Written by: Ksenia Burkova, she is an HR Advisor based in Oslo, She has expertise in legal and general support in all HR-related aspects (Norwegian Labour and Employment Law)
Reproduced with permission from her blogg: NorwegianHR.com
If you are working in Norway and you need to be away from work due to being sick, you have two options
- go to a doctor and get a doctor-note which documents your absence
- use egenmelding/self-declaration of sick leave
*In both cases you will NOT lose the salary for the days you are away being sick
What is a “self-declaration of sick-leave” or in Norwegian – “egenmelding”?
It is when you can declare yourself sick and inform your employer about being sick without having to provide a doctor-note.
However, there are certain rules for how self-declaration can be used:
- In order to use self-declaration you should have worked in the company for at least two months. If you, for example, started working in the company 1st of October 2020, you cannot use self-declaration/egenmelding until 1st of December 2020. In case a person gets sick during the first two months of employment, he/she needs to provide a doctor-note.
- You can be away with self-declaration up to 3 days in a row. Always remember, that these are calendar days and NOT working days. For example, if you get sick on Friday and you use self-declaration, the three days are counted as “Friday, Saturday, Sunday”. On Monday you either have to come back to work or you have to get a doctor-note to document your further absence.
- You can use self-declaration up to 4 times during a rolling period of 12 months. Each time you use self-declaration – you can be away up to three days. But you do not have to use all three days, if you are feeling fit to work. Even if you are away for one day and not three – it means that you used one (out of 4 times)
- You can use this arrangement 4 times during a rolling period of twelve months, but it is NOT the same as a calendar year (!) It is not like you can be sick with self-declaration 4 times in 2020. Rolling period of 12 months is, for example, from 12th of October 2020 until 12th of October 2021. Or from 25th of November 2020 until 25th of November 2021. Basically, it can be any date and this basis is always rolling.
- If you have used self-declaration 4 times during ANY rolling period of 12 months, you can lose the right to use self-declaration for half a year. You can also lose the right to use self-declaration if your employer suspects that self-declaration is not used for cases of being sick
- If you lose the right to use self-declaration, any future sick-leave must be documented by a doctor-note. If you do not document your absence, the employer is allowed to deduct you from the salary for the days you were away.
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