A nurse was summarily dismissed by a municipality in Finnmark after striking a mentally disabled service user in the face with an open hand. The nurse brought legal proceedings seeking to have the dismissal declared invalid.
The Court of Appeal ruled in favour of the nurse. Among other things, the court held that the municipality had not meaningfully considered the possibility of reassigning the nurse to other duties.
The Supreme Court set aside the Court of Appeal’s judgment. Summary dismissal means that the employer may terminate the employment relationship with immediate effect. The Supreme Court noted that such dismissals will typically be based on serious breaches of duty by the employee, resulting in a loss of the employer’s trust. In such situations, there can be no obligation to consider reassignment.
The judgment clarifies that employers have no duty to consider reassignment of employees in cases of summary dismissal.
Source: Supreme Court
Martin Edelsteen Woll
mwoll@melo.no
+47 414 87 832
