The parliament recently passed several amendments in legislation to make it easier to fight work-related crime. The amendments increase the responsibility for employers. Littler Norway has previously described the proposal behind the new legislation here.
1. Payment of wages
From 1 January 2022, all salary, holiday pay etc. must be paid to the employee’s bank account through a bank transfer or another approved enterprise. It will no longer be possible to pay the salary in cash. The aim of this amendment is to reduce the use of undeclared work and to improve the economic conditions for employees.
2. Increased possibility to penalize employers from 1 January 2022
The Penal Act gets two new provisions providing legal basis for penalizing employers who, improperly or by intent, fail to comply with the duty to pay salary, holiday pay, compensation for overtime work etc. that the employee is entitled to according to agreement, legislation, or regulation (so-called wage-theft). The penalty limit for wage theft are fines or imprisonment up to two years. For aggravated wage theft, the penalty limit is imprisonment up to six years.
In addition, the penalty limit for violation of the provisions in the working environment act is increased with two years, meaning the penalty limit for such violation is now up to five years imprisonment.
Greater responsibility is placed on the chief executives. They can now personally be penalized by fines or imprisonment up to two years if the company does not have an occupational pension scheme for its employees or if such scheme does not comply with the minimum requirements in the Act relating to mandatory occupational pension.
3. Approval arrangement for the motor business
From 1 January 2022, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs is authorized to prepare and determine regulations concerning a public approval arrangement for enterprises within the motor business. If such approval arrangement is introduced, it will be illegal to use services from enterprises without such approval. We have such approval arrangement today for the cleaning industry.
