Employee Or Contractor In Norway: Employer Guide

In brief

• This article concerns Norwegian law only. Whether a person is an employee or a contractor in Norway is determined by the substance of the relationship – not by what the contract is called, and not by the classification that applies in the company’s home jurisdiction.
• An employee is “anyone who performs work for and subordinate to another”, cf. section 1-8 of the Norwegian Working Environment Act. Where the facts are in doubt, an employment relationship is presumed unless the principal makes it clearly more probable that the person is genuinely self-employed.
• Misclassification is expensive: the Norwegian Supreme Court has held that the settlement is calculated under the mandatory rules of the Working Environment Act – with overtime supplements, holiday pay on the full fee, and the burden of proof on the employer.