Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2006, published 96th ILC session (2007)

Termination of Employment Convention, 1982 (No. 158) - Sweden (Ratification: 1983)

The Committee notes that the Government’s report has not been received. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the matters raised in its 2000 direct request, which read as follows:

The Committee notes the information contained in the Government’s detailed report, particularly in reply to its previous comments, as well as the statistical information supplied. The Committee also notes the adoption of the Act on Employment Protection, 1997. Section 5(a) of the Act on Employment Protection provides that, by agreement, fixed-term employment may comprise up to 12 months within a three-year period. In the case of a company or enterprise that has not had any employees previously, fixed-term employment may comprise up to 18 months within three years from the first hiring. A new employer may also have up to five employees with agreed fixed-term tenure.

The Committee would appreciate receiving further information on how the new concept of fixed-term employment by agreement is applied in practice. In particular, it would appreciate receiving further information on whether adequate safeguards are provided against recourse to contracts of employment for a specified period of time, with the object of avoiding the protection resulting from the provisions of the Convention, as provided under Article 2, paragraph 3. The Committee also requests statistics on the number of workers affected by the new concept, as requested in Part V of the report form.