General Terms and Conditions – Self Employed

This is a translation of Cool Company Skandinaviens Swedish original document stipulating the terms and conditions for self-employment at Cool Company Skandinavien. In case of discrepancies, the Swedish original document shall be considered the prevailing stipulations. 

1                    BACKGROUND

1.1                 Cool Company Skandinavien AB (“CCAB”/the “Company”) is a self-employment company and offers companies, authorities, organisations and private individuals a flexible employment solution and invoicing service. 

1.2                 The Company employs Self-Employed persons who, on behalf of the Company, perform work for Assignment Providers in accordance with an Assignment Agreement. 

1.3                 The provisions that follow below form part of the contractual content that regulates the employment relationship between the Company and the Self-Employed person.

1.4                 In addition to these General Terms and Conditions, the employment agreement drawn up by the Parties and their appendices apply.

1.5                 The parties agree that rules on conversion laid down in the Employment Protection Act (1982:80) will not apply between the parties. CCAB and the Self-Employed person can therefore enter into an agreement on specific fixed-term employment without any limitation regarding the total length of employment without conversion to permanent employment taking place. 

2                    DEFINITIONS

2.1                 Administrative Tasks, refers to work that CCAB performs as described below.

•                    Invoicing

•                    Payroll administration

•                    Administration and payment of employer contributions and withholding taxes to the Swedish Tax Agency.

•                    Income Statements

•                    Issuance of employer’s certificates

•                    Provision of insurance

2.2                 The Self-Employed, employees who have a regulated right to initiate and perform Assignments with Assignment Providers on behalf of the Employer. The Self-Employed person initiates the Assignment and is then employed by the Employer who is responsible for the execution of the Assignment in relation to Assignment Providers. The term “initiate Assignment with Assignment Provider” refers to the fact that it is the Self-Employed person who initiates some form of contact with Assignment Providers regarding the performance of the Assignment. This applies regardless of whether the Assignment is advertised or otherwise announced to the public or if the Assignment is obtained through a closed procedure.

2.3                 Party/Parties, Assignment Provider and Employer jointly. 

2.4                 Assignment Provider, natural or legal person who orders work from the Employer. The work is carried out in accordance with the Assignment Agreement drawn up by the Parties together with their appendices.

2.5                 Employer, CCAB, who is responsible for carrying out the Assignment in accordance with the Assignment Agreement as drawn up by the Parties, and their appendices.

2.6                 Assignment agreement, the agreement drawn up that regulates the Parties’ Assignment relationship. 

2.7                 Assignment, the task that appears in the Assignment Agreement, together with the appendices and which must be performed by the Performer. 

3                    AGREEMENT ON ASSIGNMENT

3.1                 The Self-Employed person is employed while carrying out an Assignment and the contractual party is thus CCAB. A prerequisite for being employed and performing Assignments is that the self-employed person has registered their personal data by creating an account on the CCAB website. In order for the account to be registered with CCAB, the self-employed person must accept the General Terms and Conditions for the Self-Employed, read the fixed-term employment agreement, and understand the meaning of the form of employment, as well as read our privacy policy regarding personal data processing. Finally, this agreement applies only under the condition that CCAB will undertake Assignments that the self-employed person performs.

3.2                 The Self-Employed person must perform the work during the Assignment within the framework of a so-called specific fixed-term employment in accordance with Section 5 of the Employment Protection Act (1982:80) (LAS in Swedish). This is an employment type whose conditions, time, performance and scope in general correspond to the Assignment. The Assignment runs from the date the self-employed person reported as the start date in the job description/Assignment agreement and runs until the date specified as the end date in the job description, unless there have been changes that have been approved in writing.

3.3                 CCAB has the right, but no obligation, to undertake Assignments. CCAB thus reserves the right to decline the employment of applicants for self-employment in each individual case without having to state specific reasons. CCAB never undertakes Assignments that are not within the scope of the Company’s insurance policies. CCAB cannot undertake Assignments of a certain type that, for example, require certifications or entail a high risk of injury for the self-employed person. Before Assignments, as part of a professional practice of such a nature that requires any kind of permit or authorisation or identification obligation or the like, the Self-Employed person must, on their own initiative, provide the Company with the required documentation. In all cases, CCAB is a contractual party to Assignment Providers regarding the Assignment.

3.4                 The self-employed person has the right to carry out several Assignments in parallel, provided that these cannot be considered as competing in such a way that a conflict of interest between different Assignment Providers and between CCAB and different Assignment Providers could arise.

3.5                 In the event of an agreement on a changed Assignment, the Self-Employed person must notify CCAB of this in writing. 

4                    ASSIGNMENT CONFIRMATION

4.1                 The self-employed person must, in order to confirm Assignment commitment through CCAB, have approved the general terms and conditions and fixed-term employment contracts. The Self-Employed person must, when undertaking an Assignment, ensure that Assignment Providers gives the instructions, or alternatively submits these themselves, to CCAB regarding the Assignment in accordance with the conditions that the Self-Employed person and Assignment Providers have discussed. The Self-Employed person must notify their Assignment in advance and wait for approval that CCAB will undertake the Assignment in order for the employment relationship to be considered to exist. The Self-Employed person can never be considered as employed by CCAB before Assignment Providers has approved the Assignment by signing an agreement with CCAB as counterparty. It is the Self-Employed person’s responsibility to ensure that Assignment Providers approves or signs CCAB’s General Terms and Conditions – Assignment Provider. 

5                    WORK ENVIRONMENT

5.1                 The Work Environment Act and the Swedish Work Environment Agency’s regulations must be observed by both the Employer and the Self-Employed person. CCAB provides important information on work environments, broken down by industry, on its website. It is the Self-Employed person’s responsibility to take note of the information about the work environment that is applicable for the Assignment in question. In case of questions, the Self-Employed person can turn to CCAB. Assignment Providers is responsible for work management and control and the follow-up of the Self-Employed person’s work. It is the responsibility of the Self-Employed person to understand and adhere to any instructions and information as given by Assignment Providers required to carry out Assignments in a correct and safe manner from a work environment point of view. Assignment Providers is responsible for providing the workplace and equipment required for the Self-Employed person’s tasks, if the Self-Employed person does not work alone. The Self-Employed person must be well aware of any possible risks with an Assignment before the Assignment is performed. The aim is for the Self-Employed person to be able to perform Assignments without the risk of injury occurring.

5.2                 The Self-Employed person must be treated equally by Assignment Providers in relation to their other staff, provided that Assignment Providers is not a private person. Discrimination and/or abusive treatment must be reported to CCAB.

5.3                 The Self-Employed person may not carry out Assignments for which they do not have the correct or sufficient training.

5.4                 The Self-Employed person may not carry out Assignments that require access to areas where there is a significant risk of ill health or accident without first having received sufficient instructions and the relevant protective equipment from Assignment Providers. If the Self-Employed person is in charge of the workplace, or if Assignment Providers is a private person, the Self-Employed person must be able to check that there is sufficient fixed equipment at the workplace for there to be no risk of ill health or accident. It is the responsibility of the Self-Employed person to ensure that relevant protective equipment is used.

5.5                 Working hours must be set in accordance with the Working Hours Act (1982:901), or any law that replaces it and regulations issued with the support of the current law. 

5.6                 Vehicles must be approved for use in traffic and must not be driven in a manner that could be considered unsafe. For Assignments that may require some form of protective equipment, appropriate protective equipment must be used. When using protective equipment, all of this equipment must be approved for the purpose, maintained, inspected by an accredited company if this is a requirement according to work environment regulations, intact and used correctly. For work that requires protective equipment, the equipment must be obtained before the Assignment begins. Premises, machines, tools and other technical devices to be used by the Self-Employed person must be well maintained.

5.7                 It is the responsibility of the Self-Employed person to report a substandard or dangerous work environment as well as defective equipment and protective equipment to CCAB, at arbetsmiljo@coolcompany.se. It is also the responsibility of the Self-Employed person to report to Assignment Providers and CCAB any incident that occurs at the workplace or in connection with the Assignment.

5.8                 CCAB plans, directs and controls its operations to the greatest extent possible in each individual case so that the work environment meets the prescribed requirements for a good work environment. CCAB informs the Self-Employed person before the Assignment starts about any risks through a work environment instruction for the industry in which the Self-Employed person is employed. It is the duty of the Self-Employed person to read the documents that CCAB refers to in its work environment checklist, where CCAB links to regulations that are mandatory to read before the Assignment but also other important documents that can guide the Self-Employed person correctly so that they may work in safe conditions. 

The Self-Employed person is informed that CCAB provides customised information in the form of regulations and documents depending on the industry in which the Self-Employed person operates.

5.9                 CCAB investigates either itself, or possibly with the help of Assignment Providers, occupational injuries, examines operational risks and takes the relevant measures.

5.10               CCAB keeps a record of the work environment and the work done on it and, based on analyses, tries to introduce appropriate measures to be able to create a safe work environment for the Self-Employed person.

5.11               CCAB has a responsibility for work adaptability and rehabilitation activities for the Self-Employed person throughout their employment with CCAB. 

5.12               CCAB has safety representatives and a safety committee to which the Self-Employed person can turn with information about substandard working environments.

5.13               CCAB can only have responsibility for the work environment if a valid employment relationship exists between the Self-Employed person and CCAB. 

5.14               The Self-Employed person is informed that routines for various events have been established. Procedures exist for, among other things, reporting damage, violence or threatening incidents and these are available on CCAB’s website. 

6                    INVOICE

6.1                 Invoices for Assignments are sent out no later than 30 days after the work has been completed, which is why invoice documents submitted by the Self-Employed person must be available to CCAB no later than 10 days after the work has been completed.

7                    SALARY

7.1                 The Assignment remuneration is what forms the calculation basis for the Self-Employed person’s salary. The Self-Employed person is the one who assesses and prices Assignments for Assignment Providers. However, the Self-Employed person undertakes not to price Assignments below SEK 125 gross per hour.

Deductions are made for statutory taxes and fees as well as CCAB’s cost for administrative tasks before the salary is paid to the Self-Employed person. The Self-Employed person specifies the price they want to charge for Assignments. Any VAT is added to the price and to price changes. The part that constitutes holiday pay at 12 percent appears in each salary specification. Holidays are otherwise paid in accordance with the Holidays Act 1977:480. In the event that holiday leave is agreed with Assignment Providers during the Assignment, this must be notified in advance to CCAB before the Assignment begins.

7.2                 Under certain conditions, the Self-Employed person is entitled to a guaranteed salary. This means that the Self-Employed person can in some cases receive a salary for the entire duration of the Assignment, even though Assignment Providers does not pay for the Assignment or ends the Assignment early, which, however, can not be due to mismanagement on the part of the Self-Employed person. In order to be entitled to a guaranteed salary at CCAB, the following conditions must be met by the self-employed person:

A) Notice for Assignments must have been given in advance, before it began and confirmed by Assignment Providers to CCAB before it began. Confirmation from Assignment Providers must include a description of the Assignment, including the start date and end date as well as the price. The Self-Employed person is responsible for ensuring that Assignment Providers confirms the Assignment to CCAB before the Assignment begins.

B) Assignments may not be terminated earlier by Assignment Providers due to proven mismanagement on the part of the Self-Employed person. Mismanagement can consist of, but is not limited to, the following: repeated late arrivals, the Self-Employed person not following instructions given in writing by Assignment Providers or if it could be demonstrated that the Assignment was not carried out professionally.

C) The Self-Employed person must, for the time period that appears in the job description, be at CCAB’s disposal in such a way that the Self-Employed person must accept Assignments that CCAB offers them. CCAB offers Assignments within the same industry as the original and which can either be carried out remotely or in any case no further than 120 kilometres from the Self-Employed person’s civil registration address.

Compensation for guaranteed salary is calculated in cases where Assignment Providers does not pay CCAB based on a minimum wage. In cases where Assignment Providers pays CCAB for the Assignment, any difference between the minimum wage and the agreed gross remuneration per hour is paid. (Salary is paid in all cases after CCAB’s administrative fee has been deducted and after CCAB has paid statutory fees). Guaranteed salary is paid on the 25th of the month after the Assignment is completed.

7.3                 The Self-Employed person has the right to charge Assignment Providers for allowances, accommodation, travel allowance and expenses for consumables used for the Assignment after agreement with Assignment Providers. The Self-Employed person is responsible for the purchase of consumables or goods for resale, which is done with the Self-Employed person’s own funds, and they may never purchase products in CCAB’s name on credit. Receipts for these purchases must then be reported in original copies to CCAB and recorded in CCAB’s system. The Self-Employed person is obliged to keep regular time reports of their working hours, driving records and allowances. This documentation must be available to be presented and explained to CCAB on request. If a deduction for travel expenses is granted, the self-employed person undertakes to use the expenses only as part of their service and not for private purposes. CCAB reserves the right to determine where the place of employment is located.

8                    COMPLAINTS

8.1                 The Self-Employed person must handle complaints regarding Assignments. If Assignment Providers asserts that the work is in any way inadequately performed, it is the Self-Employed person’s obligation to remedy any demonstrated deficiencies without delay. It is the responsibility of the Self-Employed person to immediately report any complaints to CCAB.

8.2                 Remarks regarding CCAB’s performance of administrative tasks must be submitted directly to CCAB by Assignment Providers and/or Self-Employed person without delay and no later than 14 days after the completion of current administrative tasks. If the Consumer Services Act, alternatively the Consumer Purchase Act, is applicable to Assignment Providers, then the applicable law applies to complaints.

9                    LIABILITY

9.1                 CCAB’s liability is limited to negligence regarding administrative tasks concerning the Self-Employed person. CCAB disclaims, to the extent applicable legislation permits, all responsibility for direct or indirect damage of any kind, which arises as a result of and/or is related to the Self-Employed person’s performance of Assignments for Assignment Providers.

9.2                 CCAB assumes that the Self-Employed person, when performing each Assignment on CCAB’s behalf, works professionally and in accordance with applicable laws, instructions and any regulations. The Self-Employed person will furthermore carry out Assignments in a professional manner and with the quality that a Assignment Provider can reasonably expect from the Self-Employed person, taking into account agreements and commitments made, price and other circumstances.

9.3                 In the event that Assignment Providers requests remedial measures from CCAB, CCAB has the right to choose to either carry out remedial measures itself at the Self-Employed person’s expense or require the Self-Employed person to carry out and pay for such remedial measures.

9.4                 If the fault claimed by Assignment Providers is covered by CCAB’s liability insurance, CCAB has the right to decide that the remedy and other costs that may arise in connection therewith will be borne by CCAB’s liability insurance, in which case any excess and increased insurance costs that CCAB may be affected by must be paid by the Self-Employed person.

9.5                 The Self-Employed person is obliged to cooperate and assist CCAB and insurance companies in insurance investigations and similar.

9.6                 As Assignment Providers is responsible for the Self-Employed person as for its own staff, it is Assignment Providers who is responsible for loss and damage that the Self-Employed person may cause to Assignment Providers or third parties within the scope of the Self-Employed person’s performance of work for Assignment Providers. Alternatively, this can be covered by CCAB’s liability insurance or the liability insurance that may have been specially taken out by the Self-Employed person. In cases where Assignment Providers is a consumer, CCAB’s liability insurance applies.

9.7                 CCAB is in no case liable for indirect damage. Indirect damage can for example be loss of profit, loss, or other consequential damage, including Assignment Providers’s potential compensation obligations towards third parties or loss of information.

9.8                 Liability for personal injury is regulated according to Swedish legislation. 

9.9                 Should liability for damages towards the Self-Employed person arise for CCAB, CCAB’s liability is limited to 0.5 price base amount, but no more than CCAB’s share of the Assignment’s invoiced amount. In the case of Assignments on an ongoing basis, the invoiced amount is calculated on the price for the last twelve (12) months for the Assignment. If the price the Self-Employed person agreed with Assignment Providers is less than 0.5 price base amount, CCAB’s maximum liability will instead be limited to an amount corresponding to 0.1 price base amount.

9.10               To the extent that damages, compensation or other liability should arise for CCAB in relation to third parties, in addition to what the parties have agreed upon under these terms and conditions, the Self-Employed person will be responsible for and indemnify CCAB.

9.11               The Self-Employed person undertakes to remain informed about and to follow the applicable legislation in their professional practice, as well as to assure on their honour and conscience that the information they provide about themselves and their Assignments is correct.

10                  SICK PAY

10.1               If the Self-Employed person becomes ill and is therefore unable to work, this must be notified to CCAB as soon as possible. This is done by the Self-Employed person emailing sjukanmalan@coolcompany.com. 

The Self-Employed person must at the same time or as soon as possible, in the same way as above, notify CCAB of when work is expected to be able to resume. 

As a general rule, sick pay is not to be paid for time before CCAB received notice of the illness. 

10.2               The Self-Employed person is entitled to sick pay according to law. 

10.3               In order for the Self-Employed person to be entitled to sick pay, the following criteria must be met:

10.3.1           The Self-Employed person must meet the Social Insurance Agency’s requirements.

10.3.2           The Self-Employed person must have entered into an employment agreement with CCAB

10.3.3           An Assignment must be registered and approved by CCAB for the days the Self-Employed person is sick.

10.3.4           CCAB has sent an invoice to Assignment Providers for the current Assignment.

10.4               An additional condition for sick pay is that the Self-Employed person submits a written declaration to CCAB 

10.4.1           that the Self-Employed person person has been ill

10.4.2           to what extent the ability to work has been reduced due to the illness and

10.4.3           which days the Self-Employed person would have worked.

10.5               In the case of illness lasting longer than seven calendar days, the Self-Employed person, in order to be entitled to sick pay, must present a medical certificate from the eighth day of the sick pay period to CCAB that proves the illness from the eighth day. The medical certificate must prove the reduction in working capacity and the length of the sick period. 

If CCAB requests it, the Self-Employed person must provide the corresponding above medical certificate from an earlier date.

CCAB has the right to appoint doctors. 

Medical certificates can be sent by post to the following address: 

Cool Company Scandinavia AB

Tegnérgatan 2C, 113 58 Stockholm, Sweden

10.6               The Self-Employed person is entitled to sick pay from the first day of the employment period, but if the agreed period of employment is shorter than one month, the right to sick pay only begins if the Self-Employed person has taken up employment and has subsequently been employed for fourteen consecutive calendar days. (Days when the Self-Employed person was absent without a valid reason are not included.) When calculating the qualification period, previous employment under CCAB must be included, if the time between employment periods does not exceed fourteen calendar days.

10.7               The above also applies if the Self-Employed person becomes unable to work due to an accident or occupational injury and has to refrain from work due to the risk of transmission of an infection that gives the right to compensation according to the Act on Compensation for Carriers of Infection. 

11                  INSURANCE

11.1               Throughout their employment with CCAB, the Self-Employed person will hold liability insurance, accident insurance (tfo) and group life insurance (tgl). It is the Self-Employed person’s responsibility to check that sufficient and correct insurance is in place for the performance of a particular Assignment. 

11.2               Furthermore, the Self-Employed person is covered by pension insurance taken out through CCAB (corresponding to 4.5% of salary) and occupational pension insurance including 

11.2.1           Rehabilitation insurance with phone support

11.2.2           Health insurance (requires an approved health test) 

11.2.3           Survivor’s pension

11.2.4           Premium waiver insurance, as well as

11.2.5           Group life insurance

11.3               Additional insurance must be taken out in certain industries and for certain types of Assignments. CCAB provides these insurances at the self-employed person’s cost. It is the self-employed person’s responsibility to ensure any additional insurances before starting the Assignment.

12                  UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION

12.1               Whether or not the Self-Employed person is entitled to unemployment compensation is not something that CCAB, or anyone else, can decide in advance. An assessment is made in each individual case. In this assessment, the Self-Employed person must meet the statutory requirements in order to be eligible for compensation.

13                  IMMATERIAL RIGHTS

13.1               Ownership rights to all work results that the Self-Employed person performs in connection with Assignments belong to CCAB, unless otherwise required by mandatory law or otherwise agreed. CCAB transfers all work results to Assignment Providers. All copyright excluding immaterial rights, as well as other intangible rights to work results, will therefore become the property of Assignment Providers after the Assignment.

13.2               If the Self-Employed person uses their own software or other tools when performing Assignments for Assignment Providers, the right to such tools does not transfer to Assignment Providers.

13.3               The Self-Employed person is responsible for ensuring that work results are not exposed to intellectual property rights infringements and for ensuring that they do not illegally use other people’s systems.

13.4               CCAB is not responsible for any infringements of intellectual property rights of the work results.

14                  PERSONAL DATA

14.1               The Self-Employed person may not process Assignment Providers’s personal data outside of their employment with CCAB. All processing of Assignment Providers’s personal data must take place through an established account on CCAB’s website. CCAB processes personal data in accordance with applicable legislation at any given time. For more information regarding CCAB’s personal data processing see CCAB’s Privacy Policy.

15                  CONFIDENTIALITY

15.1               “Confidential Information” in the Agreement means any information, regardless of whether the information is provided in writing or orally and regardless of form, that the Self-Employed person receives from CCAB, Assignment Providers or any of CCAB’s or Assignment Providers’s representatives or owners, in connection with and for the purposes of an individual Assignment.

15.2               During an individual Assignment and for one year thereafter, the Self-Employed person undertakes not to disclose Confidential Information to any third party or use it for any other purpose than for the Collaboration. Confidential Information does not include information that:

15.2.1           at the time of disclosure is or later becomes available to the public otherwise than in violation of this Agreement;

15.2.2           is received by a third party who did not obtain the information through unauthorised disclosure;

15.2.3           the Self-Employed person can show is independently developed or known by the Self-Employed person previously (provided that the information does not include or is based on Confidential Information).

15.3               This confidentiality commitment does not prevent the Self-Employed person from providing such information that the Self-Employed person is obliged to disclose according to law, judgment or authority decision. If the Self-Employed person is or becomes required to provide such information, the Self-Employed person undertakes to notify CCAB as soon as possible, to the extent permitted by law. The Self-Employed person will use commercially reasonable efforts to ensure that information provided pursuant to this clause is, to the extent possible, treated confidentially by the recipient of the information.

15.4               If the Self-Employed person violates this confidentiality commitment, the Self-Employed person must pay SEK 50,000 for each violation to CCAB. Issuance of a fine does not deprive CCAB of its right to request damages corresponding to the actual damage.

16                  AGREEMENT TERM

16.1               The agreement is valid for the duration of the employment agreement.

17                  NOTIFICATIONS

17.1               All notifications under these general terms and conditions must be made through CCAB’s portal, registered letter or e-mail to the parties’ specified addresses.

17.2               Messages are deemed to have reached the recipient:

17.3               if sent by registered letter: two days after delivery for postal forwarding; and

17.4               if sent by email: at the time of sending if receipt is duly confirmed.

18                  OTHER

18.1               CCAB reserves the right to change the above text and agreement without prior notice.

18.2               The Self-Employed person never has the right to use CCAB’s company details when purchasing goods and/or services unless written consent is given in each case, nor the right to use CCAB’s company details when submitting a quote or enter into an agreement in CCAB’s name and/or on CCAB’s behalf or otherwise take any legally binding action beyond what CCAB’s system allows according to coolcompany.com.

18.3               Equipment that the Self-Employed person may have received from Assignment Providers for the execution of the Assignment must have been returned at the latest in connection with the termination of the Assignment, or any earlier date specified by Assignment Providers. The Self-Employed person must return all business documents of any kind, such as company papers, correspondence, reports, summaries and registers.

18.4               The Self-Employed person also assures by entering into an agreement with CCAB that they do not have a commercial activity ban, is fully healthy and able to work, and they declare on their honour and conscience that the information provided about them as a person and for the Assignments they are to perform is correct.