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.

In the revised budget for 2021, the Government refrains from introducing an employer period II in the event of temporary lay-off (in some jurisdictions referred to as furlough).

'Regulations on work carried out in employees' homes' have obtained new relevance during the pandemic. The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs has now sent out a proposal for changes to the regulations for consultation. The purpose of the proposed changes is to adapt the rules to current technological and social developments.

On 15 April 2021, LO and NHO agreed on a temporarily extended interruption period for temporary layoff from 6 to 10 weeks. The change will last until 30 September 2021 and makes it easier and less risky for employers to take temporarily laid-off employees back to work.

The Government has recently submitted a proposal to the Parliament on new measures in the combat against work-related crime.

The Government has decided that foreign workers from the EEA area will be compensated for the period they are prevented from working in Norway due to closed borders.