The Government has recently submitted a proposal to the Parliament for the establishment of a low threshold service in the Anti-Discrimination Tribunal for the processing of alleged unlawful retaliation in notofication cases.

Is a jobseeker obliged to inform that he or she was dismissed from his or her previous employer? In a judgment handed down on 18 March this year (reference HR-2021-605-A), the Supreme Court has provided principled guidelines for the content of jobseekers' duty to provide information to potential new employers.

The European Court of Justice recently pronounced two judgments on the demarcation between "working time" and "rest period" under the Working Time Directive (Directive 2003/88 / EC) Article 2, in cases where the employee is on standby duty without being required to stay at the workplace. Among other things, the judgments are important for the interpretation of the Working Environment Act § 10-1, which defines what is "working hours" and "off-duty time" within the meaning of the Act.

On 15 March 2021, a new wage support scheme came into force. The scheme will apply until the end of June 2021 and is aimed at employers who take back their own employees from temporary layoff in the period 15 March to 30 June 2021.

Covid-19 has led to that many companies have experienced a reduction in the workload, and several companies have had to temporarily lay off employees for longer or shorter periods. Because the rules only to a small degree are legislated and there have been several temporary regulations since the outbreak of Covid-19, it can be difficult for employers and employees to get a good overview of the rules on temporary layoffs.

Finansavisen Jus has published the results of the Annual Lawyer Survey 2021. It is joyous to be able to tell that Homble Olsby | Littler is ranked among the two best law firms in employment law in Norway.

The Government has made several changes to the regulations for reporting and taxation of benefits in kind. Overall, the changes are intended to simplify how the employer should practice the regulations. The changes came into force on 1^st January 2021.

The Government has proposed extending schemes for sickness benefits, work assessment allowance, unemployment benefits and entry quarantine as part of the current crisis package.

The Government has tightened foreigners' access to Norway with effect from 29 January 2021. This article discusses the legal effects for affected employers and employees.

The Government has sent out a proposal to extend the maximum period for daily unemployment benefits and the temporary layoff period until 1 July 2021.

The Supreme Court recently pronounced a judgement in which a female employee was awarded damages for non-economic loss after being subjected to sexual harassment by customers of the company. The verdict provides useful clarifications regarding the conditions, and especially the lower limit, for sexual harassment.

Public enterprises and private enterprises of a certain size are subject to a statutory activity and reporting obligation related to equality and non-discrimination (ARP). The reporting obligation applies from the financial year 2020 and onwards. Many companies will have to spend time and resources on implementing sufficient systems and routines to comply with the new rules.

The Government has previously adopted regulations that impose quarantine on persons entering Norway. Such persons must stay in their own home, or in another suitable place. For foreign workers, this means in most cases a stay in a quarantine hotel.

In the Supreme Court’s judgment of 13th November 2020, the question was if agreements on severance packages in the event of voluntary resignation, which was entered into in a downsizing process, could partly be set aside because they were contrary to good business practices or unreasonableness, cf. Norway’s Contract Act of 1918 section 36. To decide this question, the Supreme Court had to take a stand on whether the employees were entitled to an early retirement pension in such a process based on the previous employer's promise.

The Supreme Court recently ruled on whether hired personnel pursuant to the equal treatment rule in the Working Environment Act (WEA) section 14-12 a were entitled to a company bonus on an equal footing with permanent employees and apprentices in the company in which they were hired.