Sweden recently implemented major changes in employment law touching on workforce reductions, firing disputes, fixed-term employment and staffing agency workers.
Significant updates to the Swedish Employment Protection Act (EPA) provide new protections to workers and benefits for employers.
"The new EPA brings about multiple new changes for both employers and employees," said Paula Hogéus, global labor and employment law leader at EY in Stockholm.
"The new EPA implies a careful balance of interests between employers' needs for flexibility and employees' needs for employment protection," said Hogéus, who noted lawmakers revised procedures for handling termination disputes and strengthened rights for employees with fixed-term employment.
The previous legislation was considered too inflexible for employers, said Anna Jerndorf, an attorney with TM & Partners in Stockholm.
"What is very special with this new legislation is that it is based on an agreement between the largest employer organizations and trade unions so it was very much a codification of that agreement," Jerndorf said.
'Last In, First Out' Exemptions
Employers now have more flexibility in making exemptions to seniority rules during a layoff. The new EPA gives all employers the right to exempt three employees from the "last in, first out" rule. Previously, organizations with up to 10 employees could exempt up to two people from the rule.
This right applies for each operating unit within the company, Jerndorf...
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