Varsel is a Swedish word which translates roughly into English as a warning or notice. It’s often used in employment contexts to talk about layoffs – varslad om uppsägning.

If you are varslad by your employer, this means that your employer is warning you that you might be laid off – they’re legally obliged to do this if at least five people in the same county risk being laid off.

This is only the case if the reason for the layoff is something to do with the company, like a lack of funds to pay salaries, a reorganisation or a lack of work, rather than something personal to do with a particular employee.

Being varslad doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to be let go, just that the employer is planning to lay off a certain number of employees. They can’t actually let anyone go until they’ve discussed it with the unions first.

Having said that, it can be a good idea to start talking to your union and looking for a new job if you are varslad, especially if you’re in Sweden on a work permit.

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You might also hear of cases where the unions varslar an employer about some sort of strike action.

According to Swedish law, they need to do this at least seven days before the action, whether it’s a strike, overtime ban or boycott, is scheduled to begin, but in many cases unions will give employers a longer notice period.

If they don’t give sufficient notice, the action is illegal, and might be referred to as a wildcat strike in English, or the somewhat less catchy olovlig stridsåtgärd in Swedish.

In an illegal strike situation, the striking party (usually the trade union, if the strike was their initiative) can legally be forced to pay compensation to whoever they’re striking against.

Varsel also exists in the phrase med kort varsel (at short notice), and in some cases it can translate as an omen or premonition (usually a bad one).

Finally the word varsel as a prefix can refer to something designed to be seen or noticed, like clothing made of high-visibility or reflective fabric (varselkläder) or the warning lights on a car (varselljus or varsellykta).

Example sentences:

Stormen sågs som ett varsel.

The storm was considered to be an omen.

Vårdförbundet varslar om strejk i fem regioner från 4 juni.

The Swedish Association of Health Professionals has issued a strike notice from June 4th.

Villa, Volvo, Vovve: The Local’s Word Guide to Swedish Life, written by The Local’s journalists, is available to order. Head to lysforlag.com/vvv to read more about it. It is also possible to buy your copy from Amazon US, Amazon UK, Bokus or Adlibris.