Preferential right to re-employment
An employee who fulfils the conditions for preferential re-employment should be considered as an applicant for vacant positions. As a manager, you must take into account those who have claimed preferential rights before any recruitment. Find out more about how this works here.
Content on this page:
- Conditions for preferential re-employment rights
- Re-employment rights within the state
- Handling of preferential rights in recruitment
- Obligation to negotiate in case of preferential rights
- Preferential right to a higher level of employment for part-time workers
- Preferential rights in the case of seasonal employment
When an employee has notified a claim to preferential rights and the other conditions below are met, managers must take this into account when there is a vacancy that is covered by the employee's claim.
Special conditions apply to part-time and seasonal workers.
Conditions for preferential re-employment rights
An employee who has been dismissed due to a lack of work or has had a fixed-term employment contract under Section 5 of LAS that has ended has, under certain conditions, a preferential right to re-employment.
Prerequisites for obtaining preferential right to re-employment are
- achieved length of service in the Authority (Lund University) as follows
- that the employee requests to be re-employed (claim of preferential rights), and
- has sufficient qualifications for the new position.
Qualifying time
General right of priority
A total of more than 12 months of employment in the last three years.
In case of employment according to 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.
In case of employment according to 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.
Please note that employment time during leave of absence shall also be credited as well as current transitional rules as below.
Transitional rules
Those who were employed under Section 5.1 LAS (ALVA) before the legislative amendment and where employment continues after 1 October 2022 have preferential rights as follows:
- When the employment has lasted for more than 12 months, the preferential right shall be handled as before - i.e. preferential right to all forms of employment.
- When the employment has lasted less than 12 months but in total more than 9 months (with calculation from 1 October), the employee has a right of priority to a new SÄVA.
Enrolment
The notification is made via Varbi and can be made at any time during the period when the re-employment right applies.
Notification of the right of priority for seasonal employment is made by the employee to his/her line manager and also in writing to the HR Division the division's case management system.
Contact the HR Division via the division's case management system.
Please take a look at the brief information on the most important changes in LAS in 2022, in the right-hand column.
When the qualification period has been reached
If the qualification period for preferential rights has been reached, information regarding notification of a claim for 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.
Read more about ending fixed-term employment
Preferential rights to a vacant position apply from the time of termination or when notice under Section 15(1) of the LAS is given to the fixed-term employee and nine months after the date of termination of employment.
General on preferential right to re-employment
- The obligation to relocate due to lack of work or personal reasons (Section 7(2) LAS) takes precedence over all preferential rights.
- The preferential right to a higher degree of employment for part-time employees takes precedence over the preferential right of a former employee or a dismissed employee to re-employment.
- A person who rejects a reasonable offer of re-employment with the agency loses his/her right of priority.
Re-employment rights in the state sector
For new recruitment in the state sector, the right to re-employment is not as compulsory 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 of re-employment. The Instrument of Government states that when deciding on state employment, consideration shall be given only to factual grounds such as merit and skill.
The employee entitled to preferential treatment may thus primarily compete with his or her merits for the new state employment. A state employer can thus advertise a vacant position despite the existence of persons entitled to preferential treatment in order to try to find 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 can employ a person with preferential rights without advertising the vacancy because preferential rights are considered a special reason not to advertise according to Section 6 of the Employment Ordinance (AF). There may be an obligation to negotiate here. Whether you choose to advertise or not, there must always be a requirement profile drawn up for the vacant position.
Management of preferential recruitment rights
A list of those who have claimed preferential rights is available in the recruitment system and is updated weekly. Each organisation that decides on recruitment is responsible for considering those who have claimed preferential rights on the list and who have sufficient qualifications for the current vacancy.
In the notification of a claim of priority for re-employment, an employee can limit his/her notification, for example, to a specific faculty. If a notification is limited, the employee will be considered as an applicant only for the posts covered by the notification. This restriction is indicated in the list of preferences.
Preferential rights to a vacant position apply from the date of termination or when notice is given to a fixed-term employee in accordance with section 15(1) of LAS and nine months after the date on which the employment ceased.
If an authority informs an employee of a vacant position before nine months have passed, the employee has the right to be re-employed in that position even if a decision on the position is announced after the nine-month period has expired.
As a manager, you must therefore consider whether there is a person entitled to preferential treatment both before the vacancy is advertised and before the decision to hire is made. The statement written before the decision to hire must state that preferential treatment has been taken into account.
To keep the preference list up to date, it is important that
- whoever re-hires someone on the list notifies the HR section so that the employee is removed from the list,
- a person who does not wish to remain on the list contacts the HR section via this form and states that they wish to remove their notification.
- anyone who refuses a reasonable offer of re-employment 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 response must be in writing and there must be a reasonable amount of time for the person to respond. The documentation is sent to the HR section which then removes the person from the list.
Contact the HR Division via the division's case management system.
Obligation to negotiate on preferential rights
It is important that you as a manager bear in mind that there is an obligation to negotiate with all trade union organisations, according to Section 32 LAS, if someone other than a person entitled to preferential rights is employed or if a question arises as to which of several persons entitled to preferential rights should be re-employed. In such cases, you must use a quick protocol and attach the call for applications and the statement for the current employment.
If there are several beneficiaries for the same post, it may be necessary to establish a circle of priority.
In the event of a dispute concerning an alleged breach of the re-employment rules, an appeal against the employment decision is made under administrative law.
Preferential right to a higher degree of employment for part-time employees
According to section 25a of LAS, a part-time employee may be entitled to a higher degree of employment.
The prerequisite for this preferential right is that
- 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 expressed a wish for a higher level of employment.
Employees apply for priority access to a higher level of employment via the Varbi recruitment system.
Information for employees: Preferential right to a higher level of employment (Staff pages).
It is important to bear in mind that for part-time employees who wish to have a higher degree of employment, there is no limit to the duration of the right of preference.
However, for part-time workers with fixed-term contracts, the right of priority applies only during the period of employment. Here, too, there may be a duty to negotiate under Section 32 of the LAS.
Contact
In the first instance, contact your nearest HR function.
You may also use the HR Division’s case management system to ask questions about different areas connected to HR encompassed in your role:
Special fixed-term employment (SÄVA) – new basis for fixed-term employment in section 5 of LAS
Brief summary of the main changes to the Employment Protection Act (LAS)