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16 May, 2017 16:28

Keep your pants on! Swedish council rejects proposal for paid employee sex breaks

Keep your pants on! Swedish council rejects proposal for paid employee sex breaks

Swedish employees looking to sneak in an afternoon delight on the company dime have been dealt bad news by their local council, which voted against a politician's proposal to let workers take a paid weekly break to have sex with their partners.

The sex breaks were the brainchild of Per-Erik Muskos of the Social Democrats, who said that all council employees and residents of Overtornea, should be allowed to take one hour each week to go home and have intercourse.

"It would be great, wouldn't it, to go home during the day and have an extra hour for sex when the children aren't at home. People today have such busy lives, and sex is in short supply for many," he told Swedish news outlet SVT Norrbotten after proposing the idea in February.

Boasting of the benefits of intercourse to the council, Muskos said that "sex is an excellent form of exercise" with "documented positive effects on well-being."

He also claimed the breaks would be good for the small town of about 4,500 people, as it could lead to more babies.

However, Muskos' sex break dream has now been crushed by the local council, which voted against his proposal on Tuesday.

The town's mayor, Tomas Vedestig, was among those against the idea.

"I do not think employers should be involved in determining when workers should have sex," he told SVT Norrbotten. 

He went on to state that Muskos' idea has distracted from more important issues which need to be addressed by the council.

While the idea of having sanctioned on-the-clock sex is certainly new, European countries have long been encouraging citizens to make babies amid low birthrates.

In Denmark, sexual education classes teach students not only about contraception, but also about the risks of waiting too long to have children. A travel company also introduced a 'Do it for Denmark!' campaign, which encouraged couples to take romantic holidays to try to procreate.

Last year, hotels in Italy offered free rooms if couples conceived during their stay there, in an attempt to boost the country's low birthrate. 

Although Sweden has one of the highest fertility rates in the European Union, according to Eurostat, the country's rates have been decreasing.

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