Year in review - Highlights from 2024 for the employment law group

Partner Martin Jetlund represented the employer, an oil service company, in a case regarding the employer's obligations to adjust the working time schedule for an employee, pursuant to the Norwegian Working Environment Act. On 28 February 2024, the Norwegian Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favour of our client and concluded that the employee, who had health issues, was not entitled to be exempted from night work (HR-2024-423-A). The judgment is pertaining to the right to exemption from night work due to employees' health reasons but also clarifies the employer's obligations to adjust working hours beyond this.

This was the first case regarding exemption from night work before any courts in Norway. Additionally, with the Norwegian regulation being based on the EU Working Time Directive, the ruling has received international attention as this is the first Supreme Court ruling from any EU/EEA country on this matter according to our knowledge.

This year, Schjødt has welcomed two new colleagues, leading to expanded employment law expertise in Norway, as well as establishing a presence in Denmark.

On 1 May, Mads Willer Skytte joined our team in the Copenhagen office as a senior associate. Mads has more than six years of experience with employment law from two of Denmark's biggest employer's associations. He advises within all areas of employment law and collective labour law and has extensive experience with negotiations of disputes and collective bargaining agreements, litigation, termination, whistleblower-protection, and data protection within employment.

On 1 August, Trine Vabø joined our Stavanger office as a partner. Trine started her career in Schjødt, and before rejoining as a partner this year she has worked for several years with other law firms in Stavanger. She assists Norwegian and international clients within the full range of employment law matters, including advisory services related to transfer of business, restructuring processes and transfer of employees across borders.

With these inclusions, our employment and pensions team now consists of 20 members across our offices in Oslo, Bergen, Stavanger, Stockholm, and Copenhagen, underlining the fact that Schjødt is a true Scandinavian law firm.