Sweden

Impact date: 25 June 2025 The EU Whistleblowing Directive has been implemented through the Swedish Act on Protection for Persons Reporting on Misconducts (the “Whistleblowing Act”). The Whistleblowing Act extends beyond the Directive’s minimum requirements since it covers not only reporting on breaches of certain EU law but also work-related circumstances of public interest in Sweden.

In the Labour Court’s first whistleblowing case since the Act entered into force, a former employee at a medical clinic claimed that they had been subjected to reprisals after having reported numerous irregularities in the clinic's activities, including about an anesthesiologist who also worked at the clinic. In summary, the Swedish Labour Court clarified that the burden of proof that the circumstances were of public interest rested with the reporter, and the court found that the reporter had not proved that the irregularities were substantial enough to constitute circumstances of public interest. Thus, the court concluded that the reporter had not enjoyed protection under the Whistleblowing Act in this case.

This case clarifies that reports related to work environment issues and individual employees’ working or employment conditions, such as conflicts between coworkers, are generally not considered of public interest in Sweden and indicates that the threshold for protection for reporting work-related circumstances could be substantial.

Impact date: Awaited. The EU Pay Transparency Directive entered into force on 6 June 2023 and Member States have three years to transpose its provisions into national law. In Sweden, the rules on gender pay gap analysis in the Swedish Discrimination Act, along with rules in most central collective bargaining agreements, already fulfil most of the requirements set forth in the Directive. However, there are additional requirements in the Directive which do not yet apply under Swedish law. For example, the Directive states that candidates are entitled to receive information on the salary level of the position they are applying for during the recruitment process and that employers with more than 250 employees must annually share a report on their gender pay gap analysis on their website and to relevant authorities and trade unions (every three years for companies with over 100 employees).

Following the Swedish Government initiating an investigation on what changes need to be implemented into Swedish law to transpose the Directive, a report was submitted to the Government on the proposed changes to the existing law.