SWEDEN Law and Practice Contributed by: Robert Stromberg and Malin Dunér, Advokatfirman Cederquist KB
1. Opening an HR Internal Investigation 1.1 Circumstances An HR internal investigation is typically preceded by complaints or other reports filed by employees, either orally or in writing. The forum for such complaints var - ies; it can be the employer’s whistle-blowing chan - nel or other reporting channels, or a report can be made directly to HR, a manager or any other company representative. The nature of such complaints varies; typical matters are sexual harassment or harassment, bullying or victimisation, and other work environment- related issues such as stress or co-operation issues. HR internal investigations can also be initiated in con - nection with an internal audit or equivalent, and/or due to suspicions of other crimes by employees (fraud, embezzlement, etc), other severe misconduct or vio - lations of company policies (breach of authorisation procedures or the code of conduct, etc). 1.2 Bases There are no laws stipulating that an employer must have legal bases in order to conduct an HR internal investigation. There are, however, some situations that trigger an obligation to initiate and conduct an investigation. • When receiving a whistle-blowing report, employ - ers are required to handle and investigate it according to the obligations stipulated in the Swedish Whistleblowing Act (2021:890). • Under the Swedish Discrimination Act (2008:567), employers have a legal obligation to investigate sexual harassment or harassment related to a protected characteristic. Such an investigation is required when the employer becomes aware that an employee, intern or hired worker considers themselves to have been subject to harassment or sexual harassment, in connection with work, by someone who performs work or has an intern - ship with the employer. Failure to conduct such an investigation implies an obligation to pay discrimi - nation fees to the affected employees. • Employers are also responsible for the health, safety and well-being of their employees within the framework of the Swedish Work Environment Act (1977:1160) and the provisions issued by the
Swedish Work Environment Authority. Pursuant to this framework, employers are obliged to ensure that the employees are not affected by ill health or exposed to other safety risks. Therefore, they have an obligation to investigate cases of victimisation and bullying, for example. Such investigations shall include assessments of potential work environment risks and actions to prevent future similar incidents. • An internal investigation should also be conducted by employers if such an obligation is specified in internal policies or other procedures. It is recommended that employers, at their own dis - cretion, investigate all circumstances, irregularities or similar issues that may result in the employer having to impose labour law sanctions such as dismissal or termination. This enables them to take an informed decision on an appropriate labour law sanction (if any), and to defend and present evidence in any subse - quent legal claims and/or disputes in court. 1.3 Communication Channels Under the Whistleblowing Act (2021:890), private as well as public employers with 50 or more employees are obligated to implement and maintain a whistle- blowing channel for oral and written reports about irregularities that have been observed in a work-relat - ed context, and which concern matters that are of public interest to disclose and/or concern violations of relevant Union acts. Specific procedures shall apply for such reporting, and for following up reports. Any incoming whistle-blowing report shall be man - aged by an independent and impartial person or func - tion. The identity of any reporting person is protected by statutory confidentiality provisions, but there is no statutory requirement that anonymous reports be per - missible. In general, however, employers allow anony - mous reporting. If the reporting person chooses to be anonymous, it may be difficult for the employer to follow-up on the report with the reporting person. 1.4 Responsibility There are no legal rules stipulating who should be responsible for carrying out an HR internal investi - gation in Sweden. It should, however, be noted that whistle-blower reports made through the whistle- blowing channel should be handled by independent
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