Employment contract

Your employment contract shall contain essential terms and conditions of employment, such as:

• Employment status
• Short specification of duties and occupation designation or title
• Benefits

The employment contract should be signed before you start your new employment. The contract shows that you have employment, and the terms and conditions you and your employer have agreed to. Written proof is vital if you would get into a dispute with your employer.

The employer is legally obliged to provide you with written information of all the terms and conditions of material relevance no later than one month after your work commencement.

Swedish labour and employment law is primarily regulated through collective agreements. If your employer has a collective agreement, you also have a right to all its stipulated conditions and benefits. However, if there is no such agreement at your new workplace, you need to regulate all rights and conditions individually, except for some basic rights and entitlements stated by law.

We have made a template for what an employment contract should contain if you are starting employment not covered by a collective agreement. There is also a template for CEO contracts. You need to sign in to access the documents.

If there is no collective agreement:

If your employer does not have a collective agreement, you must regulate all conditions typically contained in an employment contract individually. Your employment contract should include the following:

• Parties: Who is the employer, and who is the employee?
• Position: Which is your occupational designation/title? Will you have responsibilities over staff and Human Resources? Which are your duties? What is your area of work?
• Commencement date: When does your employment start?
• Employment status: Is the employment fixed-term, probationary or indefinite? The employment is indefinite if you have not agreed to anything else.
• Placement: Where are you placed geographically?
• Salary: What is your monthly salary? Do you have a fixed or variable wage? When is the wage review? For what year is the salary set, i.e., will your salary first be reviewed? When is the salary be disbursed?
• Overtime: What will be the terms and compensation if you have to work overtime? Will you get compensation in money or time?
• Vacation: How many vacation days are you entitled to? There is a legal right to at least 25 days of vacation per year. If you are not entitled to compensation for overtime work, you are entitled to 30 vacation days per year. In case you recently started your job and have not yet earned enough paid vacation days, you might ask to get paid vacation days in advance.
• Occupational pension: Are you entitled to occupational retirement provision? Your employer should preferably plug you into the occupational pension agreement in your sector of employment.
• Other benefits: Will you be entitled to any other benefits such as a company car, phone, or subsidized lunch? If so, under what conditions?
• Non-compete clause: Will you be subject to a non-compete clause? There is a specific collective bargain agreement covering non-compete clauses, but these clauses might still have significant consequences if you decide to finish your employment. If your employer wants a non-compete clause, we recommend you to contact our membership helpline.
• Lastly: Control other conditions such as, for example, sick pay, notice periods, compensation for travel time, working hours are following a collective bargain agreement.

We have made a contract template for employments in companies without a collective agreement. Log in to download here. 

You can also find collective agreements for different sectors on the labour market here. Unfortunately, all collective agreements are in Swedish.

If there is a collective agreement:

If your employer has a collective agreement, or a so called substitute agreement, you are entitled to a good level of basic protection. A collective agreement covers all employees, regardless of whether they are union members or not.

The collective agreement regulates all essential terms and conditions of employment. Thus, your employment contract can be kept short. These are examples of issues that a collective agreement regulates:

• When and how your wage shall be revised.
• Insurances, pensions, and job security.
• Conditions such as, for example, working hours, vacation, sick pay, compensation for overtime work, compensation for traveling time, notice periods, payment during parental leave.

Even if your employer has a collective agreement, an employment contract still usually contains the following information:

• Parties: Who is the employer, and who is the employee?
• Position: Which is your occupational designation/title? Will you have responsibilities over staff and Human Resources? Which are your duties? What is your area of work?
• Commencement date: When does your employment start?
• Collective agreement: Which is your collective bargaining agreement?
• Employment status: Is the employment fixed-term, probationary or indefinite? The employment is indefinite if you have not agreed to anything else.
• Placement: Where are you placed geographically?
• Non-compete clause: Will you be subject to a non-compete clause? Non-compete clauses can have significant consequences if you decide to finish your employment. If your employer wants a non-compete clause, we recommend you to contact our membership helpline.
• Other benefits: Have you and your employer agreed to any other benefits that the collective agreement does not regulate?