Swedish strip club lost the first round

That was the outcome when a court ruled on the first round of the dispute between the Swedish Work Environment Authority and the strippers’ employer, as reported by the Nordic Labour Journal in October 2024. The case carries significance for the entire labour market.

As a general rule, all employees are entitled to daily rest between midnight and 5 am. However, this does not apply to work that must be carried out at night, like in healthcare, emergency services or the police.

Employers in other sectors may also operate at night under certain circumstances. The Work Environment Authority can grant exemptions from the night work ban, and trade unions can enter into collective agreements that allow for exemptions.

However, for such a collective agreement to be valid, it must have been concluded or approved by a “central” trade union.

The Work Environment Authority found no special reason to grant an exemption for the Club Heartbeat strip club. As a result, Flirt Fashion was prohibited from allowing its employees to work between midnight and 5 am.

Violating the ban would result in a 600,000 kronor (€55,400) fine. The company appealed the decision to the Administrative Court in Växjö, which has now issued its ruling.

In court, Flirt Fashion argued that the company had a collective agreement with the Sokaf union (the Swedish trade union for stage and culture employees) allowing for an exemption to the night work ban.

Sokaf was founded around the same time that the Work Environment Authority began reviewing working hours at various strip clubs.

The decisive issue in the case was whether Sokaf qualifies as a “central” trade union capable of signing valid agreements covering exemptions from the Working Hours Act. The court’s answer was no. To be considered central, the trade union must have achieved a certain organisational stability and represent a more significant number of members.

Sokaf had been founded as recently as 2022, the collective agreement was signed shortly thereafter, and the organisation had only 48 members (compared to 6,000 members in the established Swedish Union for Performing Arts and Film), the court noted.

Thus, the Work Environment Authority’s ban remains in place.

This is the first time a court has ruled on what constitutes a central employee organisation under the law, and Flirt Fashion may appeal the decision.

The outcome of the case is important for the entire labour market. The Working Hours Act is intended to protect workers’ health, and it is important that only organisations with sufficient strength to safeguard their interests in relation to employers are allowed to agree to exemptions to the regulations.