Maria Mirijanyan

The end of a calendar year is approaching. In this connection, several questions often arise regard-ing any remaining holiday days and in some cases also the payment of holiday pay.

The Norwegian holiday leave and holiday pay ensures that employees have a statutory right to holiday leave every year regardless of what kind of arrangements the employer decides to provide the employees with. The system can however seem complicated. In this article we explain the fundamentals of the Norwegian holiday leave and pay system and clear up some common misunderstandings.

As a consequence of the merger of courts following the judicial reform in 2021, several court leaders became redundant in their leadership roles. The affected positions were continued as judicial offices in the merged courts, but in a way that allowed the incumbents to retain their title and salary.

In recent years the traditional employment relationships have evolved. Enterprises are incorporating new methods of recruitment based on market analysis, whilst also attempting to be less burdensome both economically and practically than traditional employment relationships. Although alternative methods of affiliation can be beneficial, they can also pose risks for groups that would otherwise benefit from labour rights and social protection afforded to employees.

Partner Christopher Hansteen, Senior Associate Johannes Teigland, and Associate Maria Mirijanyan assisted the Union of Education Norway in its complaint to the Committee on Freedom of Association (CFA) at the International Labour Organization (ILO) for violations of ILO conventions concerning the protection of freedom of association, conventions to which Norway is bound.

We are now entering the most common period for summer vacation and payment of holiday pay. Questions often arise about determining vacation and what payments the employer should take into account when calculating the basis for holiday pay.

On May 25, 2023, the Ministry of Labour and Social Inclusion decided to implement an approval scheme for temporary employment agencies. The approval scheme is an extension of the tightening of access to hiring labor from staffing agencies, which came into effect on April 1, 2023. 

The draft directive on corporate sustainability due diligence (“CSDD-directive”) is still in the making, but with a draft from the European Commission and the Council of the European Union negotiating position established, we have compared the obligations in the draft directive with the obligations following from the Norwegian Transparency Act.

During the past year the Norwegian government has proposed multiple amendments to the current legislation. If passed and implemented, these amendments will necessitate action from most employers.