If your employer sends you to Norway on a work assignment, you mostly have the same rights as Norwegian workers. This also applies if you are employed by a staffing enterprise or a corporate group and posted to a division in Norway.
Have you been posted to Norway?
As a worker posted to Norway, you are entitled to the following from your employer:
- Minimum wage (in certain sectors)
- Holiday and holiday pay in accordance with Norwegian rules
- Working hours and overtime pay in accordance with Norwegian rules
- Board and lodging paid for by your employer (in certain sectors)
- A written employment contract
- A safe and sound working environment
It is your employer who has the main responsibility for your occupational health and safety, and who must ensure that you use protective equipment. If there are several undertakings at the same workplace, it is the Norwegian principal enterprise that is responsible for coordinating work regarding health, safety, and the environment (HSE).
Your employer is responsible for providing you with an HSE card if you
- carry out work on building and construction sites
- carry out cleaning work for enterprises that offer cleaning services
- offer manual car servicing, wheel changes and wheel storage
The HSE card shows who you are and which company you work for. The HSE card must be worn so that it is clearly visible when at the workplace.
During the posting period, your employer must ensure that you have your employment contract, your timesheets, and payslips available at your workplace in Norway.
Your employer must also be able to provide documentation showing
- the expected duration of the posting
- the planned start and end date of the posting period
- the expected number of posted workers
- the identities of the posted workers
The documentation must be available in writing, in hard copy or in electronic format, in Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, or English.
Special rules for posted drivers engaged in goods and passenger transport
From 3 November 2023, special rules apply to posted drivers engaged in
- goods transport by road, using a vehicle with a maximum authorized mass exceeding 3,500 kg
- passenger transport by road, scheduled or not, using a vehicle intended for transport of more than 9 persons including the driver
Pay, expenses and payslip
You may at the outset have a wage level that applies in the country from which you have been posted. However, if you have a residence permit pursuant to the Norwegian Immigration Act, the wage you are entitled to will be stated in the permit.
Some sectors have minimum wages
If you are going to work in a sector that is covered by a generally applicable collective agreement, you are entitled to a minimum wage in accordance with this collective agreement. It may also contain provisions on covering expenses, such as for food, accommodation, journeys home and work clothes.
In many collective agreements, the employer is required to provide board and lodging. A fixed per diem rate, payment by invoice and the like can be agreed between you and the employer.
Read more about the minimum wages and check the rates in various sectors
If you work for a staffing enterprise, you are entitled to the same pay and expenses as direct employees of the hiring enterprise.
Read more about hiring and equal treatment
In connection with your wage payments, your employer must provide you with a payslip showing
- the method used for calculating the wage
- the basis for the calculation of holiday pay
- the deductions that have been made.
Benefits that are reimbursements for expenses in connection with the posting, such as travel, board, and lodging, should not be included in your wage calculation. Other benefits may be included in the wage calculation.
If your employment contract does not specify which parts of the benefit are included in your wages and which parts are reimbursements, the entire benefit is considered reimbursement of expenses.
Postings from Norway with employees hired from staffing enterprises
If you are hired through a staffing enterprise (temp agency) and deployed from Norway on a temporary work assignment, the staffing enterprise must ensure that you, as a minimum, receive working and employment conditions in accordance with the regulations of the host country. This is independent of whether the staffing enterprise is established in Norway or another country.
The enterprise that hires you must inform the staffing enterprise about the posting within a reasonable period of time before the posting commences.
Submitting claims
If you do not receive the pay or holiday pay you are entitled to, you must submit a claim to your employer in your home country.
What to do when your employer does not pay salary or holiday pay
If you are injured or fall ill while on assignment in Norway, see the information provided by the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV) (nav.no).
Notify the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority
Notify the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority if you do not receive what you are entitled to. You can do this anonymously.
The Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority can order your employer to pay you the correct wage in future payments if you work in a sector with a generally applicable collective agreement.
Do you have any questions? Contact the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority’s helpline or visit the Service Centre for Foreign Workers (sua.no).
More information
Posted drivers in Norway engaged in goods and passenger transport