Arbetsdomstolens partsammansättning - opartisk eller partisk
(2014) LAGF03 20141Department of Law
Faculty of Law
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Arbetsdomstolens partsammansättning har länge ifrågasatts. Fyra av sju ledamöter utnämns på förslag av centrala arbetsmarknadsorganisationer. Denna sammansättning är en konsekvens av att den svenska arbetsrättsliga lagstiftningen utgår ifrån den s.k. svenska modellen med kollektivavtalsbärande centrala arbetsmarknadsorganisationer som legala representanter för arbetsmarknadens parter.
I den juridiska debatten har problematiken med domstolens partsrepresentation belysts av både fackliga företrädare och av partsombud. Argumentet att intresseledamöterna skapar förtroende bland arbetsmarknadens parter ifrågasätts med hänvisning till att även icke-organiserade arbetsgivare måste räknas till ”arbetsmarknadens parter”. Kritiker menar att... (More) - Arbetsdomstolens partsammansättning har länge ifrågasatts. Fyra av sju ledamöter utnämns på förslag av centrala arbetsmarknadsorganisationer. Denna sammansättning är en konsekvens av att den svenska arbetsrättsliga lagstiftningen utgår ifrån den s.k. svenska modellen med kollektivavtalsbärande centrala arbetsmarknadsorganisationer som legala representanter för arbetsmarknadens parter.
I den juridiska debatten har problematiken med domstolens partsrepresentation belysts av både fackliga företrädare och av partsombud. Argumentet att intresseledamöterna skapar förtroende bland arbetsmarknadens parter ifrågasätts med hänvisning till att även icke-organiserade arbetsgivare måste räknas till ”arbetsmarknadens parter”. Kritiker menar att sammansättningen kan ge upphov till jävssituationer i de fall då intresseledamöterna har ett gemensamt intresse i strid med en av de tvistande parterna.
Frågan om intresseledamöternas opartiskhet var uppe för prövning i Europadomstolen i det s.k. Kellermann-målet. En oenig domstol kom fram till att Arbetsdomstolens sammansättning uppfyller Europakonventionens krav för en opartisk och oavhängig domstol med de förutsättningarna som gällde i denna tvist. Det finns dock en grupp jurister som hävdar att Arbetsdomstolen kan komma att bli fällda i Europadomstolen under andra premisser.
Arbetsdomstolen fyller otvetydigt en viktig kvalitativ funktion som instans i arbetsrättsliga tvister med sin kompetens och snabba handläggning. Domstolen bör därför finnas kvar, men för att komma till rätta med jävsproblematiken borde man enligt min mening avskaffa intresseorganisationernas representation i mål då en av parterna står utanför arbetsmarknadsorganisationerna. Domstolsledamöter som genom sin organisationsanknytning riskerar att misstänkas för att representera intressen i konflikt med en parts intressen hör inte hemma i en demokratisk rättsstat. (Less) - Abstract
- The composition of the Swedish Labour Court with members representing the interests of employers and employees has been questioned since long. Four out of seven members are appointed and mandated on proposals of central labour market organizations (this members are hereinafter referred to as “interest members”). This composition is an effect of the fact that the Swedish labour legislation assumes the central labour market organizations, acting as parties of collective labour agreements, being the legal representatives the parties on the Swedish labour market.
In the Swedish legal debate, the alleged problems related to this party representation by interest organizations have been highlighted by both trade union representatives and... (More) - The composition of the Swedish Labour Court with members representing the interests of employers and employees has been questioned since long. Four out of seven members are appointed and mandated on proposals of central labour market organizations (this members are hereinafter referred to as “interest members”). This composition is an effect of the fact that the Swedish labour legislation assumes the central labour market organizations, acting as parties of collective labour agreements, being the legal representatives the parties on the Swedish labour market.
In the Swedish legal debate, the alleged problems related to this party representation by interest organizations have been highlighted by both trade union representatives and lawyers appearing before the Labour Court. The classic argument that mutual interest representation in the court is a foundation of trust among the parties on that market is questioned with reference to that also employers and employees having decided not to join any labour market organization are to be considered as parties on the labour market. The criticizers argue that the interest related composition might cause conflict of interests in situations where the interest members have a joint interest, conflicting with the interest of a disputing party.
The question of the neutrality of interest members was subject to a legal assessment by the European Court of Justice in the Kellerman case. A dissentient court ruled that the composition of the Swedish Labour Court meets the legal requirements of the European Convention for a neutral and independent court considering the specific prerequisites at hand in this particular dispute. There is however a number of jurists arguing that the court - under different prerequisites -would have been declared non compliant to the convention in this respect.
Without doubt the Swedish Court of labour fulfills an important function and role as a competent and fast acting judicial tribunal in labour disputes. Therefore, it should continue to exist, but in my opinion in order to mitigate the risk of conflicts of interests in relation to disputing parties, the representation of labour market organizations should be abolished. Members of a court bench, at risk of being considered representing interests conflicting to the parties of a dispute, can never be justified in a democratic constitutional state. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/4449437
- author
- Svenburg, Ebba LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- LAGF03 20141
- year
- 2014
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- Arbetsdomstolen, intresseledamöter, Europeiska konventionen om skydd för de mänskliga rättigheterna och de grundläggande friheterna, Kellermann mot Sverige, Langborger mot Sverige, Europadomstolen, artikel 6.1, jäv, partisk, opartisk, oavhängig
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 4449437
- date added to LUP
- 2014-06-17 14:06:05
- date last changed
- 2014-06-17 14:06:05
@misc{4449437,
abstract = {{The composition of the Swedish Labour Court with members representing the interests of employers and employees has been questioned since long. Four out of seven members are appointed and mandated on proposals of central labour market organizations (this members are hereinafter referred to as “interest members”). This composition is an effect of the fact that the Swedish labour legislation assumes the central labour market organizations, acting as parties of collective labour agreements, being the legal representatives the parties on the Swedish labour market.
In the Swedish legal debate, the alleged problems related to this party representation by interest organizations have been highlighted by both trade union representatives and lawyers appearing before the Labour Court. The classic argument that mutual interest representation in the court is a foundation of trust among the parties on that market is questioned with reference to that also employers and employees having decided not to join any labour market organization are to be considered as parties on the labour market. The criticizers argue that the interest related composition might cause conflict of interests in situations where the interest members have a joint interest, conflicting with the interest of a disputing party.
The question of the neutrality of interest members was subject to a legal assessment by the European Court of Justice in the Kellerman case. A dissentient court ruled that the composition of the Swedish Labour Court meets the legal requirements of the European Convention for a neutral and independent court considering the specific prerequisites at hand in this particular dispute. There is however a number of jurists arguing that the court - under different prerequisites -would have been declared non compliant to the convention in this respect.
Without doubt the Swedish Court of labour fulfills an important function and role as a competent and fast acting judicial tribunal in labour disputes. Therefore, it should continue to exist, but in my opinion in order to mitigate the risk of conflicts of interests in relation to disputing parties, the representation of labour market organizations should be abolished. Members of a court bench, at risk of being considered representing interests conflicting to the parties of a dispute, can never be justified in a democratic constitutional state.}},
author = {{Svenburg, Ebba}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Arbetsdomstolens partsammansättning - opartisk eller partisk}},
year = {{2014}},
}