SWEDEN Law and Practice Contributed by: Robert Stromberg, Advokatfirman Cederquist KB
so. Digital participation in court hearings is generally compliant with the right to a fair trial in Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which is incorporated into Swedish law. Digital trade union consultations have become more common as well. There is no regulation on the pos - sibility of digital trade union consultations; instead, it is up to the parties involved to decide how a consulta - tion should proceed. The Labour Court is the first and only instance for employment disputes concerning a CBA or in accord - ance with the Co-Determination Act, or if a CBA applies between the parties. Other employment disputes are resolved in the district courts, with the Labour Court as the first and final instance of appeal. Negotiations and consultations between employers and organisations can be held at both a local and a central level. 9. Dispute Resolution 9.1 Litigation Regarding judicial disputes, since a trade union organisation has the right to bring an action before the court – regarding a dispute of a CBA, for example – this constitutes a form of class action. According to the Class Action Act, an organisational class action can be commenced by a non-profit association that, according to its statutes, will protect the interests of its employees. Class action claims are uncommon in Sweden. Furthermore, the right to resort to industrial action is a constitutional right laid down in the Instrument of Gov - ernment, which applies only to trade unions, employ - ers or employers’ organisations. Restrictions of this right are set forth in the Co-Determination Act, which stipulates that an employer and an employee who a CBA binds may not initiate or participate in industrial action if an organisation is party to that agreement and has not duly sanctioned the action.
Normally, the employee is represented by a union representative in court if they are a trade union mem - ber. Therefore, the employee bears no costs for their representation in court, as the trade union bears the costs. Employers are also sometimes represented by their employers’ organisation, but more often they are represented by an in-house legal representative or by a law firm. 9.2 Alternative Dispute Resolution The employer and the employee may agree in an employment agreement that any future disputes shall be settled by arbitration. Such a clause may be deemed unreasonably burdensome for the employee and set aside by the courts, particularly if the employ - ee does not occupy a managerial or comparable posi - tion. Dispute resolution regulations may also be specified in CBAs. 9.3 Costs For employment disputes, the main principle regard - ing liability for litigation costs is found in the Swedish Code of Judicial Procedure – namely, that the losing party shall be ordered to bear the prevailing party’s litigation costs. However, according to the Labour Disputes Act, each party may be ordered to bear its own litigation costs if the losing party had reasonable grounds to bring the action. However, this rule is nor - mally only applied in collective bargaining disputes.
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