SWEDEN Law and Practice Contributed by: Robert Stromberg, Advokatfirman Cederquist KB
Holiday pay is usually paid out in connection with the employee’s use of their accrued holiday. According to the Annual Leave Act, holiday pay may be cal - culated according to either the same salary rule or the percentage rule. The same salary rule applies to employees whose remuneration is calculated on a monthly or weekly basis. The percentage rule applies to employees whose pay is not determined on a week - ly or monthly basis or who have a significant variable component in their salary. If the variable elements of their salary make up at least 10% of the total salary for the year, the percentage rule will be used. According to the same salary rule, the employee is paid their regular salary plus a holiday supplement of 0.43% of their monthly salary per holiday. For variable parts of the salary, the employee is paid 12% of the variable salary if they are entitled to 25 days of holiday. According to the percentage rule, the holiday pay for employees is 12% of the total salary paid out during the qualifying year when the employee is entitled to 25 holiday days. If the employment ends before the employee has taken accrued days of paid holiday to which they are entitled, the employer must pay the employee in lieu of the unused holiday pay entitlement. Required Leave An employee may go on parental leave until their child is 18 months old. Thereafter, the employee is entitled to leave for as long as they receive compensation from the state. The state pays compensation for a total of 480 days per child. The compensation may be paid until the child reaches the age of 12 years, but only 96 days may remain when the child reaches the age of four years. In addition to parental leave, the mother is entitled to parental allowance during the 60 days prior to the expected birth of the child. The father of the child may also be on paternity leave for ten days in connection with the birth of the child. The entitlement to parental days is divided equally between the parents, but the parents have the right to transfer their entitlements to each other, except for 90 days; these 90 days will be forfeited if they are not
used. As a result, one parent may use a maximum of 390 days, during which the allowance is capped at 80% of the employee’s salary up to a certain salary level. Further, parents are entitled to transfer 45 paren - tal days each to someone who is not the guardian of the child. In Sweden, some employers choose to offer their employees parental leave pay in addition to the parental allowance paid by the state. If a CBA is in force in the workplace, parental leave pay paid by the employer is often mandatory. A parent is also enti - tled to parental leave and temporary parental benefit if their child is sick. An employee is entitled to mandatory sick pay pay - able by the employer, provided that the employment is expected to continue for more than one month or that the employee has been working for more than 14 consecutive days. During days one to 14 of the sick leave, the employee is entitled to 80% of the esti - mated salary and employment benefits they receive during a normal week. A deduction of 20% is made from the sick pay ( karensavdrag ). If the employee falls ill again within five days, the previous sick leave period will continue, and no further deductions will be made. From day 15 in the sickness period, the employee may be entitled to compensation payable by the state. The entitlement to such compensation is based on strict rules and is decided by the Swedish Social Insurance Agency. There is no obligation for the employer to provide any supplementary sick pay from day 15 in the sickness period, unless such is provided for in an applicable CBA or individual agreement. Limitations on Confidentiality An employee’s obligation not to reveal confidential information about the employer’s business follows from the employee’s duty of loyalty during employ - ment. However, according to the Trade Secrets Act, the disclosure of a company’s trade secret by an indi - vidual to make public or reveal to a public authority or other authorised body a matter that may reasonably be suspected of constituting a criminal offence punish - able by imprisonment or that is deemed to constitute another serious irregularity in the company’s business activities is not considered an unlawful disclosure. A comparable principle is found in the Whistle-Blowing
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