Night work exemption clarified by Norway’s top Court

OSLO, NORWAY — Norway’s Supreme Court has issued a landmark ruling on employees’ rights to be exempted from night work due to health reasons. 

The case involved a 61-year-old offshore worker who requested exemption after suffering a heart attack in 2020, based on medical advice. Initially granted, the employer later denied his continued exemption from night shifts in 2021. 

The employee took the case to Court, invoking Section 10-2 of Norway’s Working Environment Act which allows exemptions for “health, social or other weighty welfare reasons” unless it causes “major inconvenience” to the company.

In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court ruled that granting the employee’s exemption would indeed constitute a “significant inconvenience” to the offshore operation. 

“In the individual assessment, the Court referred to the [organizational] problems an exemption would entail for the undertaking, the consideration for the other employees, who would then have to take more night work, and to the proposed offer of work on land, which the employee had not wanted to discuss,” the ruling said.

This judgment sets a clear precedent on the extent of employer obligations under the Working Environment Act, highlighting the need for a detailed assessment of organizational challenges when considering exemptions from night work.