{"id":58797,"date":"2026-05-04T13:01:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T11:01:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/setterwalls.se\/?post_type=articles&p=58797"},"modified":"2026-05-22T13:38:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T11:38:11","slug":"ad-2026-no-6-bankruptcy-estate-obliged-to-negotiate-under-the-co-determination-act","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/setterwalls.se\/en\/article\/ad-2026-no-6-bankruptcy-estate-obliged-to-negotiate-under-the-co-determination-act\/","title":{"rendered":"AD 2026 No. 6 \u2013 Bankruptcy estate obliged to negotiate under the Co-Determination Act"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In a judgment handed down in February 2026, the Labour Court has ruled that a bankruptcy estate is obliged to fulfil the duty to negotiate pursuant to Section 10 of the Co-Determination Act. The bankruptcy estate was ordered to pay general damages to the trade union after the bankruptcy trustee refused to participate in negotiations. <\/em><\/p>\n

The case concerned a trade union, Stockholms Lokal Samorganisation av SAC, which had called for negotiations with a company regarding the employment conditions and salary claims of several members. Before the negotiations were concluded, the company was declared bankrupt. The trade union then requested that the negotiations should continue with the bankruptcy estate, but the bankruptcy trustee announced that he did not intend to participate in the negotiations.<\/p>\n

The bankruptcy estate objected that the company’s obligation to negotiate had not been transferred to the bankruptcy estate but remained for the bankruptcy company through an authorised representative. The bankruptcy estate further argued that the bankruptcy trustee’s administrative measures regarding the employees’ claims and labour law status are mainly regulated by the Wage Guarantee Act and the Bankruptcy Act, and that these rules were exclusive and took precedence over the Co-Determination Act\u2019s general right of negotiation.<\/p>\n

The Labour Court noted that it is clear from the preparatory work for the Bankruptcy Act that the Co-Determination Act, like other labour legislation, is applicable even when an employer has been declared bankrupt. A bankruptcy estate is thus bound by, among other things, the provisions of the Co-Determination Act on the employer’s obligation to negotiate and provide information. For the purposes of these regulations, the bankruptcy estate is as bound by collective agreements and employment contracts as the bankrupt was or had been.<\/p>\n

The Court pointed out that the general right to bargain in Section 10 of the Co-Determination Act belongs to all trade unions that have members employed by the employer and that the right to bargain remains even during bankruptcy. It is stated in the preparatory work of the Bankruptcy Act that there was no reason to introduce special rules in the Bankruptcy Act that refer to the Co-Determination Act, since the latter Act is of general application.<\/p>\n

Finally, the Labour Court found that the issues on which trade union requested negotiation were covered by the obligation to negotiate pursuant to Section 10 of the Co-Determination Act. Since the bankruptcy estate objected to participating in the negotiations, the bankruptcy estate had breached the obligation to negotiate and was ordered to pay general damages of SEK 29,000 to the association.<\/p>\n

Setterwalls’ comment: <\/strong><\/p>\n

The ruling confirms an important principle that labour law, including the Co-Determination Act\u2019s negotiation rules, continues to apply even when an employer is declared bankrupt. The judgment emphasizes that bankruptcy law rules and procedures do not preclude the application of the Co-Determination Act negotiation rules, but that the regulations apply in parallel. For trade unions, the judgment means a clarification that they can request negotiations under the Co-Determination Act with a bankruptcy estate, for example to investigate issues concerning members’ employment conditions. Bankruptcy trustees should be aware that a refusal to participate in such a hearing may result in liability for damages for the bankruptcy estate.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":33866,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":true,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":""},"article_category":[1043],"class_list":["post-58797","articles","type-articles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","article_category-employment-and-pension-law"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/setterwalls.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/58797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/setterwalls.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/setterwalls.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/articles"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/setterwalls.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/setterwalls.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/setterwalls.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"article_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/setterwalls.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_category?post=58797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}