Taxi drivers!

Taxi. In brief about your rights. Kort om dina rättigheter som taxiförare - på engelska.

Corona crisis is for many in the business for taxi a catastrophe. Much is unclear. New rules on aid are becoming even more difficult to understand in new language.

What if I do not get paid? How am I going to get by and my family? What kind of help can I get as an unemployed person?
How does the unemployment insurance fund work? What is lay-off/short-term work?

Here we will try to give you answers in a simple way. More info on www.transportarbetaren.se, and links to important web pages.

If I do not get any salary

• Get in touch with your employer directly! Your boss might say the money’s coming, but later. Then you should just say yes if the pay comes a day later. One day = a business day. That means April monday the 27th. It’s important! You can lose money by saying ok to wait.
• Produce papers as proof that you are entitled to pay. It can be a certificate of employment (the contract that indicates that you work for the owner). It can also be pay slip, paper on previous salary you received another month.
• If you are a member of the union: Contact your local Transport Union, www.transport.se/avdelningar

If you risk losing your job

Being told about termination:
That does not mean you lost your job. It’s a warning that this could happen.
If the employer decides to let you go:

• The termination shall be in writing. It is not enough just to say that there are no jobs!
• Ask your employer for a certificate: paper on how much you have worked (hours each month) in the last year. The employer must write a certificate! And you have to have it to get money out of the unemployment insurance fund.
• You are entitled to a salary during the period of It takes time until your employment ends.

The length of the notice period may be different. It depends on how long you’ve worked in the company. If you’ve worked many years, it could be six months. The shortest time is a month. Make sure you get paid, even if you do not have to be at work!

If your company goes bankrupt

The company can avoid bankruptcy by requesting reconstruction of the company. This means that  the owner gets the chance to run his company further, and then also can keep some of the employees in work.
If the company you work for is declared bankrupt, and can’t pay its debts:

• Expect you to continue working if you have not been made redundant.
• Collect papers showing how much the company owes you (should pay in salary).

In bankruptcy, it is common for employees not to be paid. Therefore, there is a guarantee. It’s the state that pays out the wage money you’re supposed to have. Often it is the state’s representative, the receiver, who terminates the employees.

• During the period of notice, you are entitled to your regular salary.
• Register with the Swedish Public Employment Service on the day you are dismissed and released from work! The easiest way is to do it on the web, on the Swedish Public Employment Service’s website, www.arbetsformedlingen.se. You don’t have to go to their office.

You may have to wait for the money from the payroll guarantee. It should be quick, but often it takes at least three weeks.

Do you have collective agreements?

If you work at a company that has a collective agreement, you are entitled to the minimum guarantee salary. This applies to all employees at the company, such as Taxi Stockholm and all riders who drive under the company’s umbrella.

Worked without a collective agreement?

Register at the Swedish Public Employment Service! Also turn to the unemployment insurance fund. Explain your situation, if you were employed without guaranteed pay and now do not get any money.

Support from the union

In order for Transport’s ombudsmen to be able to help you, you must be a member of the union, the Swedish Transport Workers’ Union. It’s up to the local ombudsmen if they have the time or the opportunity to help you if you haven’t been there before the problems started. If you have questions, you’re not alone. Many need the advice  and help of the union. Unfortunately, this means that it takes extra time right now to get answers.
www.transport.se

Unemployment insurance

The government has decided that it will be easier to get help from the unemployment insurance fund.

For the rest of 2020 it is enough to have been a member for three months to be entitled to money from the unemployment insurance fund, income-based compensation. How much depends on what you earned and how much you worked. At most, it’s  1,200 kronor a day. Anyone who has not been a member of an unemployment insurance fund long enough, or worked too little, can get
basic compensation. It is now at most approximately SEK 8,000 per month.

You who are entitled to unemployment insurance will receive money from the first day you are unemployed and registered with the Swedish Public Employment Service. It is easier for entrepreneurs to get unemployment insurance. You can have your company dormant.

If you drive a taxi, transport’s unemployment insurance register is available. Those who work there have a great deal of knowledge of the conditions of the transport workers. Transport’s unemployment insurance fund has information in Swedish and English: www.transportsakassa.se

Unemployment insurance if you resign yourself

Many who run entirely on commission have in recent months basically been without income.

You can choose to terminate yourself and get the right to money from the unemployment insurance fund.. The problem is that there is a shutdown time. Anyone who resigns  is normally suspended 45 days from the unemployment insurance fund = 9 full weeks without compensation.

There is still a chance to avoid the long period without compensation:

If you have full commission-based salary, you have valid reasons to resign if you have not earned a salary during three weeks of full-time work.

• To get money from the unemployment insurance fund, you must then show your old salary specifications, paper on salary then received before.

This does not apply to those who are guaranteed. This applies to a 45-day suspension from the unemployment insurance fund.

Short-term lay-off/short-term work

Since 7 April, entrepreneurs can apply to lay off their employees. That means you’re going to have to be home with a salary.

It is the government that has decided that the state should go in and pay aid to save as many businesses and jobs as possible. It’s called short-term lay-off. Short-term work is another word for the same thing.

At most, your employer can lay off at 60 percent, so you should be on the job the rest of the time. The person who is laid off will then receive 92.5%  of their regular salary. (From 1 May and three months from now, the employer can lay off its employees at 80%. Then the laid-off, the employee, receives 88 percent of the salary.)

Transport does not allow employers to lay off employees and give notice of termination at the same time. If you have been alerted, you cannot be at home and laid off during the period of notice.

Warning for cheating!

Some companies are trying to cheat to get government money for short-term layoffs. Employees have been forced to agree to layoffs even though they still work full-time. Employers have threatened to make employees redundant if they do not support the cheating. That is all wrong.

Such cheating is fraud. Those who own businesses and are discovered will be punished. The Swedish Growth Agency, which handles the money for short-term lay-offs, reports suspected fraud to the police.

• If you are a driver exposed: Please contact your local transport union for advice. While nonmembers can turn to the union, it’s good if Transport gets information about cheating. It is also possible to report directly to the Swedish Growth Agency.

In the worst case scenario

Income support is a last resort. You should have tried other ways first, like getting money from the unemployment insurance fund. If you are out of work, you should be registered with the Swedish Public Employment Service.

• You seek financial help from the social services in the municipality where you have written that you live.

The income support, ‘social assistance’, is intended as temporary aid with money. You do not have to sell your car or house for help for a short time.