On 15 May 2019 the Supreme Court ruled in a case concerning the validity of an amendment termination. In its decision, the court commented on the difference between the threshold for amendment terminations and that for ordinary complete terminations of employment. Although the matter at hand was regulated by the Ship Employee Act, the Supreme Court's judgment is relevant for amendment terminations under the Working Environment Act.

The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs presented its proposal for a new public occupational pension scheme yesterday (Prop. 87 L 2018-2019). The proposal is based on the agreement that was reached after negotiations between the parties in the working life in the spring of 2018, and entails (with some exceptions and transitional rules) that new rules concerning earning of retirement pension apply to all employees in the public sector from 1 January 2020.

5 April 2019, the Government proposed changes to the whistle-blowing provisions in the Working Environment Act.

On 28 February 2019 the Supreme Court pronounced a judgement regarding the importance of length of service in the employer’s selection in workforce reductions. The question was to what extent the employer in the selection could deviate from the order of length of service based on an assessment of the employees' competence and professional excellence.

Tore Lerheim recieved a strong place as number six among Norwegian employment law lawyers in the annual assessment by the Financial newspaper, published today. The award is based on votes from lawyer colleagues in other firms.

We are happy to announce that Homble Olsby law firm AS has joined Littler Global.

The employer's obligation to pay salary during the first period of a temporary redundancy (employer I period), increases from 10 to 15 days simultaneously with the repeal of the duty to pay salary during the employer II period. In addition, the maximum period which the employer is exempted from the obligation to pay salary during a temporary redundancy, decreases from 49 to 26 weeks.

The Supreme Court recently deemed that a municipality's termination of its agreement with a general practitioner (GP) after she refused to insert an intrauterine device (IUD) for a patient for reasons of conscience relating to her religion was invalid.

The Norwegian Supreme Court has made its decision in the so-called Norwegian-case, which concerns employer responsibility. The Supreme Court gave judgment in favour of Norwegian, and thus decided that the parent company did not have employer responsibility for the pilots and the cabin crew.

The amendments to the Norwegian Working Environment Act (WEA) regarding permanent and temporary employment and hiring from manpower agencies will enter into force on 1 January 2019.

Borgarting Court of Appeal recently found grounds for personal liability for damages as a result of unlawful termination of an employee in a company which later became banktrupt. The judgment is a reminder that board members, shareholders and others who participates in the operation of the company may be held liable for damages in the event of negligent acts or omissions.

The Norwegian Anti-Discrimination Tribunal has decided that the discrimination of a substitute teacher who did not get his employment extended as he refused to greet both genders with a handshake was lawful.

In order to handle increased and more varied assignments, we wish to hire 1-2 lawyers/ associates. We are primarily looking for people with 2-5 years of experience as a lawyer/ legal practitioner, but we also accept applications from more experienced lawyers/legal practitioners, or graduates.

The Supreme Court recently ruled that employees who are subject to a transfer of undertakings can choose to stay with their former employer if it is likely that they will lose their early retirement pension under the new employer.

The dispute between The Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (NHO) and the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) before the Labour Court of Norway (Arbeidsretten) has recently been settled. The dispute arose in connection with the so-called Skanska case, which shall now be tried before the Supreme Court in Norway. The Supreme Court must determine whether this settlement may lead to an overruling of the Court of Appeal’s judgment in the case.