Can I terminate a new employee when it's, due to current circumstances, not possible to onboard the employee?

Fråga:

If we have employed someone who is supposed to start e.g. 1 April, but everyone has been sent home so we will not be able to on-board the new colleague, is it in these very special circumstances considered force majeure, and does it mean that we do not have to pay wages until things are back to normal?

Besvarad av:

Ulf Lindén

Senior affärsjurist / CEO

Ulf har en bakgrund inom advokatbyråer och som chef för GE Healthcares juridiska avdelning i Sverige (tidigare Pharmacia Biotech). Rådgivare till kunder i bolagsrättsliga frågor, såsom finansiering, incitamentsprogram, företagstransaktioner och M&A. Ulf är en erfaren avtalsjurist som arbetar med alla typer av kommersiella avtal, såsom försäljnings-, distributions- och inköpsavtal, forskningsavtal, samarbetsavtal, licensavtal och IP-relaterade avtal. Omfattande erfarenhet av att stödja R&D-organisationer och life science- och teknikföretag i Sverige och internationellt.

Visa profil

Thank you for your question. The law on employment is pretty strict. Once you have entered into an employment agreement, the employee cannot be dismissed without legally valid reason. One such valid reason is when the company does not have enough working tasks for the employees or ability to pay salaries. Under these circumstances, the company may terminate a new employee. The employee who was most recently employed shall be dismissed first. Due to this reasoning, you might be able to dismiss the employee in question.

 

Another possibility is if the employee was offered a probationary period, which is only possible with a permanent position. During this period, the employee can be dismissed without a cause. So find out if the employment agreement included a probationary period clause. 


There are no general force majeure rules in the law that you can rely on in a case like this. Until the Agreement is terminated you will therefore be obliged to pay salary and offer other agreed benefits. An alternative is of course to discuss the situation with the employee and agree on another starting date due to the circumstances. It could also be worthwhile to explore the new rules on compensation to employers as part of the Corona-packages from the government.


We hope you will find a solution together with your employee.



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