Employee could not take on parallel employment

A project manager was responsible for planning and executing EU-financed projects in a municipality. He was also interested in becoming a firefighter.

He informed his manager that he was taking on the firefighter position part-time. He explained that he would be working nights and weekends but would need some holidays to complete his training. She replied that it was unlikely that the municipality would allow him to take on any parallel employment because the job could affect his sleep and mental health.

To address the request, the municipality investigated what his parallel employment would entail. It approached the local fire department to learn about the job. It consulted with the union and considered rest periods, workload, and associated time off. Based on the investigation, the municipality decided to reject his request. 

The Swedish Labour Court agreed that the decision was justified. Following the collective agreement that applied, the municipality could reject a request if it was not arbitrary or unjustified. The court emphasised that the municipality had conducted thorough investigations and union discussions and had also given the employee clear and objective reasons for declining.

IUNO’s opinion

Under the rules on parallel employment, companies cannot prevent employees from taking on parallel employment – unless the job interferes with their duties, competes in a harmful manner, or could harm business activities in another way.

IUNO emphasises that this case is specific because it was based on a collective agreement and because the Labour Court did not test the underlying business reason. That said, the case does support that parallel employment that impacts rest periods and includes night and weekend work may conflict with the employee's duties to the extent that it is justified to reject it. Again, it is always a case-by-case assessment.

[The Labour Court’s decision of 30 April 2025 in case no. 25/25]