SWEDEN Law and Practice Contributed by: Karl Ole Möller, Nordia Law
7. Employment 7.1 Sports-Related Employment Contracts
against sport-related decisions and disciplinary sanctions handed down by the relevant NGB. Public courts have jurisdiction over all disputes outside the sport governing bodies’ internal dis - pute resolution systems (such as civil and crimi - nal liability cases). 6.2 ADR (Including Arbitration) As mentioned in 6.1 National Court System , a regulatory or disciplinary offence by an athlete or other similar sports disputes (such as breach of contract claims) will usually be determined by a disciplinary committee or arbitration panel in line with the relevant NGB’s rules. 6.3 Challenging Sports Governing Bodies An arbitration award from a NGB is enforceable as a court judgment under the Enforcement Code. The award must be in writing and signed by a majority of the arbitrators. There are no established principles in Sweden regarding when the public courts can examine and decide on lawsuits in relation to decisions of NGBs (for example, decisions on member - ship issues or disciplinary sanctions). The pub - lic courts are generally very restrictive when it comes to challenging decisions from NGBs and there are very few court cases on this issue. However, a public court may set aside a decision from a NGB if the decision is based on obvious unreasonable circumstances, such as discrimi - nation because of gender, race or religion.
The relationship between clubs and professional athletes is governed by Swedish employment law. Professional athletes in commercialised team sports (eg, football and ice hockey) are regarded as employees. In most cases, stand - ard form employment contracts set out by the relevant NGB are used. In many cases, these standard employment contracts form an integral part of the collective bargaining agreement in place for the specific sport. Temporary or fixed-term employment is gen - erally allowed, up to a maximum of two years. Longer fixed-term employment has been agreed in some collective bargaining agreements (such as within football). The individuals and clubs must adhere to the transfer restrictions set out by the governing bodies and the corresponding rules from inter - national governing bodies, such as FIFA’s Regu - lations on the Status and Transfer of Players and All Swedish employers must take reasonable care of their employees’ health and safety. The employers are also required by law to protect their employees from abuse, discrimination, sexual harassment, etc. The Sports Confed - eration and SISU Idrottsutbildarna are working proactively with their members to implement several regulations, guidelines and educational programmes related to, for example, doping, sports integrity, diversity, sexual harassment and violence in the workplace, safeguarding and pro - tection of minors. FIFA’s Transfer Matching System. 7.2 Employer/Employee Rights
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