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The Discrimination Act forbids discrimination in employment, including in the area of remuneration, on the grounds of sex, transgender identity, ethnicity, religion or other belief, disability, sexual orientation and age. Both direct and indirect discrimination in the area of remuneration is prohibited. Employees with fixed term employment or part time employment cannot also be discriminated against and have to be treated equally in all employment matters including pay Employers and employee representatives are required by the Act to endeavour to equalise and prevent differences in pay and other terms of employment between women and men who perform equal work or work of equal value, and to promote equal opportunities for pay growth for women and men.
Work is regarded as being of equal value to the other work if it is demonstrated by an overall assessment of the work's requirements and nature. The assessment of the work's requirements must take into account criteria such as knowledge, skills, responsibility and effort. The assessment of the work's nature should take particular account of working conditions.
In order to discover, remedy and prevent unfair gender differences, every year employers must survey and analyse their provisions and practices regarding pay and other terms of employment, and pay differences between women and men performing equal work or work of equal value. The employer must assess whether or not pay differences are directly or indirectly associated with sex of workers. The assessment must address differences between: women and men performing equal work or work of equal value; and groups of employees performing work that is, or is generally considered to be, dominated by women, and groups of employees performing work that is regarded as of equal value to such work but is not, or is not generally considered to be, dominated by women. The law also requires the employer with 25 or more employees to draw up an action plan every year for equal pay in which the employer reports the results of the survey and analysis referred to above. The plan must indicate the pay adjustments and other measures that the employer will take to bring about equality in pay.
Source: Prohibition of Discrimination of Employees Working Part Time and Employees with Fixed-term Employment Act (2002:293); Discrimination Act (2008:567)
Icke-diskriminering
In accordance with the Discrimination Act, discrimination is prohibited on the grounds of sex, transgender identity or expression (that someone does not identify herself or himself as a woman or a man or expresses by their manner of dressing or in some other way that they belong to another sex), ethnicity (national or ethnic origin, skin colour or other similar circumstance), disability (permanent physical, mental or intellectual limitation of a person’s functional capacity including current and future health conditions), sexual orientation (homosexual, bisexual or heterosexual orientation), religion or other belief, and age.
In accordance with Prohibition of Discrimination of Employees Working Part Time and Employees with Fixed-term Employment Act (2002:293), workers on part time employment as well as fixed term employment cannot be discriminated against in all employment related matters. Moreover, in accordance with chapter 3, section 5 of the Discrimination Act, employers are required to help enable both female and male employees to combine employment and parenthood.
The Discrimination Act is applicable to any person who is: (1) an employee; (2) a job applicant; (3) applying for or carrying out a traineeship; or (4) is available to perform work or is performing work as temporary or borrowed labour.
The Discrimination Act prohibits both direct and indirect discrimination. Direct discrimination occurs when a difference in treatment is directly based on one of the above grounds and cannot be reasonably and objectively justified. Indirect discrimination occurs when someone is disadvantaged by the application of a seemingly neutral provision, a criterion or a procedure unless the provision, criterion or procedure has a legitimate purpose and the means that are used are appropriate and necessary to achieve that purpose. Similarly, it is considered discriminatory if employer has not arranged reasonable accommodation to meet the needs of disabled employees.
An employer may not instruct an employee to discriminate against the other employee(s). Affirmative action is also allowed under the Act.
In accordance with the Swedish Constitution (Instrument of Government), no act of law or other provision may imply the unfavourable treatment of anyone because they belong to a minority group by reason of ethnic origin, colour, or other similar circumstances or on account of their sexual orientation. Unfavourable treatment on the ground of gender, unless it forms part of efforts to promote equality between men and women is also prohibited under article 13 of the Instrument of Government.
Swedish Discrimination Act, with amendments made in 2014 and applicable from 01 January 2015, now states that if the employer does not provide reasonable accommodation with regard to the access to the workplace (which would have made access to the workplace equal to the disabled person), he/she is discriminating the worker on the ground of disability. The reasonable accommodation measure must relate to the economic and practical circumstances of the case, the duration and scope of the relationship between the employer and the individual and other aspects.
Under the Whistleblower Protection Act, effective as of 1 January 2017, provides enhanced protection to the whistleblowers and employers are prevented from taking any detrimental action against the said employee as a result of the said disclosure. The legislation protects employees and temporary workers who report serious wrongdoings in their employer's business from retaliation and victimization. However, these protections are applicable to only those who have blown the whistle in good faith (justified reasons) and have reported a serious anomaly. The law also requires that the issue should be raised internally (through a trade union or worker representative). If a reasonable action is not taken or the whistleblower has legitimate reasons to bypass the process, such whistleblower is protected against remedies for informing a supervisory authority or media.
Source: §2, Chapter 2 of the Swedish Constitution; § 4 & 5 of the Discrimination Act (2008:567); Fixed-term Employment Act (2002:293); Whistleblower Protection Act (2016: 749)
