Sweden: Deliberately withholding Vital Information during security checks is a reason for termination
The Labor Court ruled that the Police Authority had a legal basis for dismissing a police officer, who withheld information about his contacts and contact with persons connected to a criminal network.
A police officer underwent security checks in 2015 and 2019 to assess whether he could be granted a security clearance for security-classified employment. The police officer received the necessary security clearance in 2015, but his permit was withdrawn in 2019 when the Police Authority became aware of his contacts and dealings with criminal individuals and the criminal network Bandidos. According to the Police Authority, the police officer had deliberately withheld information about his contacts and contact with Bandidos during the security investigations, and the police officer was consequently dismissed by the Police Authority. The policeman denied that he deliberately withheld any information and claimed that there were no reasons for the dismissal.
The Labor Court stated that the Police Authority, regardless of the result of the security tests, had to substantiate the circumstances for the assessment that the police officer could not be considered competent for security-classified employment. The court further found that employment as a police officer or any security-classified employment requires loyalty and reliability from the employee. The court found that the police officer had consistently toned down his relations with the criminal network and did not inform the Police Authority about any of his contacts until he realized that the Police Authority had information that he could not deny. The court concluded that the police officer must have realized that the withheld information had been decisive for the Police Authority and for the security checks. His actions had seriously damaged the employer’s trust in him and had also entailed a risk that the public’s trust in him and the Police Authority would be adversely affected. As such, the court ruled that the police officer had violated his obligations to the state and that there was a legal basis for the dismissal.
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An employee who intentionally withholds important information from his employer during security or background checks may in certain circumstances provide a legal basis for both a dismissal and / or a dismissal.