Is your boss refusing to accept your sick note? This is what you must do

Camilla Yndestad

foreignworkers@lomedia.no

In Norway, employees have a right to be paid during periods of illness lasting up to 52 weeks.

If you are sick, you can use a self- certification sick note for up to 3 days and up to 4 times during the course of a single year.

If you are absent for longer than this your employer may require you to submit a sick note from your doctor. Find out more about the rules on sick notes and self-certification here.

Even so, an employer can refuse to accept a sick note issued by a doctor.

The rules exist to provide employers with a means of handling cases of obvious abuses of sick notes.

And the trade union movement in Norway has registered a trend whereby employers are rejecting sick notes issued by doctors more frequently than in the past.

If an employer contests a sick note, payments of sick pay will be stopped.

This is what you can do if your employer fails to accept your sick note:

1. Contact your employer

Your employer must raise the matter with you. As an employee you have the right to give your opinion before a decision is taken.

There may be misunderstandings relating to the sick note, for example regarding absence, the duration of the illness or the need for a sick note.

If your employer has not raised this matter with you or if your employer nevertheless chooses to dispute the sick note you have submitted, you will need to send a formal appeal to Nav.

Nav is the government agency in Norway that pays out sick pay if you are off sick for more than 16 days.

• Ask for a written account from your employer of why your sick note is being contested.

• Check whether your contract of employment contains specific rules or requirements relating to sick notes.

2. Check the law and your rights

In Norway, employees have the right to sick pay when they are sick, provided that the applicable preconditions are met.

This includes:

• That you have been employed by the employer for at least four weeks before you become ill.

• That the sick note is issued by a doctor or other health personnel qualified to issue sick notes.

• That the employer has received the sick note and has been provided with the necessary information. For example: when the first day of absence is, and an assessment of the further course of your sickness.

It is important that you establish whether your employer is contesting the illness itself, the validity of the sick note, or whether the objection relates to other administrative circumstances.

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3. Appealing to Nav (if you do not receive sick pay)

If your employer disputes your right to sick pay, you have the right to submit an appeal to Nav.

Nav must then assess whether you are entitled to sick pay and will collect information from both you and your employer.

If disagreements have arisen about the sick note Nav can also assist in resolving them.

• You can appeal via Nav’s website or submit a written appeal.

• You will need to send your appeal within six weeks of the date on which you were informed that the sick note was disputed.

It is important that you explain in the appeal why you believe that the sick note is valid and attach relevant documentation from a doctor or other health personnel.

4. Appeal to Arbeidstilsynet (Labour Inspection Authority) if there are working environment-related problems

If your employer is failing to comply with the Working Environment Act, you can contact the Labour Inspection Authority.

For example, if the employer that is refusing to acknowledge the sick note acts in a discriminatory way.

5. Your trade union can help you

If you are a trade union member your union will be able to offer you advice and guidance on completing the form.

However, you will need to conduct the dialogue with Nav yourself.

If the matter cannot be resolved and has to be brought before the courts, your union will assist you.

6. Written appeal

When you send an appeal to your employer or Nav you should ensure that the appeal is as precise and well documented as possible.

In the message you should record:

• The name, address and telephone number of the employer.

• The date on which you told the employer that you were sick.

• The method by which you notified your employer (telephone, text message, email or similar).

• Whom you informed.

• The date on which you submitted the sick note.

• Whether you spent time outside the country while you were on sick leave – if so, when and where.

• Whether you worked at all during the period – if so, for whom and how much.

• Your version of and comments on why your employer has not paid you sick pay.

Translated by Robert Lovering 

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