Employment contracts
All employees must have a written employment contract. As an employer, you are responsible for drawing up this contract. The requirement for an employment contract applies to permanent positions, temporary appointments and casual workers.
Written employment contracts
Employment contracts must be in writing.The agreement should be established before the employee commences work and by no later than one month after the employee has started work. If the duration of the employment is to be less than one month, and in the case of hiring out labour, an employment contract must always be established before the employment commences.
Scope of employment contracts
Employment contracts must contain information on all conditions of importance for the employment relationship. The Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority has prepared a standard employment contract which fulfils the minimum requirements for the scope of an employment contract. This contract is available in Norwegian (bokmål and nynorsk), English, Bulgarian, Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian, Polish, Romanian, Vietnamese and Russian.
Standard Contract of Employment
Deadline for updating the agreement
When there are changes in the employment relationship, the employment contract must be updated. Changes in the employment relationship must be included in the employment contract no later than the day the change takes effect. The requirement to include changes does not apply if the changes are due to amendments in laws, regulations, or collective agreements.
Non-compete clause
A non-compete clause (usually a clause in an employment contract) limits the possibility of employees to work for other employers or to start/run another business after their period of employment has ended. The use of non-compete clauses is regulated by the Working Environment Act. These clauses cannot apply more than one year after the employment has ended, and cannot be enforced if the employee has been made redundant. If the employer enforces a Non-compete clause, the employee is entitled to wage compensation while the agreement is in force.
