Through our external whistleblower function, anyone who is or has been an employee, applicant, or participant in Skövdebostäder's operations can report misconduct in the workplace. This may involve illegal, unethical, or directly inappropriate behavior or events that you wish to report and that are of general interest.
We are committed to ensuring that any misconduct or irregularities that occur within the organization and that could harm our business or our employees are brought to light and investigated as early as possible. We have therefore chosen to have all reports received and investigated by the external agency Human & heart HR AB and their whistleblower service "Trust & heart."
In doing so, we are complying with the Swedish Whistleblower Act (SFS 2021:890), which came into force in December 2021 and which, in practice, tightens up previous legislation in this area.
You can use the whistleblower function to report any type of misconduct or irregularities in a work-related context that are of public interest. This means that there must be a greater interest than your own.
The new law makes it easier and safer for you to blow the whistle. The regulations prohibit employers from taking reprisals against those who raise the alarm. Reprisals can include dismissal, termination, relocation, withholding pay rises, offensive remarks, bullying and much more. The employer may be liable for damages if such measures are taken.
However, it is not only Skövdebostäder employees who can file a report. The law covers a wide range of people. Temporary or borrowed staff, job seekers, interns, volunteers, or people in management and shareholders working in a limited company are covered by the law and can blow the whistle.
You can always remain anonymous when you file a report.
You can submit a report here – it will be handled by the external and independent organization Human&heart.
- Phone – call 08 – 82 40 00, open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Letters – write to Human&heart, Pelle Bergs backe 3C, 79150 Falun, Sweden
- You can also meet with Human&heart to submit your application.
You are protected against reprisals under applicable law if you report situations where you have reasonable grounds to believe that information about irregularities is truthful.
You have the legal right to remain anonymous to both your case worker and your employer. At the same time, it is beneficial if you feel comfortable being open about who you are, as this makes it easier to investigate what has happened. You can also choose to be open about your identity to the whistleblower function but remain anonymous to your employer.
Once you have submitted a report, a case number will be created and a case officer will be assigned to your case. An internal conflict of interest check will then be carried out to ensure that no case officer has a conflict of interest in relation to what has been reported.
You will receive a special ID and password that you can use to log in and follow your case. Within seven working days, you will receive an update on the status of your case. You can choose not to receive updates by indicating this in the case description.
The case worker may want to contact you, but you can still remain anonymous. If you have chosen to receive updates on the case but still want to remain anonymous, you can log in using the information you received when you reported the case. If you have chosen to provide contact details, the case worker may want to contact you to ask any questions they may have.
Each case undergoes an assessment. If the report is deemed to be legally valid, it is converted into a follow-up case and forwarded to Skövdebostäder's investigation team, which consists of the HR manager and the business support function.
The investigation team assesses whether the follow-up case should be investigated internally or externally. Those responsible for the further investigation then conduct a full investigation to clarify whether misconduct and/or other violations have occurred or not. The case can then be closed or referred to other law enforcement authorities or supervisory bodies for further investigation and action.
Potential conflicts of interest are checked by both Human&Heart and the investigation team. If there appears to be a risk of this, the individuals will not be involved in either the assessment or the decision.
The whistleblower function should be used when an incident or behavior occurs that is of greater interest than one's own. The function should therefore not be used when it only affects the person reporting the misconduct.
This may, for example, concern conflicts between colleagues, salary setting, or opinions on how Skövdebostäder is run. In most cases, this is not considered to be of public interest.
General comments or complaints should be directed to info@skovdebostader.se or by telephone to 0500-47 74 00.
If you report irregularities that are not true or if you have provided misleading information, you are not protected under current legislation. You must also not commit a crime when reporting a situation.
A misleading or false report may be subject to investigation.