New case law – consultation obligation and assessment of employing entity

A company entered into written employment contracts with pilots and, pursuant to a written agreement on staffing services, hired them out to another company (the support company), which, pursuant to a written agreement on the provision of crew services, sent them to work for an airline. The companies were part of the same group. The pilots’ union requested negotiations concerning the pilots with the airline, which did not negotiate. The case concerns damages for breach of the obligation to negotiate, where the union claims that the pilots were employees of the airline.

The Labour Court found that the union had not shown that the airline exercised control and management over the pilots beyond what was required by law when they worked in the airline’s operations. Instead, it was the support company which, through its scheduling of pilots, to the extent permitted by public law, exercised day-to-day management over the pilots and in practice determined when, where, and in what capacity they would work. Since the trade union had not shown that it had any members who were employees of the airline, the airline had no obligation to negotiate with the trade union. Nor was the airline considered to have circumvented the provision on the obligation to negotiate.

Read more here (in Swedish).