Work of a temporary nature
The opportunity to hire personnel from a temporary work agency “when the work is of a temporary nature” has been abolished, thereby eliminating one of the options for legal temporary hires.
However, it will still be possible to hire somebody as a temporary replacement – in other words, to work in place of another person. And temporary hires will remain legal if agreement on this is reached with union officials.
In addition, it is still possible to hire in labour from a production company. The opportunity for temporary employment directly by an undertaking for “work of a temporary nature” also remains in place.
The total prohibition on hiring personnel from a temporary work agency, which has attracted much attention in Norway, applies only to construction sites in Oslo and the Viken and former Vestfold counties.
Special rules
Of three exceptions to temporary hiring introduced in the Working Environment Act (WEA), the one relevant to the petroleum sector concerns short-tem employment of personnel with specialist expertise providing advisory and consultancy services in projects with a clearly limited duration.
The general rule is specified in the Act’s new section 14-12, paragraph 7, while the more detailed provisions are provided in section 3 b of the regulations on hiring from temporary work agencies.
According to the preparatory work on the amendment, “specialist expertise” means technical expertise which the undertaking itself cannot be expected to possess. The other terms for hiring from temporary work agencies do not apply to these exceptions.
Changes to the right of permanent employment at the hirer
The right of temporary hires to convert to permanent employment with the hirer has been strengthened by extending this right to hires agreed with unions after three years. The three-year rule has also been applied to all types of agency hires, replacing the previous variations in the period for different kinds of hiring arrangement.
Distinction between hiring and contracting
The tightening of the temporary-hire rules are expected to lead to increased use of contracting. As a result, the previously unofficial distinction between temporary hires and contracting has become partially enshrined in law through a new provision in the WEA which clarifies this division and makes it specific.
A new section 14-12, paragraph 5 of the WEA provides that particular emphasis must be given when assessing whether an employment is a temporary hire to whether the client manages the work and is responsible for its result.
Weight also be must be given to whether the main delivery is labour, whether the work occurs in close association with the client’s business, whether the work covers an enduring need for labour at the client, and whether the work falls within the client’s core or main activity.
In addition to the amendments to the WEA, a new provision in section 25, paragraph 2 of the Labour Market Services Act specifies that temporary hire of workers means hire of workers from an employer (hiree) to a client (hirer) where the temporary hire is subject to the client’s management. Reference is made to this new provision in section 14-12, paragraph 5 of the WEA.
Expanded supervisory authority
The Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (PSA) has been given the authority to supervise compliance with both the deadline for the right to permanent employment (the three-year rule) and the distinction from contracting
Transitional rules on delaying implementation until 1 July 2023
- Temporary hire contracts entered into before 1 April
- One-off contracts for legal temporary hire entered into before 1 April
- Distinction between temporary hire and contracting for contracts entered into before 1 April
Transitional rule on the three-year period
Where temporary-hire contracts are entered into with union officials, ongoing temporary hires commencing before 1 April will count when calculating the three-year rule.