Leadership training and labour law

Leadership training on labour law – an introduction

Leadership training and labour law go hand in hand, at least as an introduction to the subject. Then you will learn the basics of the most important labour laws that you as a manager need to have knowledge of and relate to. Here we give you a taste of what such leadership training could contain.

Basic knowledge of labour law

As a manager, you need to have the basic knowledge that leadership training in labour law can give you. Then you will learn how to deal with the legal aspects of modern leadership. As a manager, there are a lot of heavy legal elements to keep track of and be responsible for. There can also be difficult and expensive consequences if this is missed. Therefore, knowledge of the law surrounding personnel and leadership is central to you as a manager.

Improve knowledge of contracts

In many organizations, there is an HR department that is experts in labour law and contracts. As a manager, however, you would do well to request a leadership course, which gives you basic knowledge of the field of labour law. You can also ask HR for an introduction so that you know what is applicable in your particular workplace. In more complicated situations, be sure to include the HR department as support, to make sure you are doing the right thing. If you want to improve your skills, leadership training in labour law is a quick way to increase your knowledge.

Advanced course in labour law

Writing more exhaustively about labour law would have required a lot of space. Here you therefore only get an overview of what is important to know as a new manager. For those who want more in-depth knowledge, we recommend an in-depth course on the subject. During such a type of in-depth leadership training, you build up a good competence in the subject. You'll learn more details and practice different scenarios that you may encounter. In this way, you will receive good training in the field of labour law.

Learn the structure of labour law in a leadership training

When you have chosen leadership training and labour law, you will realize that the law in working life is built on different levels:

1. EU rules
2. Swedish legislation
3. Central collective agreements
4. Local agreements

In addition, an organization may have different policies that regulate things that apply to that particular workplace, such as dress code, smoking, etc. It makes laws that will apply throughout the EU. The Member States then approach the legislation in different ways, creating their frameworks for how the provision is to be applied in the country in question. An example of this is the Working Time Act.

Knowledge of the legislation

In addition to EU law, there are several different legislations within Swedish labour law. During leadership training in labour law, you will get acquainted with various laws. We will introduce some of them below. Some of these laws are dispositive, that is, they can be dealt with differently in collective agreements. Central collective agreements are made between an employer's organisation and an employee organisation. Local agreements can then be made between the employer locally and the employee organization. Disputes in working life are handled in the Labour Court. Some disputes can go directly to the labour court, while others are first dealt with in the district court.

Leadership training teaches you about laws for working life

Leadership training and labour law are a good combination for a course. There you will meet professional trainers who teach you that it is the Employment Protection Act that regulates what has to do with employment and termination of employment. For you as a manager, it is important to know, among other things, about the right of preference. The right of pre-emption means that an employee who has worked for an employer for one year has the right to request priority for re-employment with the same employer nine months after the employment has ended. As a manager, it is important to be aware of this, so that those who have preferential rights to re-employment are not overlooked in recruitment.

Lessons about LAS

Learning good lessons about LAS will give you benefits. You will learn that the Employment Protection Act also includes the conversion rule. The conversion rule means that an employee who has worked for an employer for at least two years during five years has the right to become a permanent employee. Termination of employment is also regulated in the Employment Protection Act. There are different ways to terminate employment. For example, the employee can terminate his employment himself, and then there is often a notice period regulated in the collective agreement.

The Employment Protection Act regulates the various forms of employment that exist. As an employee, you can have the following forms of employment:

Learn the different forms of employment during the education

Leadership training in labour law covers different forms of employment. Among other things, you will learn about permanent employment, that is, what is often called permanent employment. This employment has no end date, but termination of the service must be done by dismissal from the employer or employee side or by dismissal. A temporary position is limited in time and has an end date. A temporary position means that you substitute for someone absent, or fill a gap during a recruitment period.

A general fixed-term employment contract is also limited in time. The difference between a temporary position and a general fixed-term contract is that in the latter you do not cover for anyone else, but work in addition to the regular staff. This can happen, among other things, during a project period (sometimes you hear the term project employment, but the correct term is general fixed-term employment). Time under temporary employment and general fixed-term employment are counted separately, which means that it is not possible to combine the time for temporary and general fixed-term employment to achieve preference for re-employment or conversion to permanent employment.

Leadership training teaches you about the dismissal

Since leadership training in labour law provides good knowledge, you will also learn what applies to dismissals. If the employer wants to terminate employment, there must be a factual basis for this. Factual grounds can be any of the following three reasons:

Dismissal due to lack of work:

if the employer finds that there is a need to reduce the number of employees, dismissal due to lack of work is used. If you as an employer intend to dismiss an employee, certain formalities must be followed. The employee and the trade union must be notified of the measure before it takes effect. If more than five employees are to be dismissed due to lack of work, the employment service must also be notified of the measure. If the employer identifies a lack of work, a rotation list must be drawn up. The rotation list indicates which employees, according to the Employment Protection Act, have the shortest period of employment in their area of expertise and thus must leave the workplace first. The notice period is applied, during which the employee retains salary and any benefits.

Dismissal due to personal reasons:

 if an employee does not manage his employment or does not meet the competence requirements set, the employer may dismiss the employee due to personal reasons. Personal reasons may be, for example, not taking care of the assignment's commitments, cooperation difficulties or misconduct. The employee must be made aware at an early stage that he or she is not doing his or her job satisfactorily and be allowed to correct this. The employer must also contribute with support to make this possible. Different collective agreements also allow for different possibilities to officially inform the individual about the misconduct, for example by reminder or warning. If the employer chooses to dismiss the employee, the employee and the trade union organization must be notified that the employer intends to take this action before the dismissal is carried out. The notice period is applied, during which the employee retains salary and any benefits.

Dismissal:

 If an employee grossly disregards his or her duties, the employer may fire the employee. Here, the notice period is not applied, but the employee is dismissed with immediate effect.

The two-month rule states that the employer may not base a termination of employment solely on circumstances known to them for more than two months. This means that the employer must take into account urgency if the employee has shown misconduct on a single occasion, and not wait with decisions linked to this for longer than two months.

In the event of dismissal due to lack of work and personal reasons, the employer has a relocation obligation. This means that as an employer, you must take stock of whether there is any other position within the organization that the employee can go to when the employment ends. Here, the employer needs to take stock of what skills the employee has and what vacancies there are, and offer the employee a vacancy instead of resigning. If there is no vacancy or the individual lacks the required skills, you continue towards the termination of employment. The employer must be able to prove that a relocation investigation has been carried out and that this has not led to the possibility of offering a new position.

How employment contracts work

Employment contract, salary and benefits

As an employee, you have an employment contract. Often this is in writing, but even oral or conclusive agreement applies. A conclusive agreement is a situation in which employers and employees have, through behaviour, created a contractual situation in which it is expected that services will be exchanged.

It is of great importance that the employment contract is formulated and contains the elements that are important to be able to prove. The agreement should reflect who the notifying parties are. Salary and other benefits should be indicated, as well as a reference to the collective agreement applied. The time referred to is important to document, i.e. whether the employment is permanent or limited in time. It may also be recommended to refer to the employment contract to the mission statement that applies to the employee's assignment. When discussing what is expected of the person in the assignment, this should be clear.

Agreements must be kept, and the parts that are regulated in employment contracts or collective agreements must be followed. If employment is to be transferred to a different form, or if benefits are to be removed, termination of the employment contract and the beginning of a new employment contract are usually required.

Knowledge of the Act on Co-determination in Working Life (MBL)

With knowledge from leadership training and labour law, you know that the Code of Co-determination regulates the employer's relationship with the union parties. The most important part for you as a manager is to know when the employer must negotiate and to provide information.

• Art. 11 of the MBL regulates that the employer must negotiate with the union party before making major changes to the business that affect the members of the union organization.
• 19 of the MBL regulates that the employer must continuously keep the trade union organization informed about how the business is developing. This includes, among other things, how the business develops economically, in terms of production and in respects that affect the members.

Working Hours Act

The Working Hours Act regulates how much you can work per day, week and year, as well as how much time you are entitled to get for breaks, breaks and rest. It also regulates how much on-call time you can work, as well as how long the night rest should be.

Work Environment Act

The Work Environment Act regulates what the employer is obliged to do to prevent ill health and accidents at work. It also describes how cooperation between employers and employees should take place in these respects, and what the role of safety representatives is. As a manager, you should work closely with your safety representatives to ensure systematic work environment management.

Since work environment management involves doing preventive work, it is important to have a good dialogue between employees and employers, as well as good tools for systematically identifying possible work environment risks. The work environment includes both physical and psychosocial work environments. In the event of a risk of a poor working environment, the Swedish Work Environment Authority can carry out an inspection and at this come up with action points that the employer is obliged to take.

A safety representative can temporarily request that a workplace be closed if the assessment is made that the work environment risks are high.

Learn how to manage leave

The Vacation Act regulates how much paid vacation an employee is at least entitled to. The bottom line is that an employee is entitled to at least 25 vacation days in a year. However, more generous interpretations can be applied in different collective agreements.

The Sick Pay Act regulates the employee's right to retain salary and other benefits in the event of absence for illness. On the first day of illness, a waiting period deduction is made, which means that deductions are made on the salary that would have been paid. Between days 2-14, the employer pays sick pay. From day 15, sickness benefit from the social insurance fund enters.

The employer has a rehabilitation responsibility for the employee who has become ill. This means that the employer, together with the employee, must develop a plan for the employee to be able to return to work. Work tasks or the work environment may need to be corrected. However, this must not create a worse work situation for another employee.

If a doctor can establish that the employee cannot return to regular work, and the social insurance fund withdraws sickness benefits because the employee is deemed able to work in the regular labour market, a relocation investigation can start. If the employer there finds that it is not possible to relocate within its organisation, a dismissal may be considered.  

Lessons on labour law, integrity and professional secrecy

Knowledge from leadership training and labour law gives you lessons that insight into what the employee says and does can vary from workplace to workplace. The employer must know certain things about its employees to exercise his right to the management. Often, the desire to be able to control certain things is about creating security for one's employees and the company. Among other things, some organizations may require extracts from the criminal record because it is important for their customers that the person performing a certain service is unpunished. There may also be situations where the employer needs to ensure that employees are drug-free, for example in certain machine handling.

Integrity linked to the employer's right of management is often not entirely straightforward. However, it can be stated that it is wise as an employer to clarify already in the employment contract what is expected at the workplace and what will be checked.

The employer may need certain information to be able to supervise and relate correctly to labour legislation. Among other things, the employer needs information about whether there is anything that imposes restrictions on the employee for medical reasons, for example, and whether the employee needs special support. However, the employer does not need detailed information about the employee's medical status, but rather information about how this affects workability and what this means for the employer.

Some hires require the employee to comply with workplace privacy requirements. As a rule, this is regulated in the privacy legislation, but as an employer, you can ensure that the employee understood this correctly through a clarification in the employment contract.

Many employers expect different forms of loyalty from employees. For example, it can be about what you can inform competitors about, that you are not allowed to conduct competing activities or that you have confidentiality regarding any part of the organization. As an employer, it is wise to include these expectations in the employment contract so that they are clear.

Trade secrets on the schedule

The Act on the Protection of Trade Secrets regulates what employees must keep secret, as the disclosure of the information risks harming the employer in terms of competition. Among other things, it may be that the employee may not spread information about upcoming projects, drawings or other things that someone could benefit from and put the employer in a worse competitive position. The employee who violates this may be guilty of corporate espionage, which can lead to a fine or imprisonment. It is therefore of the utmost importance that employers are clear about what information is prohibited from being disseminated outside the company. 

The field of education Employment law and social media

Social media presents a great opportunity for employers, but also some challenges. With a large spread and little control, it is important as an employer to be clear about what applies in your organization linked to this. The advantage is that information dissemination and marketing is quick and reaches many. The disadvantage is that the organization's brand is not solely in the hands of the employer. Even negative marketing is fast.

Learn more about freedom of expression

The employee, like any other citizen, has a constitutionally protected freedom of expression. However, the employer can be clear about some requirements linked to this. The employer decides how the work tools that the employee has in the service may be used. This may restrict how phones, tablets and computers belonging to the employer may be used. Employees are also subject to a duty of loyalty to their employer. This duty of loyalty varies depending on the employer and the employee's position. This means that what is written on social media may mean a breach of the employment contract. As an employer, it is wise to open up conversations about how to expect employees to handle information about the employer on social media. It is easy for an employee to think too late, and the scattered information is difficult to control.

Gain knowledge about the Discrimination Act

The purpose of the Non-Discrimination Act is to combat discrimination and promote equal rights. Workers and jobseekers shall have the same rights, regardless of gender, transgender identity or expression, ethnicity, religion or other belief, disability, sexual orientation or age.

The law distinguishes between direct and indirect discrimination. Direct discrimination means that someone is disadvantaged by being treated worse than someone else would have been treated. Indirect discrimination means that someone is disadvantaged by the application of any provision, or practice.

As an employer, you need to be vigilant that discrimination must not occur. Among other things, in the recruitment context, you need to be clear about the criteria that apply to the position. The most suitable candidate should be offered the position. As an employer, you can ensure this by, for example, working with competency-based recruitment, to ensure that you are as neutral as possible. 

Introduce leadership training in labour law

Before you take leadership training in labour law, it may be good to think through a few things. Among other things, it is good if you have thought through what you as a manager need to find out in your organization linked to laws and agreements. You should also have thought about which support functions you can turn to in case of complicated legal issues. Do you have an HR department that can provide advice and support? In that case, you can also turn to them and get tips on which leadership training would be right for you & your organization without compromising its culture and atmosphere as sometimes it seems violent in the wrong hand or/and sometimes they abuse it especially if they were the type of employee who takes more than giving.