Extra employment

Secondary employment includes all operations undertaken alongside your job. This may include another job, a voluntary commitment or your own company. Secondary employment may be paid or unpaid. In the higher education sector, many outside activities are permitted and in some cases even encouraged as part of academic cooperation with society. Consequently there are special provisions in the Higher Education Act that give university teachers the right to certain forms of secondary employment.

Legislation, ordinances and collective agreements
Extra employment is regulated in the Public Employment Act (LOA), the Higher Education Act (HL), the Higher Education Ordinance (HF), the central collective agreement ALFA-T plus any local collective agreements and employer regulations.

Extra employment that is not permitted
However some extra employment may not be permitted if it is regarded as damaging to confidence, preventing normal working or in competition with employer operations.

• Damaging to confidence
  In Section 7 of LOA it is stated that an employee may undertake no employment, no task or take part in any operations that may cause damage to the reputation of the employer or impair confidence in the impartiality of the employees at the government agency.
•  Work prevention
  Chapter 13, Section 10 of ALFA-T entitles the employer to instruct the employee to fully or partially cease to undertake extra employment which exerts a preventative effect on his/her normal work.
• Competition
  Villkorsavtal-T also states in Chapter 13, Section 11 that employees at government agencies who carry out business or commissioned activities may not take employment or commissions at companies operating within the same field as the government agency. Neither may employees run operations that compete with the employer or in any other manner compete with the employer’s operations.

Special entitlement to extra employment for university teachers
In Chapter 3, Section 7 of the Higher Education Act, special entitlement is described concerning university teachers and extra employment, commissions or operations concerning research or development activities within their employment position professional area. One precondition is, however, that the teacher does not damage public confidence in the university through these activities. This extra employment must, consequently, be kept separate from the employment position at the university.

Please note that pure teaching commissions are not covered by these regulations.

There may also be other regulations concerning extra employment for university teachers in local agreements at your university. Contact your local union or the HR Dept. at your university for more information.

Your obligation to notify your employer of any extra employment
As a government employee you are obliged in accordance with Section 7b of LOA to, at the request of your employer, submit all relevant information so that your employer may assess your extra employment. As a university teacher there is an additional obligation in accordance with Chapter 4, Section 15 of HF to notify the university of any extra employment you may have that is linked to your field of professional employment.

You are also entitled to receive a decision as to whether your extra employment is permitted or not.

Employer’s duty of information
According to Section 7a of LOA, employers are obliged to provide information for their employees as concerns the circumstances that may mean that extra employment is not permitted. In addition Chapter 4, Section 14 of HF states that a university must inform its teachers on the types of extra employment that are not in accordance with Chapter 3, Section 7 of the Higher Education Act.

Employer’s duty to take decisions concerning extra employment that is not permitted
According to Section 7c of LOA, the employer is obligated to instruct employees who undertake extra employment that damages confidence in the university to cease such activities, or if applicable, not to accept such commissions. The decision must be recorded in writing and include its motivation. The employer may also instruct employees to fully or partially cease
activities that prevent them from fulfilling their duties.

Appeal of decision not to permit extra employment
The employer’s decision on unpermitted extra employment (damaging confidence, preventing work or competition) may be appealed in a court of law.