Labour costs (Lønnskostnader)

Labour costs are high, both because wages for time worked are high and because additional wage costs, including employer social security contributions and holiday pay are also high. Recently Norway has either had the world’s highest wage costs or has ranked among the five highest in the world, along with Belgium, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. For the most recent rankings, visit the International Labour Organization website at www.ilo.org.

The Labour inspection authority (Arbeidstilsynet)

The Labour inspection authority acts to promote safety and prevent accidents in workplaces, to monitor working environments and to ensure compliance with the laws on the working environment, both at its head office in Oslo, and at the local level, in 10 other districts across the country (Arbeidstilsynets distriktskontorer). At your workplace, you most likely will have a safety delegate (verneombud) elected by the employees who acts as the contact with the Labour inspection authority and consequently handles all working environment complaints from the employees. However, as a private person, you also may contact a district office directly should you have a legitimate complaint related to any aspect of the working environment. For instance, you might call a district office to complain of an inadequately fenced construction site that may pose a hazard to passing children or to report careless removal of asbestos siding that spreads toxic asbestos dust. The district office may then act by sending out an inspector, who has the authority to require corrective measures or to stop works if need be. The districts and the cities where their offices are located are: Moss, Oslo, Hamar, Drammen, Tønsberg, Kristiansand S., Stavanger, Bergen, Ålesund, Trondheim, Bodø, Tromsø and Skien. For queries or complaints, contact the nearest district office at the address and telephone number listed in the Pink Pages. For overall information, contact the head office of the Directorate of Labour inspection authority (Direktoratet for Arbeidstilsynet), Christian Kroghs gt 10, PO Box 8103 Dep, 0032 Oslo, Tel: 22957000, Fax: 22176373, www.arbeidstilsynet.no, direktoratet@arbeidstilsynet.dep.no.

Norwegian titles and approval of foreign education (Norske titler og godkjenning av utenlandsk utdanning)

Professional and vocational titles often are prerequisites for positions and usually are included in employment contracts. Most of them are legally protected. This means that you must have the recognised qualifications for a title in order to use it. For residents educated within the country, the matter is straightforward. For instance, if you are an engineering graduate of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) you may use the title sivilingeniør, which is equivalent to “Chartered Engineer” in English. But if you are a resident or a foreign citizen who was educated abroad, you must apply for approval of your education in order to use the relevant title. In principle, approval is straightforward and amounts to showing that your education meets the same requirements as the equivalent education in Norway. However, in practice, showing equivalence can be complex. Curricula vary from country to country and there are many international agreements on transfer of qualifications, not least those applying within the EEA. Moreover, curricula change and new agreements are continually made. Fortunately, the agencies responsible for approval keep comprehensive lists of curricula and agreements and consequently can readily assess applications or answer questions concerning titles. The requirements for approval vary by profession. So you should first contact the responsible agency to find out what you must do to file an application for approval. The agencies responsible for approval of higher education titles are listed below. For certification of a vocational title, contact the trade organisation involved.

Architects and Engineers: Chartered Architect (Sivilarkitekt) and Chartered Engineer (Sivilingeniør): Contact Office of International Relations, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Gløshaugen, 7491 Trondheim, Tel: 73595000, Fax: 73595310, www.ntnu.no, international@admin.ntnu.no.

Business: MBA or equivalent (Siviløkonom): contact the International office of the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration, Helleveien 30, 5045 Bergen, Tel: 55959300, Fax: 55254838, www.nhh.no, int.stud@nhh.no.

Education: teacher, secondary-school teacher, lecturer (Iœrer, adjunkt, lektor): contact the Centre for International Cooperation in Higher Education, PO Box 7800, 5020 Bergen, Tel: 55308800, Fax: 55308801, www.siu.no, siu@siu.no.

Health services: bioengineer (bioinegniør), chiropractor (kiropraktor), dentist (tannlege), ergonomist (ergoterapeut), medical doctor (lege), midwife (jordmor), nurse (sykepleier), orthopaedic engineer (ortopedingeniør), physical therapist (fysioterapeut), psychologist (psykolog), radiologist (radiograf) and welfare nurse (vernepleier): contact Chief County Medical Officer in Oslo (Fylkeslegen i Oslo), Tordenskiolds gt 12, PO Box 8041 Dep, 0031 Oslo, Tel: 22003900, Fax: 22003910.

Veterinary (veterinœr): contact Ministry of Agriculture, Department of Food Policy, PO Box 8007 Dep, 0030 Oslo, Tel: 22249090, Fax: 22249555, postmottak@lmd.dep.no.

Occupational health service (Bedriftshelsetjeneste)

An organisation with many employees will have an occupational health service and, for larger organisations, a company doctor (bedriftslege) who monitors the working environment and employee health. The occupational health service and the company doctor are concerned only with the working environment and not with general employee health outside the workplace. So for health matters not connected with your work, make an appointment with your regular GP (Chapter 21).

Occupational injury benefit (Yrkesskadetrygd)

If you are injured at your workplace, you may be entitled to an occupational injury benefit (yrkesskadetrygd). You need not have been paying National Insurance (Folketrygd) contributions to be eligible. Your employer is required to notify the National Insurance office and the Labour inspection authority of all injuries sufficiently serious to require medical attention.

Old boys’ club (Gutteklubben grei)

As elsewhere, Norway has its “old boys’ club”, an informal, closed fraternal network that links men of a profession, organisation, social class or education. The largest and most influential old boys’ club in the country consists of wealthy businessmen, most from rich families and most graduates of the country’s business schools. They trade board positions and CEO chairs amongst themselves and consequently have high profiles in the financial media. The major professions also have their old boys’ clubs whose members usually are graduates of selected colleges in the country. The ways of the various old boys’ clubs differ, but common for all is that they exclude people who fail to qualify for “membership”, most notably women. In 2002, Minister Ansgar Gabrielsen spotlighted the practice and called for a greater proportion of women executives. Though gender equality (Chapter 26) has come far, the upper echelons of the business world remain male dominated.

Parental leave (Foreldre permisjon)

If you are about to have a baby or adopt an infant, you are entitled to parental leave. A woman is entitled to parental leave provided that she has been in paid employment for at least six of the 10 months prior to giving birth. The father is also entitled to parental benefit provided that both he and the mother have been in paid employment for the same six of 10 months. Before birth or adoption, parents may choose a benefit period of either 42 weeks at full pay or 53 weeks at 80% pay in connection with birth, or 39 weeks at full pay or 49 weeks at 80% pay in connection with adoption. Parents may share the benefit period between them. However, specific weeks are designated for each. The mother must take three weeks of the benefit prior to the birth or forfeit them. Six weeks after birth are reserved for the mother and four for the father. Moreover, parents are entitled to take up to one year of leave without pay in addition to the pregnancy and birth, adoption, or assuming care of foster children. For complete details, contact your local National Insurance Office listed under Trygdekontor in the Pink Pages.

Part-time work (Deltid)

Part-time work – less than 30 hours a week – is common and accounts for slightly more than a fifth of all hours worked in the country, the seventh highest proportion in the world. Many part-time workers are single parents or one parent of a couple who fail to find a place for a child in a day-care centre. Three part-time workers in four are women. Moreover, part-time education, particularly adult education, is common and National Insurance (Chapter 21) offers programmes to support it.

Salaries and wages (Gasje og lønn)

Typically, a salary (gasje) is a fixed annual amount paid in monthly instalments to a professional person, whilst a wage (lønn) is calculated on an hourly rate paid in weekly or monthly amounts to an industrial worker. However, that distinction has nearly disappeared, particularly in Norwegian, where almost all earnings are called lønn. There are three principal types: fixed earning (fast lønn), hourly rate (timelønn) and piecework (akkordlønn), as well as combinations of two of the principal types. If you have a permanent job with regular pay, you should open an earnings account (lønnskonto) in a bank and give your employer the account number, so you can be paid by direct deposit to it. With each payment of your earnings, you will receive an earnings slip (lønnsslip) with the details of earnings, tax and other deductions. Taxes are deduced according to your tax level, as stated on your tax card (skattekort). Other deductions may include tax previously due (skyldig skatt) or any child maintenance (barnebidrag) you may be required to pay if you are divorced. Your employer cannot deduct other expenses, such as rent or meal allowance, unless you have a written agreement that specifically permits the deductions.

Scale of travelling expenses (Reiseregulativ)

You are entitled to compensation for travel necessary in your job, according to a scale of travelling expenses. The most widely used scale is the governmental Regulativ for reiser på statens regning, which is accepted by tax authorities. The scale covers both domestic travel (reiser innenlands) and travel abroad (reiser i utlandet), and the maximum amounts that can be charged without receipts for food (kostgodtgjørelse), lodging (nattillegg) and use of private car (bruk av egen bil) and other means of transport (andre skyssmidler) are set forth. The scale is periodically revised and available online by the Ministry of Modernisation at www.odin.dep.no/mod.

Self-employment (Selvstendig næringsdrivende)

There are two alternative approaches to self-employment. First, you may do freelance work (same word in Norwegian), as do some writers, and submit your tax card (Chapter 43) to all companies for whom you work. Each company will then deduct taxes according to the rate specified on your tax card. From the tax viewpoint, at the end of the year, all the companies that paid for your services and deducted taxes from amounts paid to you have employed you. Second, you may find that starting your own business, such as a sole proprietorship as a company organisation may be more profitable.

Shadow economy (Svart økonomi)

The shadow economy, also known as the underground economy, the parallel economy, the second economy, the black economy or just the black market, exists throughout the world. Although the shadow economy includes national and international criminal activities, most of it consists of transactions in ordinary goods and services that are off the books but otherwise are legal. High taxation and regulation of labour and product markets are believed to be its principal causes. Typically, if you pay a cleaner or a tradesman in cash without receipt or neglect to include some income received on your tax return, you contribute to the shadow economy. Estimates of the overall size of the shadow economy vary; the European Union (EU) believes that it may account for 7% to 16% of the total economic activity in Europe. Professor Friedrich Schneider of the faculty of Social and Economic Sciences at Johannes Kepler University, Linz, Germany, has studied the shadow economies of Europe and other industrialised countries by comparing money in circulation, total expenditures, interest trends and other factors. His figures, which are higher than the EU estimates, are frequently quoted in international media. His estimate for Norway is a shadow economy that is about a fifth as large as the country’s GDP, less than in Italy, Spain, Belgium and Sweden, but more than in many other countries.

Sick leave (Sykefravæi)

You are eligible for paid sick leave after you have worked for at least two weeks for an employer. If you are ill and unable to work you should telephone or otherwise notify your employer as soon as possible, so you may receive sickness benefits (sykepenger) from the first day of your absence from work. If you anticipate being ill for no more than three calendar days, you need do no more, as you are deemed to have given self-certified notice (egenmelding) of your absence. You may use egenmelding up to four times a year. However, if you are ill for more than three calendar days, you must have a doctor’s certificate of your illness (sykemelding fra lege), which you should give to your employer as soon as possible. Note that calendar days count; if you are ill and away from work on Friday, the following Saturday and Sunday count in the three days. Your employer is responsible for your paid sick leave for the first two weeks of an illness. Thereafter, National Insurance (Chapter 21) pays your wage. With few exceptions, paid sick leave is equal to your normal pay, and you pay normal taxes on it.

You are entitled to sick leave to care for an ill child for whom you are responsible, provided the child is age 12 or less, or age 16 or less if the child is chronically ill or handicapped. You can take up to 10 days sick leave per calendar year to attend to sick children, up to 15 days if you have two or more children, or up to 20 days if one child is chronically ill or handicapped and up to 30 days if two or more children are chronically ill or handicapped. For further information on sick leave and sick pay, contact the nearest National Insurance Office, listed under Trygdekontor in the Pink Pages.