Hi! Thank you for sending in your question to Juridk till alla. The answer to your question will be stated under the following rubrics.

Civil law disputes

When a physical person or an entity, such as a company, want to bring claims or file suit against another physical person or an entity, that is a case of civil law dispute. In the Swedish legal system, such disputes are not necessarily the domain of any given government agency, but instead the legal avenue is the courts. As a consequence, there is no single government agency whose purpose is to supervise such legal disputes as the one you mention, with the authority to, for example, rule and in a specific case and demand that the wrongful party pay a fine to the state. This specific authority to arbitrate in a civil labor dispute rests with the courts.

As you describe in your question, in some circumstances the union represented by staff in the workplace can be involved in a civil dispute between an employer and an employee. However, for this to be the case, usually the employee must be part of the union if the employee seeks the aid of the union in disputes like the one you mention.

In certain situations, the Police Authority can become involved, but this requires that a crime has been committed and reported. If this is not the case, the question is still in the sphere of civil law dispute, and the Police Authority does not have any authority to act. In the case you describe there is only the crime of fraud that might be relevant, though I doubt that a dispute regarding salary payment will meet the specific legal requirements necessary for such a act to amount to fraud.

Your options

Seeing as your employer does not agree to your demands, and with respect to the fact that the union does not want to aid you, your foremost legal option is to sue your employer. However, this is costly enterprise, both with respect to the cost of dispute resolution in civil courts, and to the fact that you are still employed at the workplace which would be the other party of such a dispute.

I would recommend to you that you book an appointment with a legal counsel at Familjens jurist. They will help you with further assessing what options of recourse you have, and how to proceed with your case. Klick here to book an appointment.

Kind regards,
Gabriel Axelsson