Violation of the Swedish Employment Protection Act (1982: 80) can mean that high damages are paid to the exposed employee. The penalty for an unauthorized dismissal is thus damages - if the employee asserts his right.
Section 38 of the Employment Protection Act states that if an employee is terminated on faulty grounds, the employer may be required to pay both general and financial damages.
General damages
General damages, also called non-pecuniary damages, compensate for the violation that the offense has caused to the employee. According to current case law, the amounts of damages for an unauthorized termination are between 50,000 SEK and up to 100,000 SEK.
Financial damages
If the employee has been wrongly terminated, he or she is also entitled to financial compensation. The right to damages is actualized when the employer withholds salary or other compensation. The compensation shall correspond to the salary benefits that would have been paid if the employee had not been terminated.
The amount of damages depends, among other things, on how long the employee has been employed by the employer. A person who has a longer period of employment is entitled to a higher amount of damages.
If an employee has been wrongly terminated and brings an action in court against the employer, the employer must compensate the employee's injury (in the form of salary or other compensation) during the ongoing legal process.