Termination for personal reasons under Swedish law

Have you received advance notice of intended termination or a final termination notice? With termination for personal reasons, both the employer's grounds and the procedure require review. Intended termination and termination that has already occurred are different. This affects the measures available and how quickly you need to act.

What is required for lawful termination?

Section 7 of the Swedish Employment Protection Act (LAS) requires employer termination to be based on objective grounds. These may be redundancy or circumstances relating personally to the employee. Personal reasons is the common term for the latter category.

Assessment must consider what the employer actually alleges, what can be proved and the obligations arising from employment. A statement that cooperation is not working does not by itself establish whether termination is lawful. Employment contracts and collective agreements must also be checked. LAS permits certain collective agreement departures, including under sections 2b and 2c.

Redeployment must be assessed before termination

Termination is not based on objective grounds if it is reasonable to require the employer to provide other work within its organisation, under section 7, second paragraph, LAS. Where other work was previously provided because of personal circumstances, the duty is generally considered fulfilled unless special grounds exist.

Redeployment is therefore a legal question requiring contextual assessment. The absence of a written document headed redeployment investigation does not alone determine validity. The central issue is whether a duty and opportunity to offer other work existed that the employer should have used.

What does the two-month rule mean?

Termination for personal reasons normally may not be based solely on circumstances known to the employer more than two months before advance notice under section 30 LAS. If no advance notice was given, the period is counted back from termination instead.

Exceptions include delay at the employee's request or with their consent, and exceptional grounds. The words based solely on matter. The rule does not make every older circumstance automatically irrelevant. Dates and the sequence of events need reviewing.

Advance notice, deliberations and final notice

Under section 30 LAS, an employer intending termination for personal reasons must notify the employee at least two weeks beforehand. If the employee is a union member, the local union must be notified at the same time.

The employee and local union have a right to deliberations if requested within one week of notification. If requested, termination may not be implemented until deliberations end. The final termination notice must be written and include the information required by section 8 LAS. Under section 9, the employee can request written grounds.

The notice period and a possible dispute

Termination normally means employment ends after a notice period. Sections 11–14 LAS govern notice periods and employment benefits. Agreements can affect the individual situation.

Termination lacking objective grounds can be declared invalid at the employee's request under section 34 LAS. Damages may arise under section 38. A procedural defect does not automatically justify invalidity. During an invalidity dispute, the court cannot order employment to continue beyond the notice period until final judgment.

Do not delay checking deadlines

The main rule in section 40 LAS requires a person seeking invalidity to notify the employer within two weeks after termination occurred. This is not the same as two weeks after the final employment date. Specific rules apply where prescribed information is missing. Section 41 sets a main notification period of four months for LAS-based damages claims. Court proceedings must also be brought in time. Negotiations and permitted collective agreement departures may affect calculation.

Get help from an employment law specialist

Within an agreed assignment, Arbetsrättsjuridik can review advance notices, termination notices and other documents, assess options and assist in negotiations or disputes. Advice is provided online throughout Sweden, including clients in Jönköping, Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö.

Describe your matter and request a quote. Legal advice and analysis are provided for a fee by agreement. An initial enquiry does not include a free legal assessment or mean your deadlines are being monitored.

Also read about summary dismissal, redundancy termination and our employment law services.

Legal sources: LAS sections 2b–2c, 7–14, 30, 34 and 38–42. General information based on legislation checked on 21 October 2026. Individual exceptions, employment category and collective agreements must be assessed for the particular matter. Read LAS on the Swedish Parliament's website.

Book advice · Employment law guides · Read LAS