Was deprived of his job overnight: Employer must pay half a million
" I was dismissed without any explanation. The NITO lawyer who has worked on the case has never seen anything like it and believes the case is serious.
NITO member Leiv O. Knutson had been unit manager for water and sewerage in Nannestad municipality for seven years, when he was suddenly told that he had been removed from his position from one day to the next.
Nannestad municipality must pay NOK 450,000 in compensation and NOK 50,000 in compensation.
This has happened
The case stretches far back in time. Knutson was hired as unit manager for water and sewerage in Nannestad municipality in 2017.
When he accepted the job, he was made aware that there were challenges related to the aftermath of a corruption case, where a former manager was sentenced to 4 years and 8 months in prison, for having drained the municipality of NOK 7.5 million.
" Parts of the environment around the leader convicted of corruption were still working there when I started my employment, and I knew that the working environment had cultural problems.
Knutson's immediate manager chose to leave in 2021. The management position was not filled again, until March 2023. It was then that Knutson's life was turned upside down.
"After a little over a month with a new manager, I was suddenly told that I would no longer have the job I was employed in. It came completely unexpectedly.
Leiv O. Knutson
" The new manager decided to remove me, without explaining why, and I did not have the opportunity to express my views. The decision had already been made, he says.
Assistance from NITO
Knutson immediately contacted NITO for help. NITO lawyer Marianne Kjellsen got the case.
"Our member was called in to a meeting at 4 p.m. on a normal working day and was told that from tomorrow you are no longer the leader. They called it a temporary lateral transfer.
"Knutson was physically removed from the workplace and was told to show up at another workplace, but without knowing what he was going to work on next," says Kjellsen.
"The message that Knutson would no longer be the leader also went out to the entire organization on the same day that he himself received the message. He was also told that it was not desirable for him to have contact with his former employees and colleagues," she explains.
"I experienced it as very dramatic, also because people around me didn't know what had happened. People thought I had done something punishable or illegal, and I had to explain myself, without having an answer as to why I had been removed from the position so suddenly," says Knutson.
The NITO lawyer and Knutson arranged a meeting with the employer, to get answers to what Knutson was accused of and to find a solution to the case.
" In order not to escalate the case more than necessary, we accepted that Knutson was out of his own position for one month, but that he would then return.
Suing Nannestad municipality
When the employer did not allow Knutson to return to his own management position after one month, NITO took legal action against Nannestad municipality for incorrect and invalid dismissal.
"Nannestad municipality had in practice dismissed the NITO member, without dialogue and justification. The heavy-handedness has been terribly stressful for Knutson," says Kjellsen.
" We continuously asked for an explanation of what Knutson was accused of, but never received this," says Kjellsen.
" Instead, the employer demanded that Knutson explain how he was going to requalify for his own job and operate in a better way, without knowing what he had done wrong," she says.
" The employer's handling of Knutson made him completely without rights. The employer ignored a binding employment contract and all the protective provisions in the Working Environment Act," says Kjellsen.
Court mediation
Before a court case, the parties are given the opportunity to agree to try to resolve the case through a court mediation. This means that the parties meet in court, together with a judge who acts as a mediator between the parties. The mediation meeting was set up in December 2023.
"I have worked for 37 years in different places and never had problems with colleagues or managers. This has been very special.
"When I look back, I see that the municipality has not cleaned up sufficiently after the corruption case and that there are still challenges related to the work culture.
"I have experienced a lot of good support, including from the engineers that I was the leader of, which I am very grateful for," says Knutson.
Relieved by compensation and NITO's help
In the mediation meeting, the employer agreed to give the NITO member both compensation and reparation for the stressful situation he has been exposed to.
Knutson is relieved.
" When you are deprived of a job you have had for seven years to the day, you lose access to colleagues and your whole life situation is turned upside down," he says.
"I have received great support from NITO and it has been a very good experience. If it hadn't been for NITO, I would have been completely alone," says Knutson.
"Working life is getting harder and harder and rougher and rougher. My case is an example of this. The solution NITO helped put in place was the best. I am very grateful for the help and support I have received, Knutson concludes.
Knutson chose to end his employment relationship with Nannestad municipality, and has gotten himself a similar job in another municipality.