Termination of employment, change and right to preferential re-employment

When an employment contract of indefinite duration is terminated by the employer or the employee, different notice periods apply. Here you can read more about what applies to notice periods.

If an employee resigns

When an employee resigns, special notice periods apply in accordance with the Terms and Conditions Agreement. If the period of employment has lasted for a maximum of one year, the notice period is one month. If the employment has lasted more than one year, the period of notice is two months. The period of employment is counted as one or more consecutive government employments.

This applies if the employee is employed until further notice. If an employee is on leave of absence, the same period of notice applies as if the employee were in service. Probationary employees can, by law, terminate their employment before the end of the agreed probationary period.

An employee who is employed by proxy has a notice period of six months. This also applies to professors hired after 1 October 2001.

Termination by the employer

In the event of termination by the employer, the period of notice is longer than if the employee resigns. If the period of employment has not exceeded one year, the period of notice is one month. If the employment has lasted more than one year, the period of notice is three months. The period of employment is counted as one or more consecutive government employments.

However, where applicable, the longer period of notice that applies under Section 11, second paragraph of the Employment Protection Act shall apply.

Longer period of notice under the Transition Agreement

The Transition Agreement and the Agreement on Local Transition Funds replaced the Job Security Agreement with effect from 1 January 2015.In the event of dismissal due to shortage of work, the employee is entitled to a longer period of notice under the Transition Agreement than that which follows from the Employment Protection Act or central collective agreement. The total notice period in employment, together with the longer notice period under this agreement, may amount to a maximum of 12 months.

When calculating the period of employment under LAS, all periods of employment with the employer shall be counted as periods of employment with the state.

 (a) Counting continuous employment in the government contractual area

(b) Counting all periods of employment in the government.

Termination of fixed-term employment

It is most common for fixed-term employment to be so-called long-term employment, i.e. for an indefinite period up to a certain point in time. In this case, the same notice periods apply as for permanent employment in the event that the employee or you as the employer wish to terminate the employment prematurely. However, the employer must provide the same objective reasons as for permanent employment.

Termination of parental leave

If an employee on parental leave under section 4 or 5 of the Parental Leave Act is dismissed due to lack of work, the period of notice begins to run

• when the employee resumes work in full or in part, or
• when the employee would have resumed work under the parental leave notification in force at the time of dismissal. 

Obligation to resign at retirement age 

Read more in the section Termination of employment due to age

​​​​​​​Here you as a manager can read more about what applies to the termination of employment protection due to age. At the bottom of this page you will also find this information:

Exceptional reasons for continued employment

Due to changes in the Employment Protection Act (LAS), employment protection has been extended. Employment protection now applies until the age of 69.

This means that employees are entitled to retain their employment until the age of 69 if there is no shortage of work or conditions for dismissal or dismissal for personal reasons. Lund University has regulations on what should apply when employees reach the age when employment protection ceases. The regulations can be downloaded in the right-hand column of this page.

As a manager, the regulations mean that you must inform the employee in good time before an employee reaches the age at which employment protection ends about the regulations and the limited possibilities of remaining in employment after the age of 69.

If there are no special reasons for retaining the employee in employment, notice of this must be given to the employee and a notice sent to the employee's employee organisation. This must be done no later than two weeks before the intended dismissal and dismissal may not take place until the employee has reached the age of 69.

The following forms can be downloaded from the Forms and templates page:

• Swedish Agency for Government Employers form Notification of intended dismissal of an employee who has turned 69
• Swedish Agency for Government Employers form Notice of intended dismissal of an employee who has turned 69

If the employee or his/her employee organisation requests a meeting within one week of you sending the notification and the notice, you must wait until you have had the meeting before giving notice.  

The Swedish Employers' Confederation's form Notice of dismissal of employees who have reached the age of 69 can be downloaded from the Forms and templates page.

Authorised employees have an obligation to resign at the end of the month in which they turn 69.

Exceptional reasons for continued employment

Exceptional reasons for continued employment may exist, for example, if an employee has mission-critical skills that have been difficult to transfer through recruitment or skills transfer and where continued employment for a limited period enables this. A need for continued doctoral student supervision may exceptionally be such a reason. Exceptional circumstances may also exist in order to be able to complete a special expert assignment aimed at evaluation/follow-up etc.

In these cases, continued employment after the age of 69 and the end of employment protection shall normally correspond to a degree of employment of 20 per cent of full-time and shall be conditional on a request for partial leave of absence on the part of the employee. Such leave may not be cancelled unilaterally.

The dean or equivalent shall decide when exceptional circumstances exist. The exceptional reasons must be justified in writing in the form for agreement on continued employment after the age of 69.

The form can be downloaded from the Forms and templates page

A completed and signed form must be attached to the application for leave of absence.
 

Content of the page:

• Notification of termination of fixed-term employment under LAS
• Notification of termination of fixed-term employment, for doctoral students and others
• Notification to the relevant employee organisation (trade union organisation)
• Qualification for conversion agreement
• Notification to the Job Security Foundation under conversion agreement

When a fixed-term contract ends, the employee must, under certain conditions, be notified of this at least one month before the end of the contract. If the employee is a member of a trade union organisation, the organisation must be notified and, if necessary, the Social Security Foundation must be notified. As a manager, you can read more about what applies here.

However, if the employer wishes to terminate the employment before the end of the employment period, there must be objective reasons for the termination of the employment in the same way as for the termination of a permanent employment. Always contact your immediate HR function in cases where an employee has grossly neglected their employment obligations.

It is most common for fixed-term employment to be so-called long-term employment, i.e. until further notice, but no later than a certain date. In this case, the same notice periods apply as for permanent employment in the event that the employee or employer wishes to terminate the employment prematurely.

Notification of termination of fixed-term employment under LAS

Prior to the termination of fixed-term employment under Section 5 of LAS, the employee must, in accordance with Section 15 of LAS, receive written notification of this at least one month before the end of the employment period. A prerequisite for the right to such notification is that the employee, when the employment ends, has been employed by the authority (Lund University) for more than twelve months during the last three years, or for a total of more than nine months in special fixed-term employment during the last three years. If the period of employment is so short that notification cannot be given one month in advance, the notification must instead be given when the employment begins.

The rules on notification and notice under the Employment Protection Act shall also apply to fixed-term teaching positions under Chapter 4 of the Higher Education Ordinance. This entails the same obligation both to provide notice in the manner set out in Section 15 of the Employment Protection Act and to notify the employee's local employee organisation in the manner set out in Section 30a of the Employment Protection Act, and that the employer may be liable for damages in the manner set out in Section 38 of the Employment Protection Act if this is not done. The rules on notification and notice in the Employment Protection Act shall also be applied to fixed-term employment as adjunct teachers and postdocs.

The notice must be given to the employee in person or, if this is not possible, by registered letter to the employee's last known address (Section 16 LAS).

Remember that notice must also be given if an employee is to continue employment on a reduced scale.

Download forms for notification to employees that fixed-term employment will not continue under the heading Notice and termination of fixed-term employment on the HR forms and templates page

Preferential right to re-employment

It is important to state in the notification that the fixed-term employment will end whether the employee has a preferential right to re-employment (re-employment right) or not in accordance with Section 16 of the LAS.

Read more about preferential right to reemployment

If preferential right exists, the ‘Information regarding notification of claim to preferential right to reemployment’ must also be attached to the notice. The document can be downloaded on the Forms and templates page. The information is also available via a QR code in the notification.

Keep in mind that in the case of fixed-term employment under another statute or collective agreement, there is usually no preferential right to reemployment. Please note that in the case of subsequent employment that is limited in time under the LAS, employment that is limited in time under another statute or collective agreement is included in the total period of employment. An exception is employment under the student employee agreement, which gives priority when the qualification period is reached.

Employees who have reached the age of 69 do not have the right to re-employment under Section 33 b of LAS. 

Information about the end of fixed-term employment for doctoral students and others 

There is no legal requirement to notify employees whose employment is based on a fixed-term contract in the Higher Education Ordinance, such as doctoral students, lecturers and clinical assistants.

However, it may be considered good personnel policy to provide such a notice and at Lund University, information is therefore normally provided to doctoral students, lecturers and clinical assistants whose employment will be terminated in cases where they have achieved more than twelve months of employment during the last three years at the university.

As this information is not based on LAS, the form with reference to the Higher Education Ordinance is used instead.

Download the form with reference to the Higher Education Ordinance under the heading Notice and termination of fixed-term employment on the page Forms and templates

The period of employment also needs to be checked to determine whether the employee is entitled to be registered with the Job Security Foundation.

At Lund University, there is also an agreement to send a notice for information to the local employee organisation to which the employee belongs as below.

Notice to the relevant employee organisation (trade union organisation)

At the same time as the notice is sent to the employee, the employer must also notify the local employee organisation to which the employee belongs (Section 30a of the Swedish Employment Protection Act). 

Download the form for giving notice to the relevant trade union organisation under the heading Notice and termination of fixed-term employment on the Forms and templates page

The notice must be sent at least one month before the end of the employment period to the relevant trade union organisation (download point 29) or by e-mail to the respective functional address with the subject heading: Notice. The notice must state whether the employee fulfils the conditions for being covered by the redeployment agreement. This information means that the employee fulfils the conditions at the time of the notice and will be reported to the Job Security Foundation if continued employment will not be offered.

Contact details for the employee organisations (Staff pages)

Qualification for the redeployment agreement

The redeployment agreement regulates what applies when a government employee is dismissed due to a shortage of work and when a fixed-term employment contract ends.

To be covered by the conversion agreement, the qualifying period for fixed-term employees is at least two years of consecutive employment with the same government employer. Shorter breaks in employment of up to eight working days may occur. An employee who achieves at least two, three or six years of qualification time receives partially different support under the agreement.

For full details of the terms and conditions, see the information on the agreement on the Swedish Agency for Government Employers' website

Read more about redeployment in central government on the website of the Job Security Foundation

With the help of your closest HR function, you determine whether an employee who is leaving fulfils the conditions for being covered by the redeployment agreement and notify the Job Security Foundation.

Notification to the Job Security Foundation under the redeployment agreement

You make the notification with the help of your closest HR function one month before the employment ends and only if no new employment can be offered in direct connection with the one that ends. The notification must be made at the latest in connection with the termination of employment.

Notification of employees to a redeployment agreement is done via the Social Security Foundation's website.

A link to electronic notification to the Agreement on redeployment on the Job Security Foundation's website can be found under the heading Give notice and terminate fixed-term employment on the Forms and templates page

Please note that the signature form for the Agreement on redeployment must be signed by both the manager and the employee and attached to the notification.

The Job Security Foundation's signature forms for the redeployment agreement can be downloaded under the heading Notice and termination of fixed-term employment on the Forms and templates page

You as a manager must ensure that the employee receives information about their rights and obligations under the redeployment agreement. 

Download information on the agreement on redeployment for employees whose fixed-term employment is terminated, under the heading Notice and termination of fixed-term employment on the Forms and templates page

There are several reasons why an employment at Lund University may change. 

In central government, positions are advertised and filled according to merit and skill, and therefore changes in employment require support in the regulations. Changes must always have a factual basis.

A manager can, through his/her right of supervision, lead, distribute and organise work within his/her organisation. This principle is limited by law, collective agreements, the individual employment contract and general principles. A simple change within the scope of the employee's duties or tasks can be made without this being considered a new employment.

However, the changes to the employment must not be so extensive that the employee can be said to have a completely different employment than before. If the changes to the employment are so extensive that the title, salary and duties are changed, it is essentially a new position that must be advertised.

Read more about the University's recruitment process

However, there are some exceptions that allow a change to take place within the employment. Contact your HR partner for support on this matter. Then fill in the form available on the Forms and templates page and send it to your HR partner for review.

Go to the Forms and Templates page

Do not forget that the employee concerned must always be consulted in the event of a change.

An employee who fulfils the conditions for priority for re-employment should be considered as an applicant for vacant posts. As a manager, you must take into account those who have claimed preferential treatment before recruiting them. Find out more about how this works here.

Content of the page:

• Conditions for preferential right to re-employment
• The right to re-employment within the state
• Processing of preferential right in recruitment
• Obligation to negotiate in the event of preferential right
• Preferential right to a higher degree of employment for part-time employees
• Preferential right in the event of seasonal employment

When an employee has notified a claim to preferential right and the other conditions below are met, you as a manager must take this into account when there is a vacant position that is covered by the employee's claim.

Special conditions apply to part-time and seasonal employees.  

Conditions for preferential right to re-employment

An employee who has been dismissed due to lack of work or who has had a fixed-term employment contract in accordance with Section 5 of the LAS that has ended has, under certain conditions, a preferential right to re-employment.

The prerequisites for preferential right to re-employment are

• achieved period of employment within the authority (Lund University) according to below
• that the employee requests to be re-employed (claim of preferential right) and
• that has sufficient qualifications for the new position.

Qualification period

General right of priority

Total of more than 12 months' employment over the past three years.

In the case of employment under Section 5.1 LAS (SÄVA)

A total of more than 9 months of SÄVA employment in the last three years, for the right to new SÄVA employment.

For employment under § 5.3 LAS (seasonal work)

A total of more than six months of seasonal employment in the last two years, for the right to new seasonal employment.

Note that employment time during leave of absence must also be credited and the relevant transitional rules as below.

Transitional rules 

Anyone employed under Section 5.1 of LAS (ALVA) before the legislative amendment and where employment continues after 1 October 2022 has preferential rights as follows:

• When the employment has lasted for more than 12 months, the right of priority shall be handled as before - that is, the right of priority to all forms of employment.
• When the employment has lasted less than 12 months but more than 9 months in total (calculated from 1 October), the employee has preferential rights to a new SÄVA.

Registration

Registration is done via Varbi and can be done at any time during the period when the reemployment right applies.

For more information on enrolment, see the information on the Staff pages:

Benefits | Medarbetarwebben (lu.se)

When the qualification period is reached 

If the qualification period for preferential rights is reached, information regarding notification of claiming preferential rights to re-employment must be provided to the employee together with the notice of termination of the fixed-term employment or in connection with an employee being dismissed due to lack of work.

Download information material regarding notification of claims for preferential right to re-employment, on the page Forms and templates

Read more about terminating fixed-term employment

Preferential right to vacant employment applies from the time of dismissal or when notice under Section 15 1 of the LAS is given to the fixed-term employee and nine months after the date on which the employment ended.

General about preferential right to re-employment

Obligation to relocate due to shortage of work or personal reasons (7 § 2 st LAS) applies before all preferential rights.

The right of priority to a higher degree of employment for part-time employees applies before a former employee's or a dismissed employee's right of priority to re-employment.

Anyone who rejects a reasonable offer of re-employment with the authority loses their preferential right.

The right to reemployment within the state 

In the case of new recruitment in the state sector, the right to reemployment is not as binding as in the rest of the labour market. This is because the rules in the Instrument of Government (Chapter 12, Section 5) take precedence over the right to reemployment. The Instrument of Government states that in decisions on government employment, consideration shall be given only to objective grounds such as merit and skill.

The employee entitled to preferential treatment may thus primarily compete with his or her merits for the new government employment. A government employer may therefore advertise a vacancy despite the existence of persons entitled to preferential treatment in order to try to recruit the person best suited for the position. In such a case, the right of priority only means that the person entitled to priority is automatically a co-applicant, i.e. even without an application.

On the other hand, an authority may employ a person with preferential rights without advertising the vacancy because preferential rights are considered a special reason not to advertise under Section 6 of the Employment Regulation (AF). There may be an obligation to negotiate here. Regardless of whether you choose to advertise or not, there must always be a requirements profile drawn up for the vacant position.

Processing of preferential treatment in recruitment

A list of those who have claimed preferential treatment is available in the recruitment system and is updated weekly. Each organisation that decides on recruitment is responsible for considering those who have claimed priority on the list and who have sufficient qualifications for the current vacancy.

Log in to the Varbi recruitment system (varbi.com)

In the notification of claiming preferential right to reemployment, an employee can limit his/her notification, for example, to a specific faculty. If a notification is limited, the staff member should be considered as a candidate only for the positions covered by the notification. This restriction is indicated in the priority list.

Preferential rights to vacant employment apply from the time of termination or when notice is given to a fixed-term employee in accordance with Section 15(1) of the Employment Contracts Act and nine months after the date on which the employment ended.

If an authority informs of a vacant position before nine months have passed, the employee has the right to be reinstated to that position even if a decision on the employment is announced after the expiry of the nine-month period.

As a manager, you must therefore take into account whether there is a person entitled to preferential treatment both before announcing a vacancy and before making a decision on employment. The opinion written before a decision on employment must state that preferential treatment has been taken into account.

In order to keep the priority list up to date, it is important that

anyone rehiring someone on the list notifies the HR section so that the employee is removed from the list,
anyone who does not want to remain on the list contacts the HR section themselves via this form and notifies that they want to remove their application.
anyone who declines a reasonable offer of reemployment must be removed from the priority list. However, this can only be done if the person has been informed that the right of priority will lapse if they decline.
Both the information and the reply must be in writing and there must be reasonable time for the person entitled to priority to reply.

The document is sent to the HR Division, which then removes the person concerned from the list.

Contact the HR Division via the section's case management system

Obligation to negotiate in the event of preferential rights 

There is an obligation to negotiate with all trade union organisations, in accordance with Section 32 of the LAS, if someone other than the person entitled to preferential rights is employed or if a question arises as to which of several persons entitled to preferential rights should be reemployed. In such cases, you must use a quick protocol and attach the advertisement and the opinion for the current employment.

You can download the procedure description and templates for the rapid protocol on the Forms and templates page.

If there is more than one person entitled to priority for the same post, it may be necessary to establish a priority circuit. 

In the event of a dispute concerning an alleged breach of the re-employment rules, an appeal against the employment decision will be heard under administrative law.

Preferential right to a higher degree of employment for part-time employees
A part-time employee may, according to Section 25a of the Labour Act, be entitled to a higher degree of employment.

As a prerequisite for this preferential right,

• the employer's need for additional labour is met by giving the employee a higher degree of employment,
• the part-time employee has sufficient qualifications for the new work tasks,
• the part-time employee has notified a wish for a higher degree of employment

Employees apply for a priority right to a higher grade via the Varbi recruitment system.

Information for employees: Preferential right to a higher degree of employment (Medarbetarwebben)

It is important to bear in mind that for part-time employees who wish to have a higher degree of employment, there is no upper limit to how long the preferential right applies.

On the other hand, the right of priority only applies during the period of employment for part-time employees with fixed-term contracts. Here, too, there may be a duty to negotiate under Section 32 of the Swedish Labour Code.