Act relating to working environment, working hours and employment protecting,etc by Gyldendal Norsk Forlag

act relating to working environment, working hours and employment protection, etc. (working environment act)

atle sønsteli johansen

act relating to working environment, working hours and employment protection, etc.

(working environment act)

1. edition 2023

ISBN 978-82-05-59578-1

Cover design: Kristin Berg Johnsen

Layout: Bøk Oslo AS

Typeset: Minion 8,5/12 pkt

Paper: 80 g Amber Graphic

Print and binding: Merkur Grafisk AS, Norway 2023

Gyldendal Akademisk

Postboks 6730 St. Olavs plass 0130 Oslo Norway www.gyldendal.no/akademisk akademisk@gyldendal.no

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The law in this book is an unofficial translation of theNorwegian version of the Act (Lov om arbeidsmiljø, arbeidstid og stillingsvern mv. (arbeidsmiljøloven)). Legal authenticity remains with the Norwegian version as published in Norsk Lovtidend. In the event of any inconsistency, the Norwegian version will prevail. The translation is mainly based on a translation provided by The Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority (Arbeidstilsynet), published on lovdata.no, with necessary updates in the legal text.

Preface

The first worker protection law in Norway in 1892 concerned the supervision of work in factories. In 1936, we got the first general labor law which was replaced by the Workers’ Protection Act in 1956. This law introduced rules on protective work and dismissal protections for employees on sick leave, which provided the basis for development in later legislation. The Worker Protection and Working Environment Act of 4 February 1977 gave employees extended rights in many areas, and the act applied until 2005 when it was replaced by the current act.

Laws reflect political and social changes. One of the biggest changes in the past ten years is that labor law regulation is no longer fully a national matter. With the EEA agreement, labor law is largely influenced by common European rules. A number of directives have been incorporated into law, and case law from the EU (and EFTA) courts has gained great importance in recent years. This applies to areas such as hiring, equal treatment, transfer of business, mass redundancies, working hours etc. The directives are essentially minimum rules that all EU/EEA countries must meet. In some areas, the directives have created challenges between Norwegian law and EU law. This primarily applies to cross-border activity such as in the transport industry. The right of establishment, which is part of the four freedoms in the EEA agreement, has also raised some challenges related to the generalization of collective agreements for posted workers.

The Norwegian model is based on tripartite cooperation between the government, unions and employers. Norway is a country with a well-regulated working life, good cooperative relations, high produc-

tivity and good adaptability. It provides the basis for a high standard of living and a well-developed social safety net. The Working Environment Act and the collective agreement system are important pieces in this model.

In many cases, collective agreements have better protections than what follows from the law’s minimum requirements, e.g. when it comes to working time regulations, protections against dismissal, the right to overtime pay, leave rules and days off etc.

The Working Environment Act works together with other legislation. Holiday pay and pensions are regulated in other legislation. The leave rules appear in the Working Environment Act, but benefits for leave are regulated in the National Insurance Act or in collective agreements. Similarly, the Working Environment Act protects against discrimination on grounds of political opinion, membership in a trade union and age. Discrimination due to gender, ethnicity, religion and sexual orientation etc. is, however, regulated in the Equality and Discrimination Act.

In order to keep the overview and coherence of the rules, other legislation is mentioned where relevant. The comments also refer to key judgments and the most important regulations that supplement the provisions of the Act.

Law is not always about having a right, but about being proven/ made right and for this you must know the law.

This book is a starting point. The book is primarily written for those who do not have a legal education or background, and great emphasis has been placed on the language being as simple and clear as possible.

I recommend everyone, especially foreign workers, to organize. It is a cheap insurance, and there are unfortunately many examples of foreign workers being treated in a different, and worse, way than

others. Those who are organized have access to help from the union and their lawyers, and the union can help those who are subject to unfair dismissals, lower wages than they are entitled to or have questions about their employment contracts etc.

Oslo, April 2023

Atle Sønsteli Johansen

Section 14-4 a. Part-time workers’ entitlement to a post equivalent to

Section 14-4 b. Consequences of breaches of part-time workers’ entitlement to a post equivalent to actual

Section 14-5.

Section 14-6.

Section 14-7.

Section