Wage guarantee is a protection for you if you have not received your salary when your employer has gone bankrupt or is undergoing reorganisation. Wage guarantee means that you can receive compensation for wages and similar benefits that your employer owes you.
How the wage guarantee works
The receiver or administrator decides whether you are entitled to wage guarantee and how much money you will receive. The decision is based on documentation from your employer. Sometimes, you need to help by showing employment contracts, payslips and the like.
What does the wage guarantee cover?
You can receive compensation under the wage guarantee for
- wages you have earned three months before the company filed for bankruptcy or reorganisation with the District Court
- wages for the period between the application and the District Court's decision on bankruptcy or reorganisation
- wages for the first month following the decision on bankruptcy or reorganisation
- notice pay under the Employment Protection Act (LAS)
- holiday pay and holiday allowance
- pension claims – to some extent
- other compensation due to your employment.
You can receive wage guarantee for a maximum of eight months (including wage demands for the period before bankruptcy and notice pay).
There is a maximum amount in the wage guarantee that limits the amount of compensation you can receive. The maximum amount is four price base amounts.
Read more about the price base amount on Statistics Sweden's website.
Disbursement of wage guarantee
The receiver or administrator sends the decision on wage guarantee to you, to us as a supervisory authority, and to the County Administrative Board. In the decision, you will find information about which county administrative board will disburse your wage guarantee. The County Administrative Board deducts tax before you get paid.
You must submit an assurance that you have not had another income during the period to the county administrative board in order to receive your notice pay. The County Administrative Board will send you a form.
If you have questions about the disbursement, you can contact the relevant county administrative board. More information is available on the County Administrative Board's website.
Wage demands not covered by the wage guarantee
If you do not receive full compensation for your claims under the wage guarantee, you can sometimes receive salary arrears as distribution when the bankruptcy is concluded. You must monitor your claim yourself. The receiver can give you more information about what to do.
Bankruptcy in another country
Have you worked in Sweden, but for a company that has been declared bankrupt in a Nordic, EU or EEA (European Economic Area) country? You may then be entitled to Swedish wage guarantee. Contact us to apply for wage guarantee.
You can find our contact details at the bottom of the page.
You will receive a form for your application and information about what documents you must submit along with your application. It is important that you write clearly:
- what you claim compensation for,
- the amount of compensation you are claiming.
If you have worked in another country, you are not entitled to Swedish wage guarantee. Contact the receiver for information on how to apply for wage guarantee in another country.
Read more about which countries are part of the EU and EEA: