At the request of the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth, the Swedish Supreme Administrative Court has granted leave to appeal on an issue involving a short-term work comparison month.
The background of the matter at issue is that a company, which was founded around the time of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, was denied temporary support for short-term work as a consequence of the fact that no employer’s social insurance contributions were paid during the comparison month in question.
The Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth has applied the Swedish (Short-Term) Work Support Act as it had interpreted its purpose, including ensuring that short-term support is not provided to employees who were newly employed during the period of support.
However, the lower courts did not present a uniform position on the issue and, following appeal from the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth, the Supreme Administrative Court granted leave to appeal in the middle of May 2021 on the issue of the manner in which the comparison month was to be established in accordance with the Short-Term Work Support Act. According to the Dagens Nyheter newspaper, the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth conceded failures in managing short-term support but is continuing to pursue the matter to the Supreme Administrative Court in which the Agency claims it is important that the issue be examined since there is currently no precedent within the area and companies must be able to anticipate how the comparison month is applied.
