Labour law and work environment

On Wednesday 8 November, the media is welcome to attend the opening hour and subsequent press conference during #EqualityWorks17 at Gothia Towers in Gothenburg, hosted by Sweden’s Minister for Gender Equality Åsa Regnér. Representatives from the upcoming EU presidencies will attend and will discuss gender equality in relation to the labour market, the situation of women brought to light by the #MeToo campaign, and overall progress in the area of gender equality in the EU based on the Gender Equality Index of the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), released in October.

The Ministry of Employment provides non-official translations of some labour legislation.

To strengthen national and international work environment efforts, the Government has today decided to establish a new government agency for work environment awareness. The agency is to be situated in Gävle and will start operations on 1 June 2018.

Everyone who can work should work and contribute to our common welfare. This is why, in the autumn budget, the Government is investing in strengthening labour market measures and the integration of new arrivals. The Government is reforming the system of subsidised employment and introducing a new, uniform supportive measure – introductory jobs. The Government is also strengthening efforts for a sustainable working life by establishing a new agency for work environment awareness and allocating funds for the development of methods to combat unfair competition. Moreover, the Government is investing in measures to continue creating a sustainable reception system and ensuring the effective integration of newly arrived immigrants. The paths to employment will be strengthened through a new regulatory framework for Arbetsförmedlingen (the Swedish public employment service) on the integration of new arrivals and the introduction of an education and training obligation. The Budget Bill for 2018 is based on an agreement between the Government and the Left Party.

The regulations for posting in Sweden are based on the employee organisations having main responsibility for monitoring working and employment conditions for employees posted to Sweden. At the same time, the Swedish Work Environment Authority supervises the working environment of those posted. In order for this control and supervision to function, an amended regulatory framework for notification obligation for posting is proposed in a ministry memorandum from the Ministry of Employment.

Conditions in the transport sector are important in relation to the Government’s work for fair working conditions in the labour market. In a ministry memorandum from the Ministry of Employment, amendments to the Posting of Workers Act are proposed with the aim of clarifying the applicability of the regulatory framework to the carriage of goods by road and improving supervision and regulatory compliance.

The Government has adopted the government bill ‘New posting regulations’. These legislative amendments help create a more effective and efficient system for the protection of the rights of posted workers under the EU Posting of Workers Directive and the Enforcement Directive. The legislative proposal also contains provisions aimed at increasing transparency and predictability when posting workers so that it will be easier for companies that post workers to find out what conditions apply in the Swedish labour market.

Non-official translation. Amendments: up to and including SFS 2015:760.

Non-official translation. Amendments: up to and including SFS 2014:424.