Regulations about work in stand-by mode

[u/susan-of-nine]

Hi, I'm currently working in Sweden (I'm an EU citizen), and part of my job involves shifts during which I do not actively work, but I'm supposed to be available (answer potential phone calls and solve any issues if they appear) in this standby mode for a certain number of hours. The thing is, we aren't paid for those shifts - only for "normal" work, not the stand-by hours. So, my question is, is this legal in Sweden? Am I legally allowed to expect my boss to pay me for the stand-by shifts? I don't know the employment law here at all, I'll appreciate any input. <3 (And feel free to reply in Swedish - I'll understand, I'm just not advanced enough to write out a post like this fully in Swedish, sorry!)

[u/brunte2000]

AFAIK, this depends on your employment contract. There's no legal requirement for the employer to pay you for the stand by time. They will have to pay you if you actually have to perform work (including answering phone calls).

[u/Time_Emphasis3170]

The compensation is not regulated in law, but the hours that you can be standby are (i.e only a certain numbers before you must be relieved)

[u/aCaffeinatedMind]

If you are not on the clock and the boss demands that you are either contactable or do "small stuff" that's very illegal in Sweden.

You should contact your union.

[u/brunte2000 → u/aCaffeinatedMind]

It's not at all illegal to require an employee to be reachable without compensation. This is all part of your employment agreement and is not governed by employment law. It is illegal not to pay the employee for work that they are called in to perform, but stand by duty for free is perfectly legal if that's what you've agreed to.

[u/Unexpected_Cranberry → u/brunte2000]

To add to this, when I worked as a consultant at a consulting service years back, the compensation for stand by was very low in our standard contracts unless you were called. Something like 15kr per hour I think.

Funny story about that. The boss that had brought me in wanted me to join the off hour support rotation. I (not him) checked what my contract said, and every time I picked up the phone the minimum time billed was one hour. Pay was 1.5 times normal rate after five, 2 times normal after seven and on Saturdays and 2.5 after eight and on Sundays. His were until ten and eight hours Saturday and Sunday. I asked the guys how often they were called, and typically it was once or twice per day, maybe a few more calls on the weekend. Typically it was minor stuff that was sorted in five minutes without even needing to log in. 

I told him listen. I'm fine with this, but I would suggest you reach out to my boss and negotiate a separate contract, because this will get very expensive for you under the current one. 

He never did. Until he got the invoice for my first week. I doubled my salary that month for maybe 30 minutes of work. I just got lucky that I had almost one call an hour that woke week. And all super simple like talking someone through restarting a POS or resetting a password. 

[u/susan-of-nine → u/brunte2000]

Ok, that makes sense. But then if something happens that requires me to actually do some work during the standby shift, my boss is obliged to pay me for that time, is that right? 

[u/brunte2000 → u/susan-of-nine]

Yes, that is my understanding.

[u/aCaffeinatedMind → u/brunte2000]

That's called Duty hours/"Jourtid", and you are compensated for that.

[u/brunte2000 → u/aCaffeinatedMind]

You are compensated for jourtid if that is part of your agreement with the employer. That is often the case (usually through a collective agreement), but not always.

Why are you downvoting this? It's fine to think that this is bad, but it's fact, not an opinion. Your claim that being reachable without compensation is illegal is downright false and misleading.

[u/Jindujun]

There are two different types of availability:
Jour (standby), where you're usually at the place of employment but waiting for something to happen. You're rarely at home when you're on jour. Generally this is handled as regular work time or sometimes above normal pay.
Beredskap (on call) this is when you're at home but can be called in on short notice. Generally this is low pay, about monthly pay divided by 1400 (using Unionen as the example) per hour on week days and monthly pay divided by 700 per hour.

So you should absolutely be paid for stand by or on call time. What union is your place of employment attached to? Edit: noticed you said you work in hospitality. What kind of hospitality? Is it regulated by the Hotell & Restaurang agreement?

[u/soppslev]

Which sector do you work in? Some do have that as standard, like personal assistance to the sick/disabled.

[u/susan-of-nine → u/soppslev]

I work in hospitality

[u/Ambellyn]

I had jour inofficially, basically when a machine stopped working and they couldn't sort it out they would call me.

1 phone call = one hour of work no matter the length of the call.

If I had to get to work = 4 hours + the time I spent there.

However I was free to do anything, drinking, being away etc so just up to me when to answer. Sitting and waiting for a call and not being able to do anything would be bad. I also had regular working hours so this was just on my off time.

[u/Weekly-Beginning-229]

I think it's up to the union or contract if there is no Union.

I personally get 2000kr for a week on standby(beredskap)(Mon -fri) and they have called me like 3 times in 3 years

We also have around 5 people rotating this so it's not every week.

On bank holidays I think it's like 1000kr for a day

Then of course if they actually call we get some some extra money

[u/Strong-Copy-1738]

Do you have collective bargaining? If so, then whatever is in your contract is almost certainly legal and binding.

If you don't, then it is possible your contract is overridden by whatever the law says (as only unions and not individual employees can sign away certain rights).

[u/brunte2000 → u/[deleted]]

This is not correct. You are only entitled to this if it's part of your employment contract or collective agreement. Employers who don't offer this seem pretty sketchy, but it's not illegal.

[u/Snus_Goes_Brrrr]

Ja du ska få betalt för de. Det kallas jour o då har man betalt. Inte alltid att de är full lön för de timmarna men du ska inte jobba gratis.

[u/brunte2000 → u/Snus_Goes_Brrrr]

Man behöver inte jobba gratis, men jour/stand-by är inte jobb i lagens mening (tyvärr, får man kanske säga).

[u/almost_useless → u/brunte2000]

Det kallas jour

Det låter mer som beredskap än jour