Dismissal is regulated in section 18 of the Swedish Employment Protection Act (1982: 80). A dismissal means an immediate termination of an employment contract due to the fact that the employee has seriously breached his obligations to the employer. Dismissal is limited to cases where the employee has intentionally or through gross negligence done something that should not have to be tolerated in a contractual relationship. Unlike a dismissal, legal grounds are required for a dismissal to be enforced, ie. it is required that the employee has seriously caused the employer harm. The requirement for an employer to be able to dismiss an employee is thus set very high.
If an employee has committed abuse, threats, theft or embezzlement with the employer, it could be considered dismissal. It is the employer who must prove that there has been a criminal act. In the case of serious offenses, the employer is not required to issue a warning to the employee or investigate the possibility of relocation of the employee within the company.
It is common for employers to choose to dismiss an employee, despite the fact that in many cases the employer has no legal grounds for dismissal. The employer should make an assessment of, among other things, the nature of the negligence and the employee's position before the dismissal takes place. An employee who has been dismissed can claim damages from his employer if the employee has been wrongly dismissed.
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