Norway: Employers should be cautious when seeking to change Senior Policy Agreements

As part of its senior policy, a municipal enterprise entered into an agreement with two of its employees that they could reduce their working time by 20 percent while keeping their original salary. The enterprise later changed the agreement and required the employees to work full time to maintain their salary. The Court of Appeal declared that such a change was outside the limits of the management prerogative, and declared the change null and void. Employers should be aware that even though the general senior policy of an enterprise can be changed, this might not be the case for senior policy agreements with individual workers.