News and current topics from various practice areas and industries

On June 26, 2024, the Supreme Court issued a judgment that provides guidance on when an employer is obligated to offer other suitable work upon dismissal related to circumstances on the employee’s side.

On July 1, 2024, a legislative change that establishes new requirements for the content of employment contracts will come into effect. This amendment expands the list of information that must be included in employment contracts entered into after July 1. Additionally, employees will be able to request that existing employment contracts be updated or supplemented. Therefore, the legislative change means that employers must update their templates for employment contracts and prepare for existing contracts to be updated or supplemented.

The Norwegian holiday leave and holiday pay ensures that employees have a statutory right to holiday leave every year regardless of what kind of arrangements the employer decides to provide the employees with. The system can however seem complicated. In this article we explain the fundamentals of the Norwegian holiday leave and pay system and clear up some common misunderstandings.

On June 20, 2024 the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) introduced a proposal for new price regulation in the district heating sector, following extensive work on the issue since November 2021. The proposal suggests maintaining a maximum price regulation but with significant modifications, positioning NVE as an active price regulator.

Rune Mykkeltvedt and Liv Zimmermann have revised the Karnov legal commentary on the Norwegian Outdoor Recreation Act.

A legislative amendment has granted the Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority the power to impose significantly higher fines on businesses that violate the Working Environment Act. The fine, known as an administrative fee, can now be up to six million NOK or four percent of the company’s turnover. This change applies to all companies and enterprises.

In August 2023, the government announced what is described as a “power and industry boost for Finnmark”. The government’s goal is for both more grid and new power production to be in place by 2030. On April 25, NVE held an information meeting where an update was given on NVE’s work to strengthen the grid and production capacity in Finnmark.

Investigations are an examination method used in situations where there have been allegations of reprehensible conduct or claims thereof. With an increased focus on ethics and work environment, the number of investigations has risen, and many of them receive significant media attention.

Fortunately, the power situation in Norway is now far more reassuring than it was when the government announced the new control mechanism in the fall of 2022. Although power prices in southern Norway are higher than what we have previously been used to in Norway, NVE considers the resource situation to be good. Despite this, power producers are still subject to a separate reporting scheme until May 2024.