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Employee protections in Sweden

All countries have certain laws in place to protect employees from coming to any sort of harm at work. If you want to employ workers in Sweden, it’s important to understand what this legislation looks like, both to protect your workers and to avoid legal risks for your business.

In this section, we’ll discuss some of the most important employee protection legislation in Sweden, including the rules about data privacy, equal treatment for temporary agency workers, pay equity, and protection from harassment and discrimination. We’ll also talk about legal protections for whistleblowers and the rights of temporary agency workers in Sweden.

Whistleblowing in Sweden

Whistleblowers play an important role in society in Sweden by calling out wrongdoing they witness in the workplace. While whistleblowers are usually employees of a company, they could also be volunteers, job candidates, or freelancers. Sweden’s whistleblowing law ensures employers have adequate systems in place for whistleblowers to disclose wrongdoing, as well as protecting them from retaliation after the fact.

Sweden’s whistleblowing law

Sweden’s whistleblowing law is called the Whistleblowing Act, and it’s the country’s implementation of the EU Whistleblowing Directive. It entered into force on 17 December 2021. Under this law, companies with more than 50 employees are required to implement an internal whistleblowing system and take steps to inform their staff about the whistleblowing channels available to them.

Employees (and other whistleblowers) must be able to report wrongdoing either orally or in writing, and all reports must be investigated by an independent individual or entity. The whistleblower must be given confirmation of receipt of their report within seven days, and feedback within three months. Sweden’s whistleblowing law also allows for anonymous disclosures.

Who can be a whistleblower in Sweden?

  • Under Sweden’s whistleblowing law, whistleblowers can be:
  • Employees and job applicants
  • Volunteers or people seeking voluntary work
  • Interns or people seeking internships
  • Self-employed people or subcontractors
  • Entrepreneurs
  • Members of the board
  • Shareholders

Protections for whistleblowers in Sweden

Another important aspect of Sweden’s whistleblowing law is the protection it provides for whistleblowers after they make a disclosure. Under the law, employers may not retaliate against a whistleblower. Retaliation includes actions such as dismissal, degradation of salary, or a change of work tasks. If an employer does retaliate against a whistleblower, they could be made to pay compensation of between 16 and 32 weeks’ salary.

Additional requirements in Sweden

Sweden’s whistleblowing law is based on an EU Directive. However, the legislation goes beyond the EU rules in two key ways. First, whistleblowers are protected when the disclosure is in the ‘general interest’ of the public, and not just when it concerns a breach of Union law. Sweden’s law also requires municipalities with less than 10,000 inhabitants to comply with the reporting requirements, which is beyond the scope of the directive.

Data privacy in Sweden

As in most countries, there are laws in place in Sweden designed to protect employees’ privacy. Businesses looking to hire employees in Sweden should be aware of the rules that apply so they understand what they can and can’t do with their workers’ data.

Sweden’s data privacy laws

The main data privacy law in Sweden is the Swedish Data Protection Act, which is Sweden’s implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). It came into force in 2018. Under this law, employees must make sure of the following when processing employee data:

  • Personal data is correct, adequate, and relevant
  • Data is kept only as long as necessary
  • There is a legal basis for processing the data

The performance or administration of an employment relationship could be counted as a legal basis for processing data. However, employers must ensure that employees are given adequate information about the processing of their data and that they give their consent for data processing freely. Sensitive personal data, which includes data relating to personal beliefs, trade union membership, or health, can only be processed for the purpose of complying with employment law.

Employee monitoring and surveillance

There are also strict rules in Sweden when it comes to the monitoring and surveillance of employees, including CCTV, email monitoring and other forms of electronic monitoring.

Video surveillance is generally considered to be an infringement of privacy. While it is possible to conduct video surveillance in the workplace in Sweden, the employer needs a good reason for doing so, such as preventing theft or ensuring the safety of employees. Employers must limit video surveillance to what is strictly necessary and are generally not allowed to record areas for changing or recreation, such as changing rooms or break rooms.

When it comes to other forms of electronic monitoring, there is no specific law that applies in Sweden, though employers must ensure any monitoring they conduct complies with the GDPR and Sweden’s data privacy laws. Employers generally don’t have the right to review employees’ private files or emails, except when there is a serious suspicion of disloyalty or criminal activity.

Equal treatment for temporary agency workers in Sweden

Employers sometimes hire temporary agency workers to fill short-term gaps in their workforce or to access additional labour during busy periods. In Sweden, there are specific rules that apply to temporary agency workers and the companies that employ them.

Temporary agency work in Sweden

Temporary agency workers in Sweden are granted various rights and protections by the Agency Work Act, which was first implemented in 2012 and amended in 2022. The act is only applicable to workers if the following are true:

  • The agency is a business whose function is to assign workers to clients.
  • The workers are employed by the agency for the purpose of being assigned to clients.
  • The assignment of workers to clients is temporary in nature.
  • The business agreement between the agency and its clients is intended for staffing assignments.

Equal treatment for temporary agency workers

Under the Agency Work Act, workers hired through temporary work agencies in Sweden have the right to equal treatment with other workers in the company. This means they must be treated the same as if they were hired directly by the client company instead of being engaged through a temporary work agency.

The right to equal treatment applies to all employment conditions, including pay, working hours, overtime, rest periods, and protection against discrimination, for example. Unlike in some other countries, temporary agency workers have this right from their first day of employment with a client company. It’s the responsibility of the temporary work agency that employs the workers to ensure they receive equal treatment.

Right to permanent work after two years

Following an amendment to the Agency Work Act in 2022, workers in Sweden now have the right to be offered permanent employment with a client company if they have worked for them through a temporary work agency for a certain period. Specifically, the client company must offer a worker permanent employment if they have worked at least 24 months within a 36-month period.

The offer doesn’t have to be for a full-time position, and the remuneration offered doesn’t have to match what the worker was earning through the temporary work agency. If a worker doesn’t accept an employer’s offer of permanent employment, the employer is considered to have fulfilled its obligations. They can then continue engaging the worker through the temporary work agency. If an employer is unable to make an offer of permanent employment, they must pay the worker two months’ salary instead.

Anti-discrimination laws and protection against harassment in Sweden

Employees in Sweden have the right not to be discriminated against on the basis of their race, gender, or any other protected characteristic. This is an important part of Sweden’s employment law.

Anti-discrimination laws in Sweden

Sweden’s main law governing discrimination is the Discrimination Act (Diskrimineringslagen), which prohibits both direct and indirect discrimination on the basis of protected characteristics. Direct discrimination is when an employer treats one person or group of people differently based on a protected characteristic. Indirect discrimination is when a rule theoretically applies to everyone but disproportionately impacts certain groups in practice. An example would be a minimum height requirement for a job, which would disqualify more women than men.

In Sweden, protected characteristics include a person’s:

  • Gender
  • Gender identity
  • Ethnicity
  • Religion or other belief system
  • Functional impairment
  • Sexual orientation
  • Age

It’s also prohibited to discriminate against employees because of their part-time or fixed-term status, to treat applicants or employees unfairly on grounds related to parental leave, or to discriminate against trade union representatives because of their union activities.

Protection against harassment in Sweden

Harassment is when an individual is subject to unwelcome behaviour related to a protected characteristic. Sexual harassment is harassment that is sexual in nature. Employers in Sweden are required to put in place active measures to prevent discrimination, reprisals, and harassment at work. If an employee claims that they have been subject to harassment, the employer is required to investigate the circumstances surrounding the alleged harassment and take corrective action if necessary. They must also take appropriate measures to prevent further harassment in the future.

Pay equity laws in Sweden

Equal pay is fundamental to Swedish employment law, which prohibits paying men and women differently for the same work or work of ‘equal value.’ This means that a woman in Sweden may be able to make an equal pay claim even if the male comparator has a different job title, as long as their work is similar in nature.

Sweden’s pay equity laws

The Discrimination Act requires employers in Sweden to ensure men and women receive equal pay. All employers must conduct an annual review of equal jobs and jobs of equal value within their organisation to ensure that there is no discrimination. Companies with more than 10 employees must document this review in writing and describe the specific measures they’ll take to address any identified pay gaps. Companies with 25 or more employees must also produce an annual equity plan.

The impact of the EU Pay Transparency Directive

In 2023, the EU approved a new directive on pay transparency, which must be transposed into national law in all member states by 2026. Among other things, the directive requires companies over a certain size to carry out regular gender pay gap reporting and to provide salary information to job candidates. It also grants employees the right to request certain information about their pay and how it is calculated.

In July 2024, Sweden became the first EU country to draft local legislation implementing the directive. Here are some of the changes that will be introduced once this is passed into law:

  • Employers will have to provide information to job applicants about their starting salary or range and any collective bargaining agreement provisions on salary. They must provide this in reasonable time to allow for negotiation on pay.
  • Employers will have to inform employees about the norms and practices that help them determine salaries and help employees to understand annual equal pay salary reviews.
  • Employees will have the right to information about their individual pay level and the average pay, broken down by gender, of other employees performing the same work.
  • Employers with more than 100 employees will have to report annually on their gender pay gap. If a pay gap of 5% or more is found, the employer will have to provide an objective reason or take corrective action.
  • Employers will have to include a comparison between women’s and men’s pay progression in connection with parental leave in their annual equal pay salary analysis.

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Understanding what you can and can’t do as an employer is one of the biggest challenges of hiring in Sweden. Get it wrong, and you could face legal action and damage to your reputation.

Our solutions protect both you and your workers, thanks to our team’s in-depth knowledge of local and international labour laws. That means you can stop worrying about compliance issues and focus on getting the job done.

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