Vacation rights in Norway

Even though you are entitled to take holiday leave, you are not necessarily entitled to paid holiday. The Holiday Act distinguishes between the right to take holiday leave and the right to receive holiday pay. When you take holiday, you are not entitled to receive your normal salary. Holiday pay is intended to compensate for the loss of income during your holiday.

Holiday pay is calculated based on the salary you earned the previous year, known as the earning year. In your first year of employment, you therefore do not have the right to holiday pay if you take holiday leave. You are entitled to time off, but this will be unpaid.

If you are entitled to five weeks of holiday, holiday pay is calculated as 12% of last year’s employment income. If you receive holiday leave according to the Holiday Act only—meaning four weeks and one day—holiday pay is calculated at 10.2%.

The holiday pay basis consists of the salary you received during the previous year, known as the earning year.

Remuneration for work includes your regular salary as well as variable supplements such as shift allowances, overtime, supplements for inconvenient working hours, pay during work-related travel, and payment for travel time.

Bonuses are normally included in the holiday pay basis. The key question is whether the bonus can be considered remuneration for work—in other words, whether earning the bonus depends on the work effort you have contributed.

Expense reimbursements, such as compensation for car use, meals, accommodation, and similar costs, are not considered remuneration for work and are therefore not included in the holiday pay basis.
Holiday pay you received last year is also not considered remuneration and is not included in the basis for calculating holiday pay.

How and when your employer pays out holiday pay depends on which agreements the employer is bound by, as well as the practical arrangements they choose. Regardless of the solution, you should not lose any rights. Under the Holiday Act, holiday pay is in principle supposed to be paid when you take your holiday.

The Act can, however, be deviated from on this point, and most employers choose to pay holiday pay together with the May or June salary, regardless of when you actually take your holiday.

In return, the employer withholds an amount that corresponds to the holiday you are entitled to. If you are only entitled to statutory holiday, the employer withholds salary for four weeks and one day. If you are entitled to five weeks of holiday, they withhold salary for five weeks. This system allows you to take holiday at any time during the year without having to face a salary deduction at the moment you take your holiday.

If we assume that you are entitled to five weeks of holiday and are under the age of 60, your holiday pay will be calculated as follows:
last year’s remuneration × 0.12 − (this year’s gross monthly salary × 4/26).

When you leave your job, you are entitled to have your accrued holiday pay paid out on the final regular payday before your last working day. Any part of the amount that cannot be calculated by that time (for example overtime) may be paid out on the first regular payday afterwards.

If your holiday pay is paid out during the earning year, it will be subject to tax. However, you may ask to have the payment postponed until January of the following year if you do not want to pay advance tax on it. This requires an agreement with your employer – it is not something you can demand.

The employer must pay holiday pay on sickness benefits paid during the employer period, which covers up to 16 calendar days. When sickness benefits are paid by NAV, NAV pays out the holiday pay in May of the year after it was earned. Holiday pay is calculated based on the first 48 days of sickness benefits during the earning year.

The holiday pay rate is 10.2% of this basis. For employees who turned 59 during the earning year, the rate increases to 12.5%.
If your employer advances sickness benefits and is later reimbursed by NAV, you may check whether internal rules or a collective agreement entitle you to holiday pay on the full amount paid out by your employer.

Yes. As a general rule, employees are required to take their annual holiday leave. An exception applies if your holiday pay does not cover the loss of income during the holiday period. In such cases, you may refuse to take the part of the holiday for which the loss of income is not compensated by holiday pay.

The employee and employer may agree in writing to transfer up to two weeks of holiday to the next holiday year, in addition to any holiday beyond the statutory four weeks and one day. Separate rules apply to taking holiday leave during sickness or parental leave.

The Holiday Act allows for flexibility on this point. You may demand that 18 working days—that is, three weeks—be taken during the summer months, between 1 June and 30 September (the main holiday period). The remaining holiday, one week and one day, may be taken as one continuous period if you request it.

If you started your job after 15 August, you can only demand one week of holiday during the period up to 30 September.

If you and your employer cannot agree on when your holiday should be scheduled, the employer has the right to determine the timing of your holiday. However, the employer must discuss this with you well in advance, and as a general rule you are entitled to two months’ notice.

Employees aged 60 and over may decide for themselves when they take their additional week of holiday.

Employees who work part‑time are also entitled to take the full statutory holiday each holiday year. Questions or misunderstandings often arise regarding how many holiday days are “used” when you take time off. It may feel incorrect when a holiday day is deducted on a weekday when you normally do not work. However, this is the correct way to calculate holiday leave in Norway.

To explain this more clearly, it is easiest to use a concrete example:
Imagine you work 60% and normally have Thursday and Friday off. We assume that you are entitled to five weeks of holiday in your workplace. If you take five consecutive weeks of summer holiday, you will have used your entire holiday entitlement, even if some of the holiday days fall on days when you would not normally be working.
At first glance, it may seem as if, by working part‑time, you are “subsidising” some of the holiday your employer is obliged to give you. However, this is not the case. The explanation lies in the distinction in Norwegian law between the right to holiday and the right to holiday pay.

You have the right to holiday – and you receive this as five full weeks.

You have the right to holiday pay – calculated as 12% of what you earned the previous year. Holiday pay is usually paid out in June, and the employer will deduct a number of holiday days equivalent to the amount you need in order to take your full holiday entitlement. Importantly, the deduction must correspond to your part‑time percentage.

So if you work 60%, the deduction should correspond to 60% of the total number of days required for full holiday leave.

An employer may change the timing of your holiday if this becomes necessary due to unforeseen circumstances. Such changes can only be made when taking holiday as originally agreed would cause significant operational difficulties, and when it is not possible to bring in a temporary replacement.

If your employer wants to reschedule your holiday, the matter must be discussed with you, and you have the right to be accompanied by an employee representative.

If you incur additional expenses because your holiday is moved – for example prepaid travel costs – you may claim reimbursement for these costs from your employer.

If you become ill while on holiday, and this can be documented with a medical certificate, you may request that your holiday be reallocated. You must submit this request as soon as possible after returning to work.

Employees may request to postpone holiday due to sickness for as little as one day. This requires that you have been 100% unfit for work during the period in question.

If you become ill before your holiday begins, you may request to postpone the holiday until later in the year. This also requires a medical certificate, and the request must be submitted no later than the last working day before the holiday was due to start.

If you have not been able to take your full holiday entitlement by the end of the year, you may carry over up to two weeks into the following year. This must, however, be agreed in writing. You may also enter into an agreement to take advance holiday, up to a maximum of two weeks.

If you have collectively agreed holiday in addition to what the Holiday Act provides, these additional days may also be carried over if you have been unable to take them.

All holiday that has not been taken must be transferred to the next holiday year, even if this means exceeding the number of days that may normally be carried over by agreement. This applies regardless of the reason why the holiday could not be taken.

You may request to postpone already scheduled holiday until your parental leave has ended. Your employer cannot place your holiday during periods when you receive paid parental leave unless you agree to it.

However, you and your employer may choose to agree on this arrangement, as many find it practical to extend their parental leave by adding holiday at the end. In such cases, your parental leave is paused while you take holiday, and it will resume once the holiday period is over.

If you are given notice by your employer, they cannot require you to take holiday during your notice period unless your notice period is three months or longer.

If you do have a three‑month notice period, your employer may schedule holiday during this time. However, it is important to remember that you are entitled to have at least three weeks of holiday placed between 1 June and 30 September, and that you normally must receive two months’ notice before holiday dates are set.

In other words, even with a three‑month notice period, your employer does not have full freedom to place holiday wherever they wish.

If you resign, you may request to take holiday during the notice period if it would otherwise be impossible to take your holiday during the main holiday period or within the holiday year.

If you resign after 15 August, you cannot require your employer to let you take holiday before 30 September.

The right to request postponement of holiday due to illness applies only when you are fully unfit for work. It does not apply when you are partly on sick leave. This means that your employer may, in principle, require an employee on partial sick leave to take their agreed holiday.

An employee cannot take holiday on the days they were supposed to work and at the same time receive sick pay for the remaining days. When you take holiday, sick pay is suspended for the entire holiday period.