Increased employer period for temporary layoff
Continuation of covid-19 right-to-care allowance and sickness benefit
Increased allocation to Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority
On 8 November 2021, the Støre government presented its budget proposal for 2022. The proposal includes changes and extensions of temporary measures that will affect Norwegian employers to varying degrees.
Increased employer period for temporary layoff
The government has proposed increasing the employer period for temporary layoff from 10 to 15 days, as was the standard before the covid-19 pandemic.
Since March 2020, the length of the employer's period for temporary layoff has been changed several times to meet the challenging situation that arose in the labour market after Norway went into lockdown. In March 2020, the employer period was reduced to two days and then it increased to 10 days in September 2020. The government has now proposed that the employer period return to 15 days as of 1 March 2022.
This reinstatement of a pre-pandemic standard is motivated by high activity in the Norwegian economy and the decline in registered unemployment. In addition, there are several companies that have reported that they are struggling to recruit labour. The government reports that the outlook for the labour market for 2022 is positive, which indicates that the need for temporary layoff is dwindling.
Continuation of covid-19 right-to-care allowance and sickness benefit
In October 2021, the government extended until 31 December 2021 employees' right to sickness benefits in the event of absence due to real or suspected cases of covid-19. The same applied to the right to care benefits for parents who have children in quarantine, or who have children at home if their kindergarten or school has been completely or partially closed due to covid-19. In the government's budget proposal, these measures were proposed to be extended to 30 June 2022.
The government has justified the extension of the measures on the ground that, while everyday life is returning to normal, there will be a risk of covid-19 infection for a long time to come. The government believes that these measures will aid compliance with relevant containment and prevention recommendations.
According to the government, the measure concerning sickness benefits will not lead to additional expenses for the national social insurance scheme because covid-19 typically degenerates over a period of less than 17 days. In the event of sick leave, the employer liability period runs for the first 16 days, which means that the measure can lead to increased expenses for employers.
Increased allocation to Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority
The Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority has previously stated that, following the pandemic, there is an increased risk of work-related crime and rogue conduct.(1) It is clear from the government's budget proposal that the work of combating work-related crime is still high on the agenda. The government proposes to increase its financial support to the Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority by 20 million kroner ($2.2 million) to strengthen its capacity for, among other things, guidance, supervision and control aimed at poor business practices and social dumping.
The increased allocation is one of several measures that have been implemented recently. Earlier in 2021, Parliament passed new penal provisions that will make it easier to fight work-related crime. The provisions, which will enter into force on 1 January 2022, make it possible to punish employers that improperly or intentionally defy the obligation to pay wages, holiday pay and surcharge for overtime, which the employee is entitled to by agreement, law or regulation (ie, wage theft). The penalty for serious cases of wage theft is six years imprisonment.
For further information on this topic please contact Ole Kristian Olsby or Nina Elisabeth Thjømøe at Homble Olsby | Littler by telephone (+47 23 89 75 70) or email ([email protected] or [email protected]). The Homble Olsby | Littler website can be accessed at www.homble-olsby.no.
Endnotes
(1) Further information on new legislation on work-related crime is available here.