How much overtime does the Working Environment Act permit?

It depends on what you have agreed, and there are three tiers. Without an agreement, the fourth paragraph of section 10-6 of arbeidsmiljøloven allows overtime of up to ten hours in seven days, 25 hours in four consecutive weeks and 200 hours in a period of 52 weeks. With a written agreement with the tillitsvalgte in an undertaking bound by a tariffavtale, the fifth paragraph raises those to 20 hours per seven days, 50 per four weeks and 300 per 52 weeks. Arbeidstilsynet may in addition grant a dispensation allowing up to 25 hours per seven days and 200 hours per 26 weeks under the sixth paragraph, an exception granted case by case, not the standard rule, and it is quoted as though it were the standard surprisingly often. Whichever tier applies, the eighth paragraph sets an absolute ceiling: total working time may never exceed 13 hours in 24 or 48 hours in seven days.

What is the difference between overtime and additional work in Norway?

Overtime is work the employer requires beyond alminnelig arbeidstid, for a particular and time-limited need, under the first and second paragraphs of section 10-6 of arbeidsmiljøloven. Merarbeid is something else entirely: extra hours a part-timer works beyond their agreed percentage of full time, but still inside what would be alminnelig arbeidstid for a full-timer in the same role. The distinction decides the money. Genuine overtime triggers the statutory supplement of at least 40 per cent under the eleventh paragraph, while merarbeid does not automatically trigger it unless a tariffavtale says so. The test is whether the hours cross the nine-in-24 and 40-in-seven line, not whether they exceed the individual employee's agreed stillingsprosent. Paying every extra hour a part-timer works as overtime is a common and expensive misreading, and so is refusing to pay a full-timer who has crossed the statutory line.

Must Norwegian employers record hours for salaried employees?

Yes. Section 10-7 of arbeidsmiljøloven is short and unconditional: an overview showing how much each individual employee has worked must exist, and it must be available to Arbeidstilsynet and to the employees' tillitsvalgte. The provision draws no distinction by form of pay, so a fixed monthly salary does not in itself remove the duty: the point of the record is to be able to demonstrate that the working-time limits are being observed for that individual. Two things the provision does not contain are worth knowing, because both circulate in guidance. It sets no deadline for when the overview must be prepared, and it specifies no retention period such as three years. Any such figure comes from somewhere other than section 10-7, so check its source before writing it into a policy. The only exemption is the narrow one in section 10-12.

Working time rules in Norway: a guide for employers

Q: What is the genuinely independent position exemption, and who qualifies?

It is the narrow exemption in section 10-12 of arbeidsmiljøloven, which places employees in a ledende stilling under its first paragraph and in a særlig uavhengig stilling under its second outside chapter 10 altogether, so outside the working-time limits, the overtime supplement and the record-keeping duty. The word doing the work is uavhengig, independent. Qualifying requires genuine autonomy over how one's own working time is arranged: deciding what to do, when to do it and how, rather than executing a schedule someone else sets. It does not follow from a job title, from seniority, from being salaried, or from having no fixed hours in the contract. Applying it broadly is a common source of later disputes about unpaid overtime, because the assessment is made on the substance of the role after the fact. Assess each role on what the person actually controls, and document the reasoning.

Norwegian working time comes down to a handful of numbers, and the tables below cover all of them: the daily and weekly hour caps, the absolute ceiling, and the minimum overtime supplement.

The ceiling is fixed — no agreement, however willing both sides, can lift it. The overtime supplement is the number most often paid wrong.

Everything below follows chapter 10 of the Working Environment Act (arbeidsmiljøloven).

TL;DR

Ordinary working hours are capped at nine hours in 24 hours and 40 hours in seven days.
The overtime supplement is at least 40 per cent on top of ordinary pay.
You owe employees 11 hours of daily rest and 35 hours of weekly rest.
You must record every employee’s hours — a fixed salary is not an exemption.
A written employment contract is due no later than seven days after work starts.

How many hours can you require in a day or a week?

Ordinary working hours may not exceed nine hours in 24 hours and 40 hours in seven days (section 10-4).

That is the frame for work that does not count as overtime. Anything beyond it either needs an averaging agreement or is overtime, with the supplement that goes with it.

Two reduced limits sit in the same provision and are worth knowing before you quote 40 to everyone:

Work	Weekly limit	Provision
Ordinary work	40 hours	s. 10-4 (1)
Continuous shift work, comparable rotation, regular Sunday work, mainly night work	38 hours	s. 10-4 (4)
Round-the-clock shift work, and work underground in mines or tunnelling	36 hours	s. 10-4 (5)

The 37.5-hour week common in Norwegian white-collar workplaces is a collective agreement figure, not a statutory one. The Act’s reduced numbers are 38 and 36.

Next: if you run shifts, check which of the three limits your rosters are actually built against.

Overtime or additional work?

These are different things and the difference decides the money.

Overtime is work you require beyond ordinary working hours, for a particular and time-limited need (section 10-6, first and second paragraphs).

Additional work is extra hours a part-timer works beyond their agreed percentage of full time, but still inside what would be ordinary working hours for a full-timer in the same role.

The test is whether the hours cross the 9/40 line, not whether they exceed the individual’s agreed percentage of full time. Genuine overtime triggers the statutory supplement; additional work does not, unless a collective agreement says so.

Next: paying every extra hour a part-timer works as overtime is expensive and unnecessary. Refusing to pay a full-timer who has crossed 9/40 is worse.

How much overtime is permitted?

Three tiers, depending on what has been agreed, plus a ceiling that applies whatever tier you are on.

Basis	7 days	4 weeks	26 / 52 weeks	Provision
Without an agreement	10 h	25 h	200 h / 52 weeks	s. 10-6 (4)
Written agreement, tariff-bound undertaking	20 h	50 h	300 h / 52 weeks	s. 10-6 (5)
Arbeidstilsynet dispensation	25 h	—	200 h / 26 weeks	s. 10-6 (6)
Absolute ceiling, whatever is agreed	48 h / 7 days	—	13 h / 24 h	s. 10-6 (8)

Two things about that table.

The middle tier requires a written agreement with the employees’ elected representatives in an undertaking bound by a collective agreement (fifth paragraph). An undertaking with no collective agreement cannot get there by agreeing it individually with employees.

The third is a dispensation granted case by case by Arbeidstilsynet (sixth paragraph). It is quoted as though it were the standard rule surprisingly often. It is not.

And the last row is the one that matters most: total working time, ordinary hours and overtime combined, is capped under the eighth paragraph. No agreement can derogate from it.

Next: find out which tier you are actually on before budgeting a crunch period. Most undertakings assume the middle one and are on the first.

How much extra do you have to pay for overtime?

The supplement is at least 40 per cent on top of the pay for equivalent work in ordinary hours (section 10-6, eleventh paragraph).

A floor, not a ceiling. Collective agreements often give more: typically 50 or 100 per cent depending on the time of day or day of the week. The 40 per cent cannot be reduced by any agreement.

Next: check your payroll’s overtime multiplier against 40 per cent before assuming a collective-agreement rate applies automatically.

How much rest must you give between shifts and each week?

Section 10-8 sets minimum rest, alongside the hour limits above, not instead of them:

Rest period	Minimum
Daily	11 hours continuous
Weekly	35 hours continuous

A roster can satisfy the hour caps and still breach the rest requirement.

Next: check your rosters against both rest periods separately from the hour caps — passing one does not mean you pass the other.

Do you have to record hours for salaried employees?

An overview showing how much each individual employee has worked must exist, and it must be available to Arbeidstilsynet and to the employees’ elected representatives — section 10-7 is short and unconditional on this.

The provision draws no distinction by form of pay. A fixed monthly salary does not remove the duty, because the point of the record is to demonstrate that the limits are being observed for that individual.

Two things section 10-7 does not contain, both of which circulate in guidance:

No deadline for when the overview must be prepared.
No retention period — the three-year figure often quoted is not in this provision.

If you use either number, know where you got it, because it is not from here.

Next: the duty is to be able to show hours per individual on request. A team-level total does not satisfy it.

Which employees are exempt from the working-time rules?

The exemption sits in section 10-12, which places employees in a senior post (first paragraph) and a genuinely independent position (second paragraph) outside chapter 10 entirely, so outside the hour limits, the overtime supplement, and the record-keeping duty.

The word doing the work is independent. It requires genuine autonomy over how one’s own working time is arranged: deciding what to do, when and how, rather than executing a schedule someone else sets.

It does not follow from a job title, from seniority, from being salaried, or from having no fixed hours in the contract.

Applying it broadly is a common source of later disputes about unpaid overtime, because the assessment is made on the substance of the role after the fact, often by someone who no longer works for you.

Next: list everyone you currently treat as exempt and write one sentence each on what they actually control. The ones you cannot write it for are your exposure.

Can you average hours over a longer period, and by when do you need a contract?

Averaging lets ordinary working hours be distributed unevenly across an agreed period, provided the average stays inside the 9/40 limit. It requires an agreement: written with the individual employee, with the employees’ elected representatives in a tariff-bound undertaking, or in some cases a permission from Arbeidstilsynet. The absolute ceiling applies regardless; averaging is not a route around it.

And one deadline that belongs to a different chapter but bites at the same moment: for engagements lasting more than one month, a written employment contract must exist no later than seven days after work starts (section 14-5). The deadline used to be one month, and the old figure is still sitting in templates and internal routines, one of the easiest errors to put right.

Sunday work, work on public holidays and night work have separate and stricter rules that apply on top of everything above.

Next: flag any Sunday, holiday or night shifts in your rosters and check them against those separate rules before relying on the limits above alone.

How does Taito.ai help with this?

Taito.ai sets up the section 10-7 hours record and keeps it maintained person by person, so the overview it requires is a query rather than a reconstruction when someone asks for it.

Sources

Lovdata publishes no official English translation of arbeidsmiljøloven, so every rule here is paraphrased rather than quoted. The Act’s own terms are kept in Norwegian: alminnelig arbeidstid, merarbeid, tillitsvalgte, særlig uavhengig stilling.

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.

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