Norway: Changes in the legislation on permanent employment and hiring from temporary work agencies

Last summer the Parliament adopted new regulation on permanent employment and hiring from temporary-work agencies. The changes that came into force on 1 January contain the following main elements: 1) A definition of permanent employment. The new legislation clarify that a) “permanent employment” entail that the employment is consecutive and of unlimited duration, b) that the rules on employment protection applies and c) that the employee is secured a certain predictability with regard to the amount of work and when the work is to be performed. Thus, so-called “Zero-hour”-contracts, meaning contracts with no guarantee of work, are non-compliant with the new legislation. 2) Clarification of the requirement of information regarding working hours in the employment contract. The current legislation requires that the employment contract contain information regarding duration and timing of the daily and weekly working hours. As of 1 January, the employment contract shall determine or provide a basis for calculation when the work is to be performed in cases where the work is formed periodically. 3) Restrictions on the possibility to hire from temporary work-agencies. Hiring from temporary work-agencies is currently allowed to the same extent as temporary employment may be entered into (with some exceptions). In addition, the legislation provides an extended permission to hiring of workers based on local collective bargaining agreements. In enterprises bound by a collective agreement, the employer and the employee representatives may enter into a written agreement on time-limited hiring. As of 1 January 2019, only enterprises bound by a collective agreement with a union with at least 10,000 members are allowed to enter into such agreements.