The coronavirus has recently turned our normal lives upside down in one way or another, not least our working life. Many employers had the opportunity to send their employees home so that they can continue their work in a safe home environment. Due to the nature of the work, other employers had to keep their employees in the workplace. The purpose of this study is therefore to examine the opportunities, options and responsibilities of the private employer so that these employees can still feel safe from infection even though they have to be at the workplace. This is done primarily by analyzing different sources of law. In addition, the aim is to examine, through a case study, the complex relationship between law and reality. It is mainly analyzed on the basis of a survey. Finally, the research aims to provide a final result that can help in future crises affecting the labour market. The study concluded that employers need to devote a lot of resources to their systematic work environment management, especially if they had short-time work allowance because it was found to cause mental and physical problems, mainly in the form of stress. Finally, it should also be noted how the rules on short-time work allowance should be more industry-friendly in the future.

The purpose of the essay will be to review, highlight and analyze the current regulations regarding short-time work and see what the implementation looked like for the first time during the pandemic for the various parties on the labour market. The legal dogmatic method has been used to establish the law in force. Furthermore, a legalpositive perspective has been used. In order to understand the legal motives and purpose behind the legislative changes, a subjective interpretation of the law will also be used. The effects of the implementation will be highlighted through a socio-economic perspective to highlight the economic aspects.   Results show that the new system for short-time work has been one of the largest support measures to alleviate the effects on Swedish business, employment and the national economy during the spread of the disease covid-19. During the pandemic, the regulatory framework for short-time work has been applied for the first time and to an extent that was not foreseen when the legislation was drawn up. Furthermore, a system of short-time work with state support entails both advantages and disadvantages from different perspectives. It provides a chance for workers to keep their employment and for employers to have the right skills to be able to more quickly gear up production when things turn around. The result is to preserve jobs and support employment. It also entails potential risks such as lock-in effects, moral hazard, displacement effects, risk of increased polarization of the market and a risk of overexploitation of the system. The difficulty lies in determining which situations and types of recessions the short-time work system will be most beneficial and applicable where the benefits outweigh the risks. Finally, the support system has worked well for larger companies with regular production, low staff turnover and fixed employment conditions. At the same time, it indicates that smaller companies and forms of employment, such as fixed-term employment, have found it more difficult to use the support based on the design.