H&M is being sued – Planned Parental Leave – Arbetet

The schemes at H&M were criticized and rewritten when they were implemented last spring. The unexpected result was that employees who were on parental leave found themselves in a bind, something like this Handelsnet reported earlier.

Anyone who accepts a contract with reduced working hours, also known as a transfer offer, has the right, according to the collective agreement, to a transitional period with his or her previous hours. The transitional period varies depending on the length of the work period.

In the case of people on parental leave, H&M believes that the adjustment period should already begin during parental leave, while Handels believes that it should only begin upon return to work.

Planned eight to five hours per week

According to Elinor Gudmundsson, lawyer at LO-TCO Rättskydd, they rely on the provisions of the Parental Leave Act on disadvantaged treatment.

– The employer could have given them an adjustment period upon their return. Starting it while on paternity leave is a disadvantage, that’s how we see it. She told Arpetit that this did not help them specifically because they were on paternity leave.

The first lawsuit concerns an employee whose work hours were reduced from 30 hours per week to five hours.

Now Ratschedt is pursuing another case in which the employment rate was revised from eight to five hours. Elinor Gudmundsson wants to deal with both issues at the same time.

– They are two different people, but the legal issue is identical, she says.

H&M: Not the same notice period

Through a lawyer with the Swedish trading company, H&M previously responded to the lawsuit.

There they argue that the amendment time and the notice period are two different things.

If the member chooses not to accept the transfer, the notice period will instead begin on their return to work.