The case is about a caretaker in a condominium, dismissed at the end of the probationary period placing the notice in his mailbox one day before the end of his probationary period and sending it by email on the same day.

The question is whether this was enough for considering the dismissal given before the end of the probationary period, and the Court of Appeal gave an affirmative answer.

Under Norwegian employment law, notice of dismissal «shall be given in writing» and the dismissal letter shall include various information on legal rights, aimed at providing the dismissed employee with adequate possibilities to dispute the dismissal.

According to section 15(4) of the Working Environment Act, «Notice given by an employer shall be delivered to the employee in person or be forwarded by registered mail to the address given by the employee. The notice shall be deemed to have been given when it is received by the employee».

The Court stated that, according to the rules of contract law, a written communications is considered to have "reached the recipient" when it has been placed in the recipient's office or home, even if it has not actually been read. In the same way, the dismissal must be considered to have reached the recipient when it had been placed in the caretaker's mailbox, while it is not relevant nor decisive that the caretaker was not at home when the dismissal was placed in the mailbox.

It is also interesting to note - even if the circumstance was not decisive in this case - what the Court said about dismissal by email. The law does not prevent dismissals being sent by email, if the employer receives confirmation from the employee that he has received the dismissal. If this condition is met, the dismissal can be said to have "reached the employee".

Employers should bear in mind that the law's main rule on personal delivery or registered mail remains the safest, but that there are openings for new modes of communication, provided the principle of proof of receipt is not violated.

From Næringslivets Hovedorganisasjon (Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (NHO)’s perspective, the judgement raises important questions concerning digital communication. Most public services and job applications, all sort of tax issues, as well as applications for social welfare benefits and private banking issues are today handled almost exclusively by electronic means.   

According to NHO, neither collective bargaining agreements nor statutory law should be interpreted in a way that hampers technological developments, and for most employees in the 2020ies, digital communication, also on important matters, must be regarded common and accepted. As highlighted by the Appeal Court, a requirement for accepting email or similar is that the dismissal has the character or form which gives the ability to establish subsequently, that a dismissal has taken place, the date of the dismissal and that the dismissal has arrived the employee. By making use of tools for confirmation, digital tools are equal to or surpass what can be provided by ordinary mail or registered mail.