Swedish Employment Protection in Times of Flexicurity Policies and Economic Crisis

In the wake of increasing globalization and economic and financial crisis, the balance between flexibility and security - flexicurity - is central to European employment policies and the modernization of EU labour law in the different Member States of the EU. Common principles of flexibility have been adopted, and different pathways to flexicurity have been outlined. The aim of this paper is to critically analyse developments in Swedish employment protection regulation, with a special focus on dismissals for reasons of redundancy, in light of the EU flexicurity discourse. The notions of employability and equal treatment come to the fore. Central research questions involve the design and content of employment protection regulation and employment protection and employability within collective bargaining and the industrial relations system. Attention is paid to recent changes and developments in legislation, case law and collective bargaining, and to whether employment protection is being deregulated. The paper integrates labour law and industrial relations approaches, and encompasses analyses of legal materials at different levels, as well as industrial relations aspects