World Cup hangovers raise workplace questions

As Sweden celebrates its World Cup run with matches airing late at night and early in the morning, many fans are heading straight from the pub to the office, SVT Nyheter reports.

Gunilla Krieg, a central ombudsman at the Unionen trade union, clarifies the rules: employers generally cannot regulate alcohol consumption during free time, but workers must be unimpaired and fit for duty on the job.

“At work, you must be unimpaired and capable of performing your tasks,” Krieg said. As long as no measurable blood alcohol level can be detected, a worker can be considered unimpaired. The same applies to fatigue from staying up all night—being tired is not an illness, she noted.

Arriving at work with a hangover is not explicitly prohibited, but if performance suffers, it becomes a problem. For safety-sensitive roles—such as operating machinery, driving, or jobs involving responsibility for others’ lives and health—tolerance for impairment is extremely low, and fatigue itself can pose a workplace safety risk.

Krieg’s advice for those in such professions is clear: “Skip the live matches, or take time off.”