The Legal 500

On 7 April this year, the Supreme Court pronounced judgement in a case between Fokus Bank and a group of employees in the bank. The case concerned the matter of whether an employer may unilaterally change (“convert”) the employees’ pension scheme from performance-based to contribution-based. The Supreme Court concluded that Fokus Bank had the right to unilaterally convert the pension scheme to a contribution scheme. The Supreme Court’s reasons are principal and presumptive in the sense that employers have such a right, even when the new contribution scheme clearly is less beneficial for the employees than the old performance scheme.

NORWAY TO IMPOSE LICENSING REQUIREMENTS IN RELATION TO PARTNERSHIPS Norwegian authorities intend to close a regulatory loophole according to a recently published proposal for amendments to the Norwegian Securities Trading Act. Under the proposed amendment, providers of intermediary services, such as distributors of private equity funds and other closed ended collective investment schemes, must be licensed as investment firms when offering shares in partnership structures to non-professional investors in the Norwegian market.

Når man skal håndtere masseoppsigelser er det viktig å holde på den gode dialogen. Ifølge arbeidsmiljøloven er det snakk om masseoppsigelse når ti arbeidstakere mister jobben innenfor et tidsrom på 30 dager og oppsigelsene ikke er begrunnet i de enkelte arbeidstakere, men i stedet i selve virksomhetens forhold.

Hiring and using expatriates to do a job in Norway might result in considerable additional expenses, when Norwegian rules are not followed. The law firm Brækhus Dege can assist Norwegian and non-Norwegian companies in avoiding the potential problems.

Employees in Norway enjoy considerable statutory protection. The vast majority of employees in Norway are members of trade unions, and a majority of jobs in the private sector are with employers who are members of employers associations. Collective agreements are an important supplement to the statutory rules.

A new act that is supposed to replace present ?Norwegian Working Environment Act? of 1977 was ratified in June 2005, and it was planned to have it enter into force on 1st January 2006. The new act is mainly a codification of the unwritten law, but it also introduces some substantive changes compared to present law. Some of the changes concern temporary engagements.

Earlier this year, the Norwegian Parliament (Stortinget) decided that a mandatory occupational pension scheme would be introduced and become effective from 1st January 2006. A proposal including more detailed regulations was drafted by The Banking Law Commission and The Norwegian Ministry of Finance. This article explains the main features of the prosed mandatory pension scheme.