Nordic Employment Law Bulletin - November 2026
In our monthly Nordic Employment Law bulletin our employment lawyers across the Nordic region highlight relevant news and trends on the Nordic employment market scene. The bulletin intends to provide high-level knowledge and insight. Want to learn more? Our experts will be happy to hear from you.
Highlights from Denmark
News on Pay Transparency in Denmark - The Ministry of Employment has proposed a bill on pay transparency, with the new rules proposed to take effect on 1 March 2027. The bill implements the EU Pay Transparency Directive. Once the rules are implemented, employers must establish pay structures based on objective, gender-neutral criteria and must provide access to the criteria used to determine pay, pay levels and pay progression. In addition, employees will have the right to information about their own pay level and the average pay levels, broken down by gender, for categories of employees performing the same work or work of equal value. Furthermore, job applicants will have the right to information about the starting salary or salary range, and employers may not ask applicants about their pay history in their current or previous employment.
- New ruling regarding payment for agreed working hours - A new Danish court ruling has held that an employer was obliged to pay wages for 20 hours per week to an employee who had not been at work for several months. The employee was hired as a weekend operator, and under the employment contract, the weekly working hours were 20. In practice, the employee's working hours varied, and the employer paid wages only for the hours actually worked. After the Christmas break, the employee was scheduled to return to work on 3 January, but on that same day he was told not to come in after all because production had not yet resumed. He was not called in to work after that. The District Court interpreted the employment contract according to its wording and found that the employee was hired to work 20 hours per week and, as a general rule, was entitled to wages for those hours unless he had unjustifiably failed to fulfil his work obligations. Since the employee's failure to work was due solely to circumstances on the employer's side, the District Court found that he was entitled to wages for 20 hours per week throughout the entire period.
Highlights from Finland
- Status update on implementation of the Pay Transparency Directive – The Employment and Equality Committee has issued its report on the government proposal to implement the Pay Transparency Directive. The Committee proposed no amendments, additions or clarifications to the government proposal submitted on 9 July 2026. However, some Committee members expressed dissenting opinions, arguing, among other things, that the government proposal does not adequately define what constitutes work of equal value and that it does not provide for the use of a hypothetical comparator to establish discrimination, as required by the Directive. The Parliament handling of the government proposal will continue in November.
Proposed changes to Co-operation Act – The government proposal to broaden the scope of board-level representation of employees from companies with at least 150 employees to companies with at least 100 employees was submitted on 15 October 2026. Board-level representation refers to the representation of personnel in the company’s administration which as a general rule means the board of directors, senior management groups or similar bodies. The purpose is that the personnel will have the right to participate in discussions on important issues concerning the employer’s business and finances and the position of personnel. The change in the headcount threshold would enter into force on 1 January 2027.
Legislative amendments to combat labour exploitation entered into force on 1 October 2026 – New offences of extortion in working life and aggravated extortion in working life were added to the Criminal Code, replacing the previous offence of extortionate work discrimination. The requirement to establish discrimination under the previous offence had made it difficult to tackle exploitation. The amendments aim to address practices such as underpayment, charging workers fees to secure employment and unreasonable terms of employment more effectively, and to strengthen employee protection. They also seek to clarify the criminalisation of labour exploitation and ensure that more severe penalties can be imposed for serious abuses. The new offences allow for the imposition of a business ban and a corporate fine on a company whose operations have involved labour exploitation. In addition, a government proposal to implement the directive amending the directive on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims is pending before Parliament.
Highlights from Norway
The Norwegian Supreme Court clarifies the scope of the "particularly independent position" exemption (HR-2026-2227-A) - In a unanimous decision published on 14 October 2026, the Norwegian Supreme Court clarified the requirements for classifying an employee as holding a "particularly independent position" under the Working Environment Act. The case concerned a project manager at a construction company who was formally holding a "particularly independent position" but argued that he did not in practice meet the requirements for the exemption and was therefore entitled to overtime pay for work performed over approximately two and a half years.
The project manager was responsible for large, complex construction projects including planning, progress, budgets, resource allocation, subcontractor coordination, client contact and health and safety. The Court nevertheless held that these factors were not sufficient for the position to be deemed as a particularly independent role.
The Court confirmed that the exemption is subject to a high threshold and that the assessment must reflect how the work is actually organised and performed. Responsibility for complex projects, budgetary duties and freedom to prioritise tasks are not sufficient on their own.
A key factor is whether the employee has genuine control over their working hours and workload. The project manager had some flexibility, but project requirements, deadlines and contractual obligations largely determined how much work he had to do and when it had to be done.
The assessment must also take account of external constraints, including customer demands, collaboration with others and delivery commitments. Where these factors effectively dictate the employee’s schedule or require work beyond normal hours, they may weigh against classifying the role as particularly independent. The decision is relevant beyond construction, including in technology, consulting and energy.
Employers should assess each role individually before applying the exemption for particularly independent roles and document the basis for any classification, focusing in particular on the employee’s actual control over working hours and workload. The decision is an important reminder that substantial responsibility does not necessarily mean genuine independence.
The decision can be found (in Norwegian only) here.
New report on additional hours and overtime pay for part-time employees – On 15 September 2026, a government-appointed working group submitted its report on additional hours and overtime compensation for part-time employees to the Minister of Labour and Social Inclusion. The group was unable to reach a consensus on whether the current legal framework should be amended or, if so, how this should be structured.
The topic of overtime for part-time workers has attracted considerable attention following two judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). In those cases, the CJEU held that applying the same overtime threshold to both full-time and part-time employees may place part-time workers at a particular disadvantage, contrary to the EU Part-Time Work Directive (97/81/EC). Two Norwegian district court judgments delivered in spring 2026 reached similar conclusions.
As the working group did not put forward a unified recommendation, the issue remains unresolved. The Ministry has commissioned a further review of measures aimed at preventing unequal treatment while also promoting full-time employment. That review is scheduled to be completed by 15 December 2026.
At the same time, appeals in the district court cases are due to be heard in November 2026 and between March and April 2027 respectively. The outcome of those proceedings may significantly influence both future legislative developments and the assessment of existing claims relating to additional hours worked by part-time employees.
Highlights from Sweden
A lame-duck budget with a royal twist — With coalition talks still ongoing, Sweden remains without a new government more than a month after the election. As a result, Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson will present a caretaker budget for 2027, ensuring that public finances remain on track while a new government is formed. The proposal is expected to largely mirror the current budget, reflecting the long-standing principle that caretaker governments should avoid significant political reforms. For employers and businesses, this means continuity rather than surprises, at least in the short term. One notable exception, however, is funding for Crown Princess Victoria's 50th birthday celebrations, expected to cost approximately SEK 4 million (appr. EUR 360,000). While unlikely to move financial markets, it stands out as one of the few genuinely new items in the budget proposal. Once a new government takes office, it will have the opportunity to amend the budget through supplementary proposals. Until then, Sweden's public finances remain in safe, if somewhat unexciting, hands.
Labour Court narrows health & safety representatives' mandate — In a judgment likely to make many HR professionals breathe a little easier, the Swedish Labour Court has ruled that H&S representatives are not entitled to represent individual employees without the employee's consent as part of their statutory role. Their job, the court explained, is to safeguard the work environment as a whole, not to act as personal representatives in individual employment matters on their own initiative. The case arose after an employer refused to hand over employee-specific information requested by union-appointed safety representatives. The court sided entirely with the employer, drawing a clear line between collective workplace safety issues and individual employee cases. Employees remain free to seek support from H&S representatives. However, the ruling significantly limits the ability of H&S representatives to obtain information about individual workers or to act on their behalf without authorisation from the employee concerned. The decision may prove to be one of the more significant workplace law rulings of the year, particularly for employers navigating the sometimes blurry boundary between collective and individual employee matters.
Employment disputes boom as workers lawyer up — Employment disputes are increasingly ending up in Sweden's district courts. Over the past decade, the number of employment-related cases has more than doubled, rising from 583 to 1,284, according to court statistics. The reasons remain something of a mystery. Labour market observers point to several possible explanations, including declining union membership, a more individualised workforce and unions becoming more selective about which cases they take to court.
Another theory is the growing market for accessible legal services. As specialised law firms and legal providers increasingly market their services directly to employees, bringing a claim against an employer may no longer seem quite as daunting, or expensive, as it once did. The use of AI is most likely also a factor. The trend is also visible in the Labour Court. Whatever the explanation, Sweden's traditionally collective labour market appears to be becoming a little more litigious, one employment dispute at a time.
