Secondary employment

Basically, employees dispose of their leisure time as they wish and secondary employment is permitted. Pursuant to legislation and collective agreements, some types of secondary employment are prohibited on the grounds that they damage credibility, interfere with work duties or represent competition.

Secondary employment which damages credibility is prohibited by law. Prohibition of other types of secondary employment is regulated in collective agreements.

Definition and reason for regulations

As mentioned above, secondary employment is any occupation in which you are engaged temporarily or permanently alongside your employment and which does not concern your private life.

There is no requirement for the activity to have a particular capacity in order to count as secondary employment; likewise, whether or not it is financially remunerated is of no significance. Work outside regular working hours for Lund University or another public authority may also constitute secondary employment.

The reason why we need regulations about secondary employment is to ensure that trust in the public authority and its employees is maintained.

How to report secondary employment – Teaching staff

All teaching staff are to submit a report on secondary employment, including staff who have no such employment. When you report secondary employment, you are to do so in such a way as to allow your manager to determine whether or not it is permitted. If you are employed as a researcher or a doctoral student, you are not covered by the rules concerning secondary employment for teaching staff.

Previously approved reports on secondary employment are to be updated if the scope or nature of the occupation changes.

A small number of managers are covered by the local agreement on managers. If you are one of them, you have a greater obligation to report secondary employment and must submit a report whether or not you are engaged in any secondary employment.

How to report secondary employment – Administrative staff

Other employees only need to report secondary employment if requested to do so by their manager. In such cases, there must be a reason for the request, either with reference to the way in which you carry out your regular work duties or if the requirement for objectivity and impartiality is particularly important in the exercise of your work duties. This can be the case if you work with procurement, for example, in close collaboration with other agents.