Arbetsgivares möjlighet att avsluta en anställning som konsekvens av uttalanden på sociala medier

Sammanfattning: This essay aims to investigate an employer's ability to terminate an employment if the employee is behaving inappropriate on private social media. Sweden has a strong protection of the employment, and an even stronger protection of the freedom of speech. On the other hand, employees have a duty to be loyal to their employer, and are obliged not to harm the employer even in their spare time. The essay examines whether there are situations where posts on an employees own social media accounts may constitute a breach of the duty of loyalty and thus result in termination of employment. The essay does not focus on serious crimes or slander of the employer. Rather, more personal issues like political opinion or sexuality are in focus. There seems to be cases where this type of terminations of employment has occurred. The question is whether they would pass a court trial? Four cases have been reviewed. In all cases, the Labor Court has annulled the terminations due to content in social media. After a review of these and what has been said in the doctrine, it has been found that the protection is very strong. The protection is especially strong in the public sector and among those who do not have a leading position. However, it is reasonable to assume that there may be cases in the future where a statement on social media implies such an excessive step over the line that the employee can be separated from the employment. An examination of a decision to terminate the employment, however, always takes place on the basis of the future; Will the person be able to perform his duties correctly after this incident? There is nothing to suggest that it is impossible for an employer to terminate someone because of statements in social media. However, as in many labor-law problems, a trial must be done based on the circumstances of the case, and it is impossible to give an exact answer to what is generally applicable.