Collective agreements, unions, and employment contracts: what binds, what the Employment Protection Act (LAS) requires in writing, and what you should check before signing

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“We operate on honor here” is the most common phrase at workplaces without collective agreements and without employment certificates. It means that the salary, working hours, and notice period are what the boss remembers you said. This guide is a tool to exchange honor for paper – and to know what the paper should contain when it comes.

What the collective agreement actually does

Swedish labor law is structured so that the law sets a thin floor and collective agreements build the rest. Without a collective agreement, you only have the law and your own agreement. This concretely means:

• Salary. No law specifies a minimum wage. Without a collective agreement, your salary is what is stated in your agreement, period. The collective agreement sets minimum wages, salary revisions, and often individual guarantees.
• Unsocial hours, overtime, additional time. The Working Hours Act limits how much overtime can be taken (200 hours per year, 48 per four-week period) but says nothing about compensation. Without an agreement, overtime is paid at the regular hourly rate unless your agreement states otherwise.
• Insurances and occupational pension. Contractual pension (ITP, Avtalspension SAF-LO, KAP-KL/AKAP-KR), health insurance (AGS), occupational injury insurance (TFA), group life insurance (TGL), transition support (TRR, TSL), and parental leave supplement come with the collective agreement. Without an agreement, you only have the general system – a pension loss that often corresponds to 4.5–6 percent of the salary each month.
• Vacation beyond the law. The Annual Leave Act provides 25 days and 12 percent vacation pay. Agreements often provide more, plus vacation supplements.
• Notice periods, order of priority, negotiation. The agreement can provide a longer notice period than LAS and governs how MBL negotiations are conducted. It is also the agreement that determines the order of priority circle in case of redundancy.
• Deviations from the law. Certain laws – the Working Hours Act, parts of LAS, and the Annual Leave Act – allow deviations through collective agreements. Therefore, the schedule at your job may look different from the law, legally. But only if there is a collective agreement that says so.

Which agreement applies—and how to find out

The employer is obliged to specify in the employment certificate the applicable collective agreement (Section 6 c, second paragraph, 13 LAS). If nothing is stated: ask in writing. The answer should include the agreement's name and parties, not “we follow the industry.” Other ways:

• Ask the union club or the union that organizes the industry. They know which employers have agreements.
• Check if the employer is a member of an employer organization (often evident from the annual report or website). Membership means that the organization's agreement applies.
• Collectively agreed insurances are visible on the payslip or with Fora/Collectum/KPA—if you have an occupational pension allocation, there is likely an agreement.
• Request the part of the agreement that applies to your professional group and the local adaptation. Save it.

The union and the right of association

The right of association (Sections 7–9 MBL) gives you the right to be in a union, work union-related, and demand negotiation through the union without the employer taking action against you for it. Violation results in damages. The right of association applies from employment; during recruitment, there is no equivalent protection, but questions about union affiliation during an interview are a red flag you can note.

The collective agreement-concluding union also has the right to negotiate before major changes (Section 11 MBL), information (Section 19), and precedence in interpretation in certain disputes (Sections 33–34). Other unions can represent their members in negotiations about the member's own conditions (Sections 10 and 13) but are not parties to the agreement. Always ask: which union has the agreement here, and which local branch negotiates. Union representatives appointed according to the Union Representatives Act have the right to leave for the assignment and protection against worsened conditions (Sections 3–7 FML)—a different mandate than the safety representative's.

Employment Certificate: What Section 6 c of LAS Requires

An employment contract can be entered into verbally – it is still valid. However, the employer must provide written information about all terms of significant importance for the employment (Section 6 c). This information is commonly referred to as an employment certificate or employment contract. The rules were tightened on June 29, 2022, with the EU's Working Conditions Directive.

Certain information may be provided as a reference to law or collective agreement – notice periods, vacation, overtime compensation – but the reference must be traceable. “According to agreement” without naming the agreement is not information. If anything the employer has informed about changes, you must receive written information about the change no later than the day it takes effect (Section 6 e). You also have the right to request written information about your total employment time and all previous fixed-term employments that count for conversion (Section 6 g), within three weeks.

Form of employment, full-time and fixed-term

• Special fixed-term employment (SÄVA) requires no reason but automatically converts to permanent employment when you have been employed in SÄVA for a total of more than twelve months over five years, or during a chain of consecutive fixed-term periods (5 a §). If you have had three or more SÄVA employments with the same employer during the same calendar month, the time between them is also counted as employment time (3 § second paragraph) – this is the rule that allows “hourly employees” to reach twelve months faster than the schedule shows.
• Substitute employment converts after more than two years over five years.
• Probationary employment may last a maximum of six months and converts to permanent if the employer does not give notice by the end of the probationary period (6 §). Two weeks' notice is required to terminate (31 §).
• Unauthorized fixed-term employment – when the employer stacks fixed-term periods for a permanent need without legal support – can be declared as permanent employment through legal action (36 §). Notify within one month after the employment ended (40 §).
• Hired from a staffing company who has been placed at the same client company at the same operational unit for a total of more than 24 months during a period of 36 months: the client company must offer permanent employment or pay compensation equivalent to two months' salary (12 a § Act on the Hiring of Workers).

Five recurring errors in employment contracts

1. Hourly wage where you agreed on a monthly salary – or vice versa. With an hourly wage, you receive no pay for public holidays and shorter months. Recalculate before signing.
2. “As needed” or “intermittent” without a measure of working hours. Then there is no guaranteed time and no employment rate to rely on. Demand a measure, or at least that each shift is its own fixed-term employment that counts for conversion.
3. Probationary employment in an employment contract that comes after you have already worked several weeks. The probationary period counts from the start date, not from the paperwork – and a probationary employment must be agreed upon, not announced.
4. Overtime “included in the salary” without being compensated with higher pay or extra vacation, and without it being stated in the collective agreement. It may be valid for certain employees but never a way to circumvent the working hours law's limits.
5. Lower conditions than the collective agreement – lower unsocial hours pay, shorter notice period, no occupational pension. An individual agreement that is worse than an applicable collective agreement is invalid in that part (27 § MBL). Still, do not sign; it is easier not to have accepted than to argue about invalidity.

When the paper is missing, empty, or worse than the agreement

Missing information does not remove the employment. You are employed indefinitely on a full-time basis until the employer shows otherwise. However, you are in a weaker evidentiary position than you need to be. Request the information in writing with reference to Section 6 c – and do so as soon as you notice it has not arrived, not after three months. A breach of the duty to provide information entitles you to general damages (Section 38 LAS); the Labour Court has awarded amounts in the order of tens of thousands of kronor for missing information, and it is a bargaining chip even when the main issue is something else.

To: [employer]
Subject: Request for written information according to Section 6 c LAS

I have worked for you since [date]. I have not received / have received incomplete written information about the terms of my employment.

I request, according to Section 6 c of the Employment Protection Act, written information on all terms of significant importance, particularly:
– form of employment and, in the case of fixed-term employment, end date and which form of fixed-term employment is intended,
– starting salary and other salary benefits, individually,
– normal working hours per day or week, or the working time measure,
– what applies to overtime/additional time and the compensation for it,
– notice periods,
– applicable collective agreement with name and parties.

I also request written information about my total employment time and about previous fixed-term employments with you (Section 6 g LAS).

According to the law, the information should have been provided no later than [seven days after start / one month after start]. I request that it be provided immediately, no later than [date].

[Name, date]

Working hours, breaks, and rest areas are the next layer: breaks, rest, and pauses. When the manager already calls for a conversation about the future: document and termination.

Sources

• LAS 6 c § – written information about conditions; 6 e, 6 g, 6 h §§
• LAS 4, 4 a, 5, 5 a, 6, 36 and 38 §§
• Co-determination Act 7–9, 10–13, 23–27 §§
• Förtroendemannalagen (1974:358)
• Act on the Hiring of Workers (2012:854) 12 a §
• Annual Leave Act (1977:480)
• Medlingsinstitutet – on collective agreements and parties

The guide is general information about applicable rules, not advice on your case. Collective agreements may deviate from the law on several points. Legal status checked on 25 September 2026.

For those reading under stress

The guide is intended as support when you already have a lot on your mind. You do not need to read everything at once: start with the section that matches where you are today and return when the next step becomes relevant.

Matters with authorities rarely improve by carrying everything alone. Ask for help from a support person, lawyer, or relative if you can – especially before decisions with long-term effects.

Common mistakes that make the case more difficult

• Relying only on oral promises without brief written confirmation or follow-up email.
• Waiting to request documents until the conflict is already locked – then it becomes harder to show what was said.
• Writing so long and emotionally that the authority stops responding to the substantive issue.
• Missing deadlines for reconsideration or appeal because the decision was not read verbatim.

Mini-checklist before you leave the guide

1. Do I have the date, diary/case number, and name of the person handling it (if you know)?
2. Do I know what the next step is: respond, request, remind, appeal, or report?
3. Have I saved emails and attachments in a place where I can find them in a week?