The sick pay scheme in Norway works like this: If you are on sick leave for one year, you are entitled to sick pay with full pay If the sick leave lasts more than one year, you must apply for work clearance allowance (AAP) With AAP you get 66 per cent of your normal salary up to 6G ( which is equivalent to NOK 711,000) If you earn NOK 670,000, the average salary in Norway, this means that after one year of sick leave, your payment will be reduced by NOK 228,000. The sick pay scheme should basically be the same for everyone, but is different for one group: Those who have decided how the scheme should work, the representatives of the Storting. For them, the sick pay scheme, briefly explained, works roughly like this: You can be on sick leave for the entire period you sit in the Storting (four years), and be paid your full salary for the entire period. A Storting representative earns NOK 1,107,190 a year. So if an elected official is on long-term sick leave after two weeks, they will still be paid NOK 1,107,190 each year, even if they are on sick leave for the entire period of four years. – It surprises me a little and initially appears to be a bit special. If they receive full salary beyond a year, it differs significantly from what other groups receive. This is what senior researcher Knut Røed at the Frischsenteret in Oslo says to news. Senior researcher Knut Røed at the Frischsenteret in Oslo. Photo: news – Now it is probably not that common for parliamentarians to be on sick leave for more than a year, but in principle it sounds very special, he says. According to the Storting’s administration, only seven people in their 20s have made use of this scheme. That is why the Storting has its own sick pay scheme. Storting representatives are not employed in the Storting, but elected. This means that they are also obliged to be in office for four years – with an obligation to attend. Due to their position and the duty to attend, they cannot be subject to the Working Environment Act. Therefore, they cannot partially return to work, or be retrained for other tasks. Therefore, a separate scheme has been established with sick pay for Storting representatives. The Storting is responsible for this arrangement. Source: Kari Henriksen, fourth vice-president. The majority will not change the sick pay in the Storting Last year, a proposal from Rødt to reduce the sick pay for the elected representatives in the Storting was voted down. The proposal was that the representatives, after one year’s sick leave, should have their sick pay reduced to 6G (NOK 711,000) a year. Then they would still have received more than the average worker, who can receive a maximum of 66 per cent of the same sum. – We who manage Norway’s laws and regulations should not make rules for ourselves that are miles better than the people of Norway, says Leader in Rødt Marie Sneve Martinussen. Leader of Rødt Marie Sneve Martinussen submitted a proposal in 2023 to reduce sick pay for the representatives of the Storting. Photo: Torbjørn Brovold / news Only Rødt, SV and Patient Focus voted in favour. All representatives from other parties voted against. Martiniussen believes it is a shame that the proposal did not go through, because a crisis of confidence has developed between politicians and the people. – Part of the clean-up must be to slightly tighten up the privileges we have given ourselves, and therefore I wish that the majority in the Storting had agreed more on this rather moderate tightening, says Martinussen. The Liberal Party did not know about its own sick pay scheme The Liberal Party, which was one of the parties that voted against Rød’s proposal, said on Tuesday this week that they now want to reduce sick pay to 80 per cent after half a year of sick leave. The party sees sickness absence increasing, which they believe is worrying in terms of outsiders. Deputy leader of the Liberal Party, Sveinung Rotevatn, explains that he did not know how the sick pay scheme is in the Storting. – When it comes to the sickness pay scheme for parliamentary representatives, I have to admit that I didn’t know how it worked until Fredrik Solvang told me about it on the Debate, says Rotevatn. The information appeared in news Debatten’s broadcast on 24 September. Deputy leader of Venstre Sveinung Rotevatn did not know about the Storting’s sick pay scheme. Photo: Ismail Burak Akkan / news Rotevatn also acknowledges that he only became aware of Rødt’s proposal after news contacted Venstre. – And then I have to be honest enough to say that that proposal simply passed me by a bit, because the Liberal Party does not sit in the presidency and was not involved in the processing of that case there, he says. He explains that when the party is not sitting on a committee or presidency, they often vote for what the majority is in favor of. – If that debate comes, then at least I will support that we also make changes to the sickness pay scheme for representatives of the Storting, as this committee proposed. I think it makes sense to do that, he says. Published 30.09.2024, at 20.54
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Storting representatives receive over NOK 1 million even if they are on long-term sick leave – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
