Both the Union of Trade Unions and the Academics are demanding new rules that ensure people are compensated for any damage to their home office. – It cannot be the case that each individual employee stands alone just because they carry out their tasks outside the four walls of the office, says Trond Finstad in the Trade Union. – The majority in the Storting has neglected and failed a million workers in Norway, says Lise Lyngsnes Randeberg in Akademikerne. She points out that three politicians from the Liberal Party proposed making new and clear rules in the area. They were voted down in the Storting as recently as February. – The politicians had a golden opportunity to make it safer for everyone who works from home, but did not use the opportunity. The court: She could have been at work The judgement, which news reported last week, is the first case of this type that has been decided in the Court of Appeal. The Alta woman was on her way from her home office to an assignment when she fell and injured her hand. Hålogaland Court of Appeal emphasizes that the woman did not have to work from home. In principle, she could start the day at the workplace. Therefore, the injury is not considered an occupational injury. LO lawyer Fredrik Wildhagen confirms to news that they have decided to appeal the verdict to the Supreme Court. Wildhagen still expects that a judgment from the Supreme Court will leave new unanswered questions. Therefore, he believes that the Storting should get on board anyway and change the rules. Trond Finstad in the Trade Union joins the demand for new rules for occupational injury. Photo: Birgit Dannenberg / Fagforbundet Better, but not enough Trond Finstad of Fagforbundet says that after all there have been slightly better rules for home offices – The home office regulations that came last summer were a good step on the way, but here there are no rights and obligations in the event of occupational injury regulated, says Finstad. – We believe that the legislation must be made clearer so that our members are safe, no matter where they are when they do their job. Lise Lyngsnes Randeberg in Akademikerne says that the problem became very clear to them during the pandemic. She demands rules that are adapted to modern reality, where 39 percent of the employed can do part of their work from home. – The criterion now states that the injury must have occurred at work, at the workplace and during working hours. It is quite old-fashioned in terms of how reality is and how people work now. Randeberg believes many may have lost compensation they should have had. One of her members fell off her bike and knocked her teeth out on the way to an event at work after working in a home office. It was not approved as an occupational injury, with major financial consequences. Liberals downvoted Liberals sent a proposal to the Storting on a number of changes relating to home offices, but were voted down in February. Only the Green Party supported everything. Høyre and KrF supported the demand to adapt occupational injury compensation. Liberal leader Guri Melby: – We must stop burying our heads in the sand. We have to see that people have a new working day. Photo: Silje Rognsvåg / news – It shows that the majority have an outdated view of what is reasonable legislation to regulate people’s working environment, says Venstre leader Guri Melby. The skeptics have feared that someone will in practice be insured for travel to and from work if they can claim that they have also worked in a home office. – Creating new regulations is not necessarily without problems. Therefore, it is all the worse that all proposals to investigate this were also rejected, says Melby. Lise Lyngsnes Randeberg in Akademikerne perceives that the parliamentary majority will remain calm and wait for more knowledge. – We cannot wait until you get new statistics whenever that may be, in 2026 or something like that. It will be too long. Now we have acute challenges. It must be resolved.
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Trade unions demand new rules for occupational injury at the home office – news Troms and Finnmark
