by collective bargaining agreements concluded with trade unions. Collective bargaining agreements are of great importance and they often contain regulations deviating from statutory provisions to better suit the type of business where they apply. Regulations regarding employment protection are found in the Employment Protection Act. Employees whose duties and conditions of employment are such that they may be deemed to occupy a managerial or comparable position are excluded from the Employment Protection Act.
The Co-Determination Act contains the general provisions governing the relationship between employers and trade unions in such areas as right to association, information, negotiations, industrial actions and labour market stability obligations. Other essential statutes are, for example, the Discrimination Act, the Annual Leave Act, the Personal Data Act, the Parental Leave Act, the Working Hours Act, the Work Environment Act and the Sick Pay Act.
New Developments
The Swedish Work Environment Authority has announced a new structure for the statutes issued by the Authority. The new structure is intended to make the work environment responsibilities of employers clearer and more manageable by combining the Authority’s existing statutes and recommendations in a more compact and simple structure, while keeping the same level of protection and obligations for employees and employers. The new structure will enter into force as of 1 January 2025.
As of 1 July 2024, new regulations apply regarding so-called double days and transfer of parental days. A parent may transfer up to a total of 45 parental days to someone other than the other parent, such as the child’s grandfather or grandmother. As regards double days (days where both parents are on parental leave together and both parents have parental allowance to use), parents to children up to 15 months can now take 60 double days.
The new regulations regarding long-term agency workers’ employment become applicable this year. As of 1 October 2022, new regulations in the Agency Work Act entered into force, stipulating that a temporary worker who has been hired out to a client company for more than 24 months during a 36-month period must be offered an employment for an indefinite term with the client company or receive 2 months’ salary in case the client company does not wish to offer an employment. As the new rules entered into force 1 October 2022, a 24-month period will have passed as of 1 October 2024 and the new regulations will become applicable for affected agency workers.
On 25 April 2024, the parliament decided on changes in the Discrimination Act. The new regulations will entail that discrimination on grounds of sex is extended to cover anyone who intends to change or have changed their legal gender or have underdone gender reassignment surgery. The new regulations will enter into force as of 1 July 2025.
