international employment law firm alliance L&E Global
Norway

Norway: Supreme Court admits case regarding employer responsibility

Norwegian is the third largest low-cost carrier airline in Europe with approximately 9000 employees. In 2015, a group of pilots and cabin crew filed claims against Norwegian Air Shuttle (NAS), the parent company, invoking that NAS is their actual employer. Equivalent claim was filed against the operative company Norwegian Air Norway AS (NAN). The city court ruled that NAS was the employer for the relevant pilots and some of persons in the cabin crew, but gave judgement in favor of NAN. The case was appealed to the Appeal Court, in which the court gave judgement in favor of both NAS and NAN in 2016. The pilots and the cabin crew appealed the case to the Supreme Court and on 25 April 2018, the Supreme Court decided that they will admit the case. The Supreme Court will assess several important employment law questions, including questions regarding hire of personnel and whether NAS must be regarded as an employer on a so-called «particular basis», i.e. because NAS has performed employer functions towards the pilots and cabin crew and thus acted as an employer.