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Annual leave in Norway: a guide for employers
Twenty-five working days is the statutory figure, and Norway counts Saturday as a working day (virkedag). So it is four weeks and one day, not five weeks. Plus the over-60 entitlement, the main holiday period and the two separate 12-day quotas most employers merge into one.
A Norwegian employee has 25 days of annual leave. Almost every part of that sentence needs qualifying.
Twenty-five working days (virkedager), and a working day under Norwegian law includes Saturday. So it is four weeks and one day, not five weeks. The five weeks everyone talks about is 30 working days, and it comes from an agreement rather than the Act.
Everything below runs on ferieloven of 29 April 1988 no. 21. What the leave pays is a separate calculation, covered in Holiday pay in Norway.
TL;DR
- Norway’s statutory annual leave is 25 working days a year — four weeks and one day, not five.
- Saturday counts as a working day, so it consumes a day of leave even though almost nobody works one.
- Employees who turn 60 during the leave year get six extra working days, for 31 in total.
- Only 18 of the 25 working days must fall inside the main holiday period, which runs from June to September.
- Carry-over and advance leave are two separate quotas of 12 working days each, not one shared cap.
How many days, and for whom?
The rule is unambiguous: the employer must ensure the employee is given 25 working days of leave in every leave year, under section 5 no. 1. Not offered. Given.
It applies to every employee regardless of the agreed percentage of full time. A part-timer is entitled to the same number of working days of leave as a full-timer, simply spread across fewer days actually worked.
| Who | Entitlement | Provision |
|---|---|---|
| Every employee | 25 working days | s. 5 no. 1 |
| Turning 60 during the leave year | +6 working days, 31 total | s. 5 no. 2 |
| Starting on or before 30 September | Full leave that year | s. 5 no. 3 |
| Starting after 30 September | 6 working days | s. 5 no. 3 |
Next: check how your system treats a part-timer’s balance. If it pro-rates the number of days rather than the number of working days they fall on, it is wrong.
Why does Saturday count as a working day?
Saturday counts as a working day because it is not a Sunday or a statutory public holiday, under section 5. Saturday is neither. So Saturday is a working day, and it consumes a day of leave even though almost nobody works one.
Work the consequences through:
- One week of holiday costs six working days, not five.
- The statutory 25 working days is four weeks and one day in ordinary Monday-to-Friday terms.
- Five weeks in everyday speech needs 30 working days, which is why the fifth week travels with a 12 per cent holiday pay rate.
A payroll system tracking leave in ordinary Monday-to-Friday days overstates what every Norwegian employee has left, every year, by the same mechanism.
Next: take one employee’s balance and hand-count it in working days. If your system’s number is higher, you have found the bug.
What happens when an employee turns 60?
Two separate statutory entitlements arrive when an employee turns 60 during the leave year, and they come from two different provisions.
Six extra working days of leave (section 5 no. 2), 31 in total. The trigger is turning 60 during the leave year, so a December birthday qualifies for the whole year. And the employee decides when those six days fall, on two weeks’ notice. The timing is not yours to schedule.
A separate 2.3 percentage point supplement lifts the holiday pay rate for employees over 60 (section 10 no. 3) — see the rate table in Holiday pay in Norway for the exact percentages. That supplement carries a cap of 6G, six times the National Insurance basic amount, and it is the most expensive miscalculation in Norwegian payroll.
Next: run a list of everyone turning 60 in this leave year. Nothing in an ordinary leave calendar prompts for it.
When must the main holiday fall, and how much notice do you have to give?
The main holiday falls within the main holiday period of 1 June to 30 September, and the employer must give at least two months’ notice of the timing, under section 7.
The employee may demand that the main holiday, 18 working days, falls within the main holiday period of 1 June to 30 September. The remaining seven of the Act’s 25 must be given as one continuous block, either side of that window.
Eighteen, not twenty-five. Conflating the two hands away scheduling latitude you actually have over the remaining seven. Splitting those seven into convenient single days is not available either.
Discuss the schedule with the employee, and give at least two months’ notice of the timing — that is the process section 6 sets.
Next: two months before 1 June is the end of March. If your summer scheduling conversation happens in May, it is late by the Act’s own timetable.
How many days of leave can you carry over or take in advance?
A written agreement can let you carry over up to 12 working days and take up to 12 working days in advance, two separate quotas under section 7 no. 3:
- taking up to 12 working days of advance leave, taken before the year it is earned in, and
- carrying up to 12 working days over into the following leave year.
These are two separate quotas of 12 each, not one shared cap of 12. And nothing beyond them can be agreed: an employee cannot bank a third year’s worth however willing both sides are.
Next: if your leave policy states a single 12-day carry-over limit, it is conflating two provisions and understating what you may agree.
What happens if an employee gets sick during their holiday?
Leave days can be deferred when an employee falls ill on holiday, but on stricter conditions than most employers expect (section 9 no. 1).
The employee must be completely unable to work, 100 per cent. Partial incapacity does not qualify.
Self-certification is not enough. A doctor’s note is mandatory, which is a departure from the ordinary sickness routine where self-certification covers short absences.
And the claim must be made without undue delay once the employee is back at work.
That is the seam between ferieloven and folketrygdloven: the deferred days come back to the balance, while the absence itself runs on the sick-pay rules in Sick pay in Norway.
Next: say the doctor’s-note requirement out loud in your holiday guidance. An employee who self-certifies from a beach loses the days, and will not expect to.
What can a collective agreement change about annual leave?
A collective agreement may improve on the Act — more weeks of leave, a higher holiday pay rate — but it can never worsen it.
The usual agreed improvement is five weeks, 30 working days, at a 12 per cent rate, and 14.3 per cent for employees over 60. Neither figure is statutory.
Do not assume five weeks applies without a collective agreement, or a written practice that commits you to it. Which agreements bind an undertaking, and how allmenngjøring can bind one that joined nothing, is covered in Collective agreements in Norway.
Next: check your employment contracts and any collective agreement on file before you assume the statutory 25 working days is all you owe.
How does Taito.ai help with this?
Annual leave in Norway runs on accrual balances tracked against a leave year and an age-based entitlement change. Taito.ai sets up that leave policy and keeps the balances maintained for every employee it covers.
Sources
Lovdata publishes no official English translation of ferieloven, so every rule here is paraphrased rather than quoted. Where the exact wording matters, follow the link and read the Norwegian text. The Act’s own terms (virkedager, ferieår, hovedferie, forskuddsferie) are kept in Norwegian, because that is what they are called in the payroll system you will have to change.
Disclaimer
Taito.ai does not provide legal, tax or accounting advice. This article is general information about the law as it stood on the date above, not advice on your situation, and it is not a substitute for it. Rates and thresholds change. Check with a qualified adviser before acting on anything here.
