Following consultation in 2019, an executive order on the psychological working environment has been issued by the Working Environment Authority. The executive order aims to clarify the psychological working environment rules for employers and employees in order to facilitate the prevention of mental wellbeing issues. The executive order entered into force on 1 November 2020.
If an employee makes an invention as part of an employment relationship and if the exploitation of the invention falls within their employer's field of work, the employee must inform their employer. The Maritime and Commercial Court recently found that an engineer had not duly informed his employer of an invention and had therefore failed to discharge his duty to provide information under the Act on Employee Inventions.
Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, the government has published the legislative programme for the 2020/2021 parliamentary year, which includes bills relating to, among other things, maternity leave and sickness benefits, the reporting of occupational accidents, the state retirement age, compensation in regard to workplace violence and protection against discrimination for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people.
In May 2020 a bill was passed to provide sickness benefits to employees who are at a higher risk of becoming seriously ill from COVID-19 or the relative of a person who is at a higher risk. The temporary scheme ran until 31 August 2020. Parliament has now passed a new bill which, among other things, extends this scheme until 31 December 2020.
Under the Act on Equal Treatment of Men and Women, if an employee is dismissed while on pregnancy or maternity leave, the employer will have the onus of proving that the dismissal was not in any way connected to these circumstances. But what does it take for an employer to discharge the reversed burden of proof? The Supreme Court recently decided this issue.