Published 11 September 2024 at 12.01
Law & Justice. A new survey from the trade union Akavia shows that a majority of Sweden's judges feel that they do not have time to complete their duties within regular working hours.
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By of the roughly 1,400 ordinary judges in Sweden, 705 participated in the survey, where seven out of ten stated that they are forced to work overtime in order to catch up.
Many of these judges work an average of 17 extra hours each month.
The increased workload affects the judges' health, with one third reporting stress-related symptoms such as difficulty sleeping and heart palpitations at least once a week.
Furthermore, half of the respondents believe that the workload risks threatening legal security in the country.
According to Akavia, around 120 new judges need to be hired per year to reduce the workload, which is significantly more than the 70 judges per year that the Norwegian Judicial Agency has forecast.
The high workload and the lack of judges means that many believe that measures are needed to make the profession more attractive.
Almost 70 percent of judges think that the most important measure is to reduce the workload to ensure a sustainable work environment and maintained legal certainty.