Norwegian holiday law clearly violates EU and EEA laws
In Norway, you must have worked for a year to be entitled to holiday pay. This is contrary to both EU and EEA law, which states that everyone, regardless of employment period, is entitled to paid holiday.
Already three years ago, the lawyers Ragnhild J. Nakling and Julie Piil Lorentzen raised the issue in a thought-provoking article in Aftenposten. Why has nothing happened?
As rightly emphasized by Nakling and Lorentzen, Norwegian holiday pay practice means that not everyone can realize their fundamental right to paid annual leave (paid annual leave), which is «constitutionalized» in the EU.
The NAV scandal has made everyone aware that Norway must begin to take its EEA legal obligations seriously. In the case of social security law, this message has hopefully reached its destination.
Norway has a legal obligation
When it comes to the Holiday Act, we are moving in the area of labor law. Here, too, EEA law comes into play. In 2004, the EFTA countries chose to incorporate the so-called Working Time Directive into the EEA Agreement. As a consequence, Norway is legally obliged to incorporate the requirements of the Directive into Norwegian law.
The European Court of Justice has in a number of rulings, especially in recent times, emphasized that the right to paid annual leave is a fundamental social right.
Denmark, which had a similar requirement as Norway, had to change its legal provisions in 2020.
A right which is not only found in the Working Time Directive, but which is enshrined in Art. 31. No. 2 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and which, according to the European Court of Justice, “by its existence is both obligatory and unconditional”.
A key component of this right is precisely that the holiday is paid for. Both the Charter and the Directive require the realization of «paid annual leave».
Since Norway distinguishes between the right to holiday and the right to paid holiday, which must first be developed the year before, Norwegian law is in conflict with EU and EEA law. In Norway, the court is not unconditional (unconditional).
As rightly emphasized by Naklin and Lorentzen in their legal comments, the Norwegian authorities have since 2008 had several opportunities to adapt Norwegian law in accordance with EU / EEA law.
Denmark had to turn around
From recent times it can be mentioned that Denmark, which had a similar requirement as Norway after the complaint from the EU Commission in 2014, had to change its legal provisions in 2020. Should not this be a wake-up call for Norway to change something to guarantee a fundamental right? The answer is no!
Has the NAV scandal led to a change in the legal situation? The answer is no! Since Naklin’s and Lorentzen’s article from 2019 which shows that Norwegian law is in conflict with EU-EEA law, it has happened – yes, nothing!
I am struck by the fact that a number of workers in Norway have been deprived of a fundamental right to paid leave, it’s time to wake up!
But maybe the Norwegian legislature has already taken a holiday? Let’s hope it’s at least paid for.