“Maria” is relieved that she has secured a job in October, several months before she finishes her technology education. She has received four job offers in Oslo and finally lands on one of them. She agrees and signs a contract. The future is bright. Now she can focus completely on finishing her master’s degree and planning her life in a new city. The boyfriend starts a process at work of changing office locations from one city to another. They get a financing certificate to buy a new apartment in Oslo, and Maria sells the old one in Bergen. Only three days after the sale, an e-mail arrives from the employer. Was dismissed – I sat in the reading room at school and just stared at it. I didn’t quite understand – does this work? The employer has withdrawn from the agreement and Maria has lost the job she signed a contract for many months ago. The same had happened to ten others who were employed by the company during the same period. The student says that she was very upset and afraid of what would happen next. Did she have to start looking for a job in the run-up to her master’s? – We were quite intensively looking for an apartment in Oslo as well. And we had received a certificate of funding based on the salary I would receive in the new job. Things had already started, and the apartment in Bergen had been sold. Therefore, Maria just had to start looking around for a new job in Oslo. news has been in contact with the employer. Read their response further down in the case. The apartment in Bergen had been sold and the moving boxes were ready. Illustration: Kristine Sandnes / news Legal gray area For lawyer Tone Bjellaanes, this is not a new issue. She works in the professional organization NITO, where they regularly receive such cases. – We believe we see a tendency for employers to secure newly qualified candidates earlier than before. Preferably up to 10–12 months before the employment starts, she says. This year they have seen more cases than in the past. – The parties then enter into a valid employment agreement, but when it is close to joining, the employer sees that they do not need the employee after all. Then they send a notice of dismissal before the employee has started the job. Bjellaanes believes the employers are exploiting a legal gray area. Tone Bjellaanes says that people who are dismissed before they have started their job should contact the trade union they are organized in. Photo: Bjarne Krogstad / NITO – Not good – There are decisions from the legal apparatus that clearly state that if you have started in the job, then the Working Environment Act applies, but before a start, it does not apply as a starting point, says Bjellaanes. She still believes that it is not the case that starting a job is always the turning point. – There are many considerations that indicate that the rules of the Working Environment Act also apply before taking up employment. She points out that the employee has usually stopped looking for other jobs, perhaps resigned from another job and possibly moved to a new place. In any case, NITO believes that it is not good to withdraw from a valid employment agreement without a very good reason. The NITO lawyers’ advice if you are dismissed: Document all written communications related to the dismissal. This includes emails, messages or other forms of correspondence. These documents can be important evidence if you have to take the case further. Seek legal advice Although you may be entitled to financial compensation, you should consider looking for a new job. Such a process can take time and you also have a duty to limit losses. The Contracts Act applies before the start of work Anders Ellefsen is a senior advisor at the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority. He says the Working Environment Act’s rules on dismissal do not come into force before the employee’s first day of work. – If an agreement concluded between the parties before this time is to be broken, the rules in the Contracts Act will regulate the relationship. It is recommended that the parties talk to arrive at a solution that both can accept and live with, he says. – Normally, it would be natural to have some form of financial compensation for the inconvenience experienced on the basis of the agreement being withdrawn at an earlier time. If a disagreement should arise between employer and employee, the next step is to take the matter to court. The company that dismissed Maria writes the following in an email to news about why the situation turned out the way it did: “We have adapted to the current market situation, which is tough, and that has affected our recruitment. Getting new graduates into billable work in today’s market is very demanding. All our recruitment is for future growth and when we see that there is uncertainty in the market, we have chosen to take that into account”. “We see a market that is characterized by more uncertainty and there are fewer new assignments to compete for. This has meant that we have had to make a tough choice and set tough priorities. We think it is sad that it turned out this way and wish all new graduates the best of luck in the future. » The Working Environment Act states that rules on dismissal do not come into force before the employee’s first day of work. Illustration: Kristine Sandnes / news Didn’t get compensation When Tone Bjellaanes and the lawyers at NITO get such cases on the table, they usually start by contacting the employer to try to negotiate an agreement. – Sometimes you come to an amicable solution. Sometimes the employee gets a new job, and then in a way the problem is solved without the employer having done anything for it, she says. Since Maria had sold her apartment in Bergen and had come so far in the process of moving to Oslo when she received her notice of termination, NITO believed that she should receive compensation for this from her employer. They expressed understanding that Maria was in a difficult situation, but did not believe that she was entitled to be paid anything. – In a way, the money is not so careful, but I think at least it would have been a nice symbolic gesture to show that “this is on us”. I feel that I am the weak party here, says Maria. Afterwards, she got a new job in one of the companies she had previously turned down. She is happy about that, but she thinks the whole situation has been very stressful. – I also think it is very strange that you do not have more rights, that it is possible to simply cancel such a contract without consequences, she says.
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“Maria” lost her job in Oslo before she had started – by then the apartment in Bergen had already been sold – news Trøndelag
