A Law That Makes It Harder to Work

The rule was intended to make temporary agency work more secure. Instead, it may prevent a consultant from getting a new assignment precisely because of the experience gained in the first one, argues Fredrik Bromander, chief executive of consulting company Condesign AB.

Sweden’s so-called 24-month rule, set out in Section 12a of the staffing law, requires a client company to offer permanent employment to a person who has worked through an agency at the same operating unit for more than 24 months during a 36-month period. The company can instead pay the equivalent of two months’ salary.

Bromander accepts the basic idea. Companies should not cover permanent staffing needs year after year with temporary agency workers. But he says the rule can produce the opposite result in practice. He gives the example of an engineer in Södertälje who chooses to work as a consultant and holds a permanent job with an engineering firm.

The engineer spends 18 months supporting a development project at Scania. When that project ends, another Scania unit needs a consultant for a new two-year project. Despite having the right skills and valuable knowledge of Scania’s products, systems and methods, the engineer has only about six months left before reaching the 24-month threshold. A project manager may therefore choose another consultant with less relevant experience but a full 24 months available.

The experience that should make the engineer more attractive has become an obstacle to the next assignment. Bromander warns that the consequences could extend beyond losing one project. If the engineering firm cannot find another assignment, the consultant could eventually face dismissal because of a lack of work. He questions how that outcome strengthens worker security and points to Article 15 of the EU Charter, which protects the right to work and pursue a freely chosen or accepted occupation. He also cites Article 52, which requires proportionality when Charter rights are restricted.