The purpose of this essay is to describe the legal conditions of the two legal rights the safety representatives upholds, the right to suspend work and the right to request investigations. Furthermore, it should be investigated and explained what obstacles and problems the safety representatives may face when it comes to exercising these rights. The aim is also to give the essay a diversity perspective with the help of a study of language problems among migrated workers and if this can be a safety hazard in the work and how it then can be related to the safety representatives legal rights mentioned above. As occupational health and safety issues also are regulated by EU law, the purpose of this essay is also to give a brief account of how EU bodies affects the law concerning occupational health and safety issues. In order to answer the essays research questions and to achieve its purpose, I have worked with the legal method and also performed a qualitative research interview.   I have concluded that the right to request investigations and the right to suspend work are two powerful tools that a safety representative has at its disposal. However, there are several aspects that can affect how they can be used and for what. Furthermore, I also came to the conclusion that there are certain obstacles affecting safety representatives possibilities  to work with its right, in the form of knowledge, time for education and also fear from negative consequences applied from the employer. Finally, I would like to present my conclusions concerning language problems and that they could be considered a safety hazard in the work and that the right to request investigations and the right to suspend work could be relevant in the particular case.

1 augusti 2011 upphävdes Arbetsmiljöverkets dispens för uttag av extra mertid och extra övertid. Istället är det nu upp till arbetsgivaren att bedöma ifall det finns särskilda skäl för uttag av extra övertid och extra mertid samt att bedöma att situationen inte går att lösa på annat rimligt sätt. Skyddsombuden får nu som ett led i regleringen möjlighet att göra framställningar till arbetsgivaren om det behövs för att säkerställa att arbetstidslagen följs. Syftet med uppsatsen har varit att ta reda på vilka omständigheter och situationer, som krävs för att en arbetsgivare ska kunna ta ut extra övertid och extra mertid. Uppsatsen beskriver den gällande rätten för uttag av extra övertid och extra mertid. Syftet har också varit att redogöra för hur skyddsombudens befogenheter har påverkats av de nya reglerna kring uttag av extra övertid och extra mertid. Uppsatsen har baserats på en rättsdogmatisk metod, vilket innebär att den har haft sin utgångspunkt utifrån olika befintliga rättskällor. Uppsatsen har varit avgränsad till att endast beröra den ändring som skett i arbetstidslagen och berör inte nödfallsövertid, studerande skyddsombud eller elevskyddsombud. Slutsatser som har dragits är att särskilda skäl för att göra uttag av extra övertid och extra mertid, kan vara tillfälliga arbetsanhopningar som varit omöjliga att förutse, oförutsedda sjukdomsfall eller förlust av spetskompetens som inte gått att ersätta omedelbart. Bedömningen att situationen inte går att lösa på annat rimligt sätt, ska göras i varje enskilt fall. Arbetsgivaren ska se över möjligheter som att rekrytera personal, hyra in personal eller utföra organisatoriska åtgärder för att lösa situationen. Skyddsombuden har sedan tidigare möjlighet att kontrollera arbetstidsfrågor, men endast rätt att agera, då det innebär en risk ur ett arbetsmiljöperspektiv. Nu har det rätt att agera vid minsta övertramp av extra övertid och extra mertid samt möjlighet att begära att arbetsgivaren ska vidta åtgärder.  Ändringen i arbetstidslagen ger skyddsombuden en begränsad rätt att agera, eftersom regeln kan avtalas bort genom kollektivavtal. Den nya regleringen i arbetstidslagen innebär en mindre ökning av skyddsombudens befogenheter. / On August 1, 2011 the Swedish Work Environment Authority repealed their exemption for the take out of extra overtime and extra additional time. It is now up to the employer to determine if there are special reasons for the employee to take out extra overtime and extra additional time and to decide whether the situation has not been able to be solved in any other reasonable way. Currently the safety representatives of the company get the possibility to make suggestions to the employer if needed, to ensure that the Act regulating the working time is enforced. The main purpose of this paper was to determine the circumstances and situations that require an employer to be able to charge extra overtime and extra additional time. The paper describes the established law for the collection of extra overtime and extra additional time. The purpose has also been to explain how the safety representatives’ authority has been affected by the new regulations around the extra overtime and extra additional time. The paper is based on the law of dogmatic approach, which means that it is based on various existing sources of law. The paper has been limited to only concern the change that has occurred in the Act regulating the working time and shall not affect emergency overtime and student safety representatives. The conclusions that has been drawn, is that the special reasons for taking out extra overtime and extra additional time, may be temporary situations of higher workload that were impossible to predict, unforeseen illness or loss of front edge competence that is not possible to replace immediately. In each specific case, an assessment shall been made, to determine that the situation hasn’t been able to be resolved in any other reasonable way. The employer shall review the possibility of recruiting new employees, hire employees from a temporary work agency or implementing organizational arrangements to resolve the situation. The safety representatives already have the authority to control issues regarding working time, but only the authority to act when the working time has developed in to a working environment problem. Now they have the right to act at the slightest infractions of extra overtime and extra additional overtime and the possibility to ask the employer to take action. The amendment to the Act, regulating the working time, provides the safety representatives with a limited right to act, because the rules can be negotiated through collective labor agreements. The new regulations in the Act, regulating the working time, results in a small increase of the safety representatives’ authority.