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Insurance

Collective insurance cover

How do I know if I am covered by a collective insurance scheme?

If you work in the public sector, (state, municipality or region), there are collective agreements at every workplace. Most private sector employers also have collective agreements, but you may need to check this in order to be sure. All private higher education institutions where SULF members work have collective agreements, for example the Stockholm School of Economics, Marie Cederschiöld University and the Red Cross University College.

In some cases, you may need to be employed for a certain number of hours per month to be able to receive compensation through a collective insurance scheme. In most cases, this is usually 20 per cent of full time. No health checks are required for you to be covered by collective insurance schemes.

What areas are covered by the collective insurance schemes?

Occupational injury insurance

In addition to the statutory occupational injury insurance, we have a collective agreement on compensation for occupational injury. The agreement has different names in different sectors, and it is called the Compensation for Personal Injury Agreement (PSA) in the state sector and TFA or TFA-KL in other sectors. Compensation claims are to be made through AFA Insurance, which is an organisation owned by Sweden’s labour market partners. In some cases, the Swedish Social Insurance Agency (Försäkringskassan) must rule that it is a work-related injury in order for you to receive compensation.

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Examples of injuries for which employees can receive compensation through these collective insurance schemes include accidents at work, accidents that occur on the way to or from work (such as traffic accidents), if you have been exposed to violence or threats at work, and if you suffer from an occupational disease.

Insurance in the event of death

If the worst should happen, surviving dependents can receive compensation through the Agreement on Group Life Insurance (TGL) and through the occupational pension agreements. The compensation level varies depending on family situation, age and other factors, but in general the Agreement on Group Life Insurance provides compensation of up to six price-indexed base amounts plus funeral assistance to surviving dependents. In addition to this, the pension agreements provide compensation to dependents for a certain period of time, depending on the insured person's age and income and the number of surviving dependents who are entitled to compensation. In addition, earned occupational pension can be paid to dependents if you have chosen to include surviving dependent cover in your occupational pension.

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In some cases, there is also a provision in the insurance policies that means compensation can be paid even after leaving the insured employee has left their employment.

Please note that the dependents who are entitled to receive compensation is regulated in the collective agreement. It may be possible to change this through a beneficiary clause. It may be worth looking into this if you do not have dependents who are automatically entitled to compensation, (for example a spouse, partner or child).

Insurance in case of illness

If you become ill and receive sickness benefit, the collective agreement entitles you to supplementary compensation. This is sometimes paid through the employer and sometimes through a separate insurance scheme. Under the state collective agreement, the employer pays it as salary.

You can find more information about compensation for illness here.

If you become long-term ill and receive incapacity benefit from the Social Insurance Agency, you can receive invalidity pension through the pension agreements.

Compensation for parental leave

If you are a parental leave, you can receive supplementary compensation through our collective agreements. This is often called parental allowance or parental pay and it is normally paid by the employer.

You can find more information about parental allowance and parental allowance supplements here.

Insurance for doctoral candidates with scholarship funding

Scholarships do not qualify you for social benefits. This means that insurance cover needs to be arranged separately. Since scholarship funding is not employment, you are not entitled to receive work-based benefits such as sickness benefit or parental benefit from the Social Insurance Office unless you have a protected SGI (sickness benefit qualifying income from a previous job). Additionally, you are not entitled to the collective agreement-based benefits, such as supplementary parental allowance, compensation for medicine costs and more. Therefore, problems arise in the case of prolonged illness or parental leave.

If you have been accepted for a place at a higher education institution that is a government agency and are funded by a scholarship, you have insurance through Kammarkollegiet, the Legal, Financial and Administrative Services Agency. This covers loss of income in the case of illness or parental leave. You can find more information about this insurance on the Kammarkollegiet website. 

SULF generally believes that scholarships should not be used as an alternative to employment for the funding of doctoral and postdoctoral research.

Compensation in case of unemployment

If you become unemployed, you may be covered by our transition agreements. These agreements can provide supplementary compensation when you receive unemployment benefit an unemployment insurance fund (a-kassa). They also provide support to help you to find a new job as soon as possible.

Insurance cover for business travel and overseas postings

When you travel for work outside Sweden or are sent to work abroad for a state agency, you are covered by insurance policies taken out by the employer through Kammarkollegiet, the Legal, Financial and Administrative Services Agency. You can find more information about this insurance on the Kammarkollegiet website.

If you work for a non-governmental employer, (including Chalmers and Jönköping University), you should check with your employer or the local trade union organisation about how insurance cover has been resolved.