Social and working life policy has been a central theme in the election campaign and there has been great tension around the outcome of the government negotiations in this regard. On Wednesday 13 October 2021, we received several clarifications when the new government platform was announced. We summarize the main points in the Hurdal platform that concern working life law. The document in its entirety can be found here.

Just after the country's theatre and concert stages opened after the corona closure, a strike puts a new wet blanket on cultural joy. Last week, the strike among cultural employees was further escalated, and both the Opera and the country's largest theatres must now cancel major performances. This affects both the audience and fellow artists who are outside the strike. Unmusical, some believe - the only way to safeguard the interests of workers, others believe.

At Friday's press conference, the message that many have been waiting for finally came - Norway reopens! For many, this means that everyday work normalizes, and that you can finally go back to the office. But what does the transition to normal working day entail?

The Fougner Committee presented its recommendation (NOU 2021: 9) on 23 June 2021. Several of the proposals strengthen employees' rights and tighten the requirements for the employer's organization of the company and the workforce. We expect that the new red-green government will be positive to several of the committee's assessments and proposals, and that these assessments and proposals could become a reality during the next four-year period.

Ensuring an inclusive and diverse work environment is an important task for companies, and this is something we take seriously. Littler Norway is part of Littler, which has long worked actively for diversity and inclusion, both internally and by assisting clients in their work.

Recently, there has been a great deal of activity in the Parliament, and several new legal provisions have been sanctioned. Here is a quick summary.

The Labour Court recently handed down a judgment that provides key guidelines for how seniority should be calculated upon temporary lay-off. The parties to the case were the Norwegian Air Traffic Controllers' Association on the one hand, and Spekter and Avinor Flysikring on the other. The main question in the case was how seniority was to be understood in connection with selection in a temporary layoff process - as total service time or continuous service time. The question has not previously been dealt with either in the Supreme Court case law or in practice from the Labour Court, and the judgment thus provides an important clarification of the calculation question.

On 14 June 2021, the Parliament passed the new Transparency Act. The Transparency Act shall promote companies' respect for fundamental human rights and decent working conditions and ensure the public access to information on how companies handle negative consequences for fundamental human rights and decent working conditions.

On Wednesday this week, the Fougner committee presented its report (NOU 2021: 9) on various forms of affiliation and business organization in working life. The committee proposes several changes that strengthen the protection of employees and set stricter requirements for how the employer organizes the business and the workforce.

The EU has adopted a Directive on the protection of whistleblowers to ensure a high level of protection for this group. The Directive, which is considered to be EEA-relevant, requires Member States to transpose the Directive into national law by 17 December 2021. Littler Norway has extensive experience in assisting clients in handling notification cases. We recommend that our clients review their notification routines to ensure that these routines meet all requirements for the protection of whistleblowers, including requirements for the proper handling of personal data.

The parliament recently passed several amendments in legislation to make it easier to fight work-related crime. The amendments increase the responsibility for employers. Littler Norway has previously described the proposal behind the new legislation here.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has today ruled in the so-called Holship case. LO and NTF (Norwegian Transport Workers' Union) had made a complaint against Norway because they believed the freedom of association under Article 11 of the ECHR was violated when a notified boycott was declared illegal by the Supreme Court. The ECHR acquitted Norway but recognizes that a boycott as a labour conflict may be protected by the ECHR and that restrictions on the right to a boycott require a proper balancing of interests.

In the judgment of 2 June 2021 in the so-called "Grefsenhjemmet case", the Supreme Court clarified that provisions on stabilization increment in a collective agreement must be regarded as individual wage terms that become part of the person’s individual employment contract, and that such terms did not lapse as a direct as a result of the termination of the collective agreement.

In the revised national budget, the Government has proposed extending several measures and schemes to remedy the consequences of the corona.

On 18 March 2021, the Gulating Court of Appeal ruled in a case with the question of whether there was an unjustifiable termination and offer of new employment on new terms. As opposed to the District Court, the majority of the Court of Appeal sustained the employees claim and awarded her compensation.