Norway: 2025, Looking Ahead

The last couple of years, labour law in Norway has been characterized by a number of legislative changes. Looking ahead, 2025 is expected to introduce fewer and more limited legislative changes under the current government before parliament elections in September.

Some minor changes have already been introduced as of 1 January 2025:

• Changes have been introduced to the employer’s reporting requirements in the so-called “a-melding,” by which employers report to (i.a.) the Norwegian Tax Administration, the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration etc. Employers will now be required to report even the type of employment (hired, permanent or temporary) of their employees in the “a-melding,” introducing an extension of the previous reporting requirements. The reporting requirement does not include freelancers, contractors, honorarium recipients, or others receiving pensions or benefits outside of an employment relationship.
• On 1 January 2025, changes have been made to the collectively agreed early retirement pension scheme in the public sector through the Act on Agreement-Based Pension (AFP) for members of the Government Pension Fund and to certain other laws (new agreement-based pension), mainly concerning the new AFP system in the public sector, applying to employees born in 1963 or later.

Issues related to the Norwegian restrictions on hiring from staffing agencies adopted since 1 April 2023 are continuously debated in public and are also pending in several courts. On 20 November 2024, the EFTA Court issued an advisory opinion regarding these significant restrictions. The EFTA Court concluded that these restrictions on leasing workers constitute a limitation on the right of establishment under the EEA Agreement, but the assessments crucial for concluding whether the Norwegian regulations on leasing workers are in conflict with EEA law are now left for the Oslo District Court. Moreover, the EFTA Surveillance Authority are still in a separate process–assessing whether to pursue their previous warning to Norway for potential breaches of the same regulations.

Another recurring discussion that will likely carry into 2025 is the debate on the generous sick leave benefits and whether the current scheme should be revised as part of the negotiations for the IA Agreement (the Agreement on Inclusive Labour Conditions). The Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (NHO) has particularly argued that the current sick leave benefits scheme should not be protected for another four years but changed as a measure to reduce high levels of absence because of sickness. However, the current labour coalition government is experiencing declining popularity, and the signs so far are that even some of the moderate and conservative parties are cautious about revising and debating this delicate issue. Hence, it remains to be seen whether the generous schemes applying today will indeed be changed.

Only time will tell what implications the outcome of the next parliamentary elections will have and whether a potential new moderate/conservative government could even have such an impact as to reverse legislative restrictions on staffing agencies. Stay put!