Tips For Employers In Norway On Responding To The Coronavirus

1. Safety and hygiene

   To minimise the risk of infection, you should make a risk assessment and take necessary steps to reduce infection, such as limiting contact between people and adopting strict routines for disinfection. However, currently, the Norwegian government has stated that employees should work from home as far as possible. We recommend you follow the rules and guidelines from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health and other relevant authorities.

   If someone has fallen sick, tell him or her to stay at home and contact a medical service. The employee cannot come back to work until a doctor has confirmed him or her free of infection. Because of the 14-day incubation period, you must assess whether a sick employee may have infected others. If this is possible, inform the other possible infected employees and consider implementing special measures in relation to them.

   Information you provide should be transparent, clear and updated. You should have guidelines for work organisation including for working from home.

2. Testing

   The government has imposed 14-day mandatory quarantine for anyone travelling from abroad. Given the potential consequences of the coronavirus for you, the infected employee and other employees, you can ask an employee whether they have tested positive and/or whether they have recently travelled outside the country. The employee has a responsibility to tell you whether he or she is infected, and/or whether he or she has travelled outside the country.

   If the employee refuses to tell you if he or she is infected and/or whether he or she has travelled outside the country, you cannot force them to tell you. You cannot force someone to be tested (however, special guidelines may apply in certain sectors, such as healthcare). If an employee refuses to be tested, you can order him or her to stay at home, and work from home if possible. Whether there in such a case is an obligation to pay the employee if work from home is not possible must be assessed case to case.

3. School closure, homeworking, quarantine and closing the workplace

   The government has closed all kindergartens and schools from 13 to 26 March (this may be extended). The Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV) has stated that the rules on parents staying at home with sick children also apply to parents staying at home because kindergartens/schools are closed. These rules only apply if the child is 12 or younger during 2020. As a starting point...