Supreme Court to decide scope of ‘particularly independent’ positions in Norway

Dag Werner Blaich, a building engineer, alleges that his former boss, the director of a bankrupt Rogaland firm, failed to pay him for over 1,000 overtime hours. Central to the case is whether his project-manager job can be classified as a ‘particularly independent’ position, which would place it outside parts of the Working Environment Act that cap daily and weekly hours. While Blaich argues he lacked control over his workload and was denied time off, the employer contends he accepted the contract and that his hours cannot be verified.

The matter is now before the Supreme Court, marking the first time the court will address this classification. Nito hopes the ruling will tighten the criteria, whereas SMB Norge warns that narrowing the exemption could reduce flexibility for small and medium-sized enterprises.