Illness

According to law an illness, disability or accident affecting the employee cannot be regarded as a proper and weighty ground to be used for terminating an employment relationship, unless the employee’s working capacity is substantially reduced there through for such a long term as to render it unreasonable to require that the employer continue the contractual relationship. If the working capacity is substantially reduced long term, the employer may have the grounds for terminating the employment relationship.

The long term nature of the loss in employee's ability to work must be shown based on clear proof. The fact that the employee is off work for the same reason, unable to work for several years, does not demonstrate a permanent loss of working capacity. Similarly, if the employee cannot fulfill his/her secondary work assignments because of the permanent reduced working capacity, the employer does not have the grounds for terminating the employment agreement.

The employee’s working ability must be evaluated based on the demands his/her work sets for him/her whereby it is evaluated whether or not the employee meets the requirements the work sets. The doctor’s medical opinion weighs heavily and is very important when evaluating the effect of an illness or injury to the working ability as well as the possibilities to recover.

The employer must before the termination consider, if there is an alternative solution e.g. reassigning the employee to other tasks.

The Agreement of protection against employment relations terminations signed by TT (current EK) and SAK contains further detailed provisions on the employment relationship termination procedure. The agreement is binding for all members of the central union federations. The dismissal provisions of the Agreement therefore only binds employers who are members of a central union federation.

The illness of the employee is not usually an appropriate ground for the employer to cancel the employment relationship with immediate effect.