p a r t 1 , c h a p t e r 1 18 3 AD1929:29. 4 The term“interpolated” is often mentioned in this context by Swedish scholars.According to the Swedish National Encyclopaedia,Vol. 9, p. 518, interpolation means falsifying, counterfeiting or making something better than it really is. Thus the employee has a diffuse duty of loyalty to the employer in certain matters that are not connected with his or her work tasks or presence at the workplace (Sw. lojalitetsplikten). The general principle in question - the employee’s comprehensive duties of subordination - is not based on legislation but on decisions from the Swedish Labour Court during the first five years after its establishment in 1929. Accordingly, from decision 1929:29 is derived the worker’s duty to perform every task which has a “natural” connection with the employer’s activities, provided that the tasks lie within in the limits of the worker’s professional personal qualifications.3 The starting point of this “29/29-principle” is the notion that the individual contract of employment is governed by certain ‘naturalia negotii’, that is, terms that are so self-evident that they apply to the contract even without ever being mentioned by the parties.The labour court then has “interpolated” these “naturalia” into the collective agreement.4This has had the consequence that the employer’s far-reaching right to change the conditions of the other party’s contribution is protected by the legislation concerning collective agreements. If the employee refuses to perform tasks which are considered to be within the framework of the employment he or she can be dismissed according to the rules of the Protection of Employment Act concerning “personal reasons”. This legal position does not only illustrate the fact that the contract of employment is separated from other contracts and treated essentially as an authoritarian relationship of inequality and obedience, but it also reflects very well the collectivist character of Swedish labour law of today.The most important lawmaker, the labour court, is constructed as a corporate arbitration board, composed of a minority of legally-trained judges and a majority of representatives from the large labour market organisations.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjYyNDk=