Liberals want wider dismissal powers in schools and care

Sweden's Liberals want employers in schools, elder care and disability services to be able to dismiss staff more easily over suspected or proven serious crimes, a proposal that would widen existing safeguarding rules beyond recruitment.

The party proposal calls for recurring checks of conviction and suspicion registers in sensitive services. It also proposes checks during teacher training and before a teaching licence is issued. The party gives child sexual offences and gang crime as examples.

Since 15 July, school recruitment checks have included specified convictions and specified suspected offences that have reached prosecution. Those checks are made before a person is hired or otherwise taken into school activity. A record does not automatically bar recruitment.

The Liberal plan would go further by covering existing employees and changing when conduct outside work can justify dismissal. Party leader Simona Mohamsson presented it on Friday as an election proposal. It is not a bill or current dismissal rule.

Liberalerna has not published draft legal text, the full crime list, the threshold for acting on suspicion, the frequency or operator of recurring checks, an implementation cost or support from other parties. Any change would need legislation and parliamentary backing, and would have to balance protection of vulnerable people with employment rights and the presumption of innocence.

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