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Check the dismissal date, deadline, contract, warnings, pay records and messages first.
For SEK 5 million of salary, bonus or severance, a careful chronology can change the negotiation.
Preserve lawful evidence, but avoid taking confidential files you should not access.
Use Caira to build a timeline and draft a response checklist.
If your Swedish employer has not paid salary, treat the problem as a document and route question before you treat it as a fight. The official sources support three official paths to check: Kronofogden for a payment order where a claim is suitable for that process, Sveriges Domstolar for labour disputes, and Länsstyrelsen for state wage-can help information where an employer is insolvent. They do not prove that every unpaid salary case belongs in one route.
The safest first step is to identify what is unpaid, whether the employer disputes it, and whether a union, collective agreement, insolvency process, or court route changes the answer.
List exactly what is unpaid
Make a table before sending anything. Include ordinary salary, overtime, commission, bonus, holiday pay, expense reimbursement, notice pay, sick pay, deductions, and pension or benefit issues if they appear in the contract. Add the pay period, due date, amount expected, amount received, and the document that proves each amount. Swedish terms worth preserving are lon for salary, lon utebliven for salary not paid, arbetsgivare for employer, anstallningsavtal for employment contract, and lonespecifikation for payslip.
Check the contract and collective layer
Read the employment contract, offer letter, salary annex, handbook, commission plan, timesheets, and any collective agreement reference. If you are a union member, contact the union early and ask whether they want to handle the claim or whether a deadline or negotiation route applies. Do not send a broad legal threat if the union has a process you must preserve. If there is no written contract, collect emails, payslips, bank payments, schedules, tax information, and messages that show what was agreed.
Ask once, clearly, in writing
A short salary demand can clarify whether the employer made a payroll mistake or is refusing payment. Keep the tone factual:
Amne: Begaran om utbetalning av utebliven lon
Hej [namn], jag skriver om utebliven lon for perioden [datum]. Enligt [anstallningsavtal/lonespecifikation/tidrapport] skulle [belopp] kr betalas den [datum], men jag har endast mottagit [belopp] kr. Vanligen bekrafta skriftligen nar resterande belopp betalas, eller skicka en forklaring och underlag om ni anser att beloppet inte ska betalas. Vanliga halsningar, [namn]
Use a real date only as your requested reply date, not as a legal deadline unless an adviser or official source supports it for your facts.
If the employer disputes the claim
Kronofogden can be relevant for payment-order style claims, but the validation notes warn not to present it as suitable where the employer disputes the claim. If the employer says you did not work, the bonus condition was not met, the amount is wrong, or there is a counterclaim, treat the file as contested. Check labour-dispute guidance, union support, and legal information and document review before assuming a simple collection route will work.
If the employer is insolvent
If the employer is in bankruptcy, reconstruction, or appears unable to pay many employees, add an insolvency branch to your notes. The official sources includes a Länsstyrelsen page on statlig lonegaranti, state wage can help. That does not mean every late payment qualifies. It means you should preserve payslips, contracts, bank records, termination documents, insolvency notices, administrator details, and correspondence, then check the current official wage-can help instructions.
Documents to collect
Gather the contract, amendments, collective agreement reference, payslips, bank statements, timesheets, rota, overtime approvals, commission plan, expense receipts, holiday balance, sick-leave records, termination or notice documents, payroll messages, and any employer explanation. Add a timeline: employment start, pay period, due date, first missed payment, first written request, employer response, and current status.
Common mistakes
Do not wait silently through several payroll cycles. Do not rely only on a phone call with HR. Do not exaggerate the claim by mixing salary with unrelated grievances. Do not assume Kronofogden is the answer if the claim is already contested. Do not ignore union membership or a collective agreement. Do not overlook insolvency if many workers are unpaid or the employer announces bankruptcy-related steps.
Where Unwildered fits
Upload your contract, payslips, bank records, time records, employer messages, and draft salary demand. Unwildered can help build a salary table, separate admitted amounts from disputed ones, and prepare a concise question list for a union, adviser, Kronofogden, court route, or wage-can help review.
Official context to check
For Swedish rent and deposit pages, broad averages are less helpful than the official route. Use Hyresnämnden, Länsstyrelsen or Skatteverket materials to decide which document, forum or filing step fits the user's tenancy.
Sources
Sveriges Domstolar / Hyresnämnden
Länsstyrelsen rent-deposit guidance
Riksdag statute database
Riksdag: employment protection legislation
Arbetsdomstolen
This article is general information, not legal, financial, medical or tax advice.
