While many people have worked as usual throughout the pandemic, such as healthcare, retail and school staff, national public health recommendations to work from home, if possible, have been in place for over a year.

This guideline will be removed on September 29, along with most other pandemic recommendations and the legal restrictions on restaurants and events.

What this means in practice depends on your employer, your job and other special circumstances. Several large companies have announced a permanent transition to optional homework, while others may have reduced office space during the pandemic.

So can your boss force you to return to work?

The answer is yes. An employer always has the right to decide where the work is to be performed, and this includes the possibility of giving a mandate for office work.

This was even true during the pandemic. The national recommendations and guidelines forced employers to allow homework if possible (including making reasonable adjustments to facilitate it) and to take other measures to reduce the risk of infection, such as shifting working hours or increasing distance in the workplace, but it was finally up to to the employer to decide if it is possible to work remotely.

But if your boss asks you to return to work and you do not want to, you have no choice.

– It should always be possible to agree with your employer on what applies to you, says union lawyer Sofie Malmkvist to TT. “Then there are several collective agreements that contain sections on telework.”

If there is nothing specific in your collective agreement (collective agreement) or an individual employment contract about your workplace, you can talk directly with your manager or HR department about what would work best for you.

Even if your employer implements a company-wide policy, there may be room to make exceptions for a good reason. This can range from requesting more time or specific days at the office or at home to meeting childcare obligations, or explaining if you are at higher risk for serious illness from Covid-19 and do not feel safe commuting. Even if it’s just about your personal preference, after a year of homework, you may find that workplaces that were previously opposed to allowing teleworking will now be more open to it, especially if it means keeping happy employees.

If you are concerned that your employer is not taking reasonable precautions against Covid-19 at work, there are some steps you can take. You can talk directly with your boss, especially if they have been proactive about Covid-19 or other occupational safety issues. Your employer should be able to explain the measures they have taken to ensure a safe working environment, and this now includes reducing the risk of infection.

If you are a member of a trade union, you can talk to your union representative. Even if your workplace does not recognize a trade union, you can still get advice on the best course of action, but in that case the union itself will have less influence.

And if your workplace does not recognize your union, you can still have one safety representative (workplace environment representative), and if you do not, the company employees can choose one. A safety representative is responsible for representing employees in terms of safety and the environment in the workplace, including involvement in discussions and risk assessments about the work environment, requesting further measures and even asking for work to be paused if they consider that there is a high risk to employee safety.

Another option to consider is to talk to your colleagues. If you are worried, others are likely to do the same, and speaking as a group often helps employees feel more secure and can make employers more inclined to listen.

At the other end of the scale, some workers may be anxious to return to the workplace, for example if their home environment makes their work more difficult. In that case, it is unlikely that your boss can force you to continue working remotely, according to Sofie Malmkvist.

“Just like before the pandemic, it depends on what you and the employer have agreed on. If you worked exclusively in the office before the pandemic, I have a hard time seeing that the employer can decide that you should work from home, says the legal expert.

There may be exceptions, for example if your company has made a permanent transition to teleworking.

One last thing to remember is that in Sweden, your employer is always responsible for your work environment, no matter where it is. They must take all reasonable steps to keep you safe and healthy, which may include providing office furniture if you work from home or ensuring good ventilation if you return to work.