Criminalisation as a response to low wages and labour market exploitation in Sweden
2021
12
4
December
529-546
labour law ; migrant worker ; minimum wage ; labour market policy ; forced labour
Labour market
https://doi.org/10.1177/20319525211038015
English
"It is hard to determine when adverse labour conditions become exploitation. As of July 1, 2018, ‘human exploitation' is criminalised in Sweden, with penalties up to ten years prison. The crime of ‘human exploitation' occurs when someone, through unlawful coercion, misleads, exploits another person's position of dependence, lack of protection, or difficult situation, or exploits another person in forced labour, work under obviously unreasonable conditions or begging. This article describes how disputes concerning low wages are to be handled within the Swedish model for labour market regulation, and contrasts this with the novel crime that adds a criminal law element to this otherwise civil law-oriented model."
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