Have you been posted to Norway?

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.

As a worker posted to Norway, you are entitled to the following from your employer:

It is your employer who has the main responsibility for your 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 on 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 companies who offer cleaning services
offer manual car care, 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 in the workplace.

Employers must notify us when postings are extended

The posting period of 12 months can be extended by up to 6 months. In that case, your employer must send a written notification to the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority before the work of the original 12 months has been completed.

The notification must contain which employees are implicated and the reasons why an extension is necessary. The employer must send the notification to the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority electronically via eDialog or by post (in Norwegian only). Due to the personal information in the notification, e-mail cannot be used.

For shorter posting periods that do not exceed eight days, you are not necessarily entitled to, among other things, holiday, holiday pay or overtime pay (in Norwegian only) in accordance with Norwegian rules.

If an employer has posted other workers for the same work during the last 12 months, the period of these postings must also be included when calculating the duration of the posting period.

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 that shows

expected duration of the posting
planned start and end date of the posting period
expected number of posted workers
the identities of the posted workers

The documentation must be in writing, or available electronically, in Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, or English.

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 under the 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 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.

If you work for a staffing enterprise, you are entitled to the same pay and expenses as direct employees of the hiring enterprise.

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
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 sent out 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 time before the posting starts.

All staffing enterprises engaged in hiring out labour in Norway must be registered with the Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority

Making claims

If you do not receive the pay or holiday pay you are entitled to, you must make 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 sick while on assignment in Norway, see the information provided by NAV (nav.no).

Notify the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority

Notify the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority if you do not get 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 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).

Laws and regulations

Regulations on posted workers (in Norwegian only)