n light of the increased spread of Covid-19, Arbetsförmedlingen [the Public Employment Service], took two decisions, on March 17, 2020, regarding a temporary halt on sanctions on individuals that did not hand in their activity report as well as a temporary halt on sanctions and notifications. The purpose of the decisions was partly to prevent the spread of Covid-19, and partly to release human resources from certain duties, to ensure socially important functions.

The Parliamentary Ombudsman states that Arbetsförmedlingen, like many other authorities, was facing a difficult situation in March of 2020 and that it was difficult, during this time period, to assess the consequences of Covid-19. However, the fact that an authority is in a difficult situation does not mean that the authority is free to override, without legal support, the obligations that the authority shall abide by.

The Parliamentary Ombudsman further states that Arbetsförmedlingen’s decisions on March 17, 2020 goes against the authority’s obligation pursuant to chapter 6, section 2 to 4 of the Ordinance on Renumeration to Participants in Labour Market Policy Initiatives and section 16 of the Ordinance on Labour Market Policy Operations. The decisions conveyed, that while the decisions were in motion, the authority failed to fulfil certain obligations that the government has instructed the authority to perform. There is no legal support for the decisions that were taken, and the authority has thereby acted in violation of the principle of legality as stipulated in chapter 1, section 1, third paragraph of the Instrument of Government and section 5, first paragraph of the Administrative Procedure Act. Due to this failure Arbetsförmedlingen receives criticism.

The authority also receives criticism due to their processing of a requested re-examination.