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Follow-up of employees on sick leave

When an employee is on sick leave, the goal is to make arrangements for the employee to be able to return to work. The employer is responsible for making such arrangements. The employer is also responsible for making sure new work-related absences do not arise in the future. 

Cooperation, obligations, and rights regarding follow-up of employees on sick leave

In the follow-up of employees on sick leave, it is especially important to ensure that workplace conditions do not contribute to make existing health problems worse – regardless of whether or not these problems are work-related.

For greater success in the effort to reduce absences, it is important to establish dialogue and collaboration in every workplace. Primary responsibility in this regard rests with the employer and employee, as well as employee and safety representatives, but they need a productive collaboration with Nav, health personnel and the occupational health service. In other words, there are many different actors with both duties and rights when it comes to reducing absences due to sickness.

The employer is responsible for the following:

The employer must:

  • establish routines, in consultation with the safety representative and other employees, for following up on workers who are on sick leave
  • make sure all employees are familiar with the content of these routines
  • make sure that the routines describe
    • what needs to be done
    • who is responsible for what when an employee is out on sick leave
  • find good short- and long-term solutions in consultation with the employee, so that the employee may be able to return to work and continue working

The sooner the employer and employee are able to work together to make arrangements for returning to work, the greater the chance of the employee on sick leave returning sooner.

It is often possible for the employee on sick leave to work part-time if the work is adapted. A partial sick leave makes it possible for the employee to continue to do some work while they are sick. The employee could, for example, work only certain days during the work week, work shorter days, or work with reduced expectations of productivity.

As an employer, you have a duty to consider and implement:

  • general adaptations for all employees in the enterprise
  • general adaptations for individual employees
  • special adaptations for any employee with a reduced capacity for work, who are at risk of being placed on sick leave or who are on sick leave

The duty to implement adaptations for employees is comprehensive. However, the duty to implement adaptations is not so comprehensive as to require that adaptations for any individual employee be implemented to the detriment of the working conditions or tasks of other employees, or to the detriment of the working environment in general.

The employer should consider whether adaptations considered for the employee on sick leave could also benefit other employees. This could help prevent health problems for all employees.

Examples of adaptations

Below are some adaptations that can be considered, both for all employees as a preventive measure, and as a measure to help individual employees be able to return to work:

  • changing how work is organised, planned and executed
  • changing working hours, time requirements, tempo, and variation of tasks
  • changing existing or introducing new tasks
  • physical or ergonomic adaptations
  • obtaining or adapting equipment and assistive technology
  • training or education

Read more about workplace adaptations

Mandatory follow-up measures

Two specific follow-up measures are required by law when an employee is on sick leave:

  • preparing a follow-up plan
  • holding dialogue meeting 1

In consultation with the employee, the employer must prepare a follow-up plan for the employee to return to work, unless such a meeting is clearly unnecessary.

Work on the follow-up plan must begin as soon as possible, and the plan must be ready within four weeks.

The plan must ensure that dialogue between the employer and the employee is established quickly, and that potential measures and opportunities for returning to work are considered carefully. The level of detail in the plan and the measures considered will depend on the severity of the reduced capacity for work and its duration.

The employer must voluntarily send the follow-up plan to the employee on sick leave as soon as it is ready and within four weeks at the latest.

The follow-up plan must include:

  • an assessment of the employee’s tasks and capacity for work, as well as the employee’s ability to execute them
  • relevant measures on the part of the employer
  • relevant assistance, e.g. from the occupational health service or Nav
  • a plan for further follow-up

The employer must summon the employee to a dialogue meeting on the content of the follow-up plan within seven weeks of the employee being completely absent from work. For employees on full sick leave, the dialogue meeting must be held, unless it is clearly not necessary. Exceptions include when it is clear that the person on sick leave cannot return to work, or when it is clear that the employee will return, regardless of any adaptive measures.

For employees who are partially absent (partial sick leave), a dialogue meeting shall be held if the employer, employee or the person who placed the employee on sick leave (normally the primary care physician) deems it appropriate.

The person who placed the employee on sick leave shall attend if both the employer and employee, or only the employee, wants this. Nav, the occupational health service or other relevant actors can also be summoned if the employer or employee wants this.

In order to still be entitled to sickness benefit after eight weeks on sick leave, the National Insurance Act requires that the employee try out work-related activities. In cases where such activity is not recommended for medical reasons, or where the employer can document that adaptation is not possible, Nav may make exceptions from this requirement.

In many enterprises, the employer has handed personnel responsibilities down to a manager, who will follow up on employees in their unit or department. This includes the follow-up of employees on sick leave.

The occupational health service (BHT) will assist the employer and employees by following up on the working environment within the enterprise. This includes cases involving employees on sick leave and efforts to reduce absences due to sickness.

The employee is responsible for the following:

The employee must contribute to the preparation and implementation of the follow-up plan and to find good solutions in collaboration with the employer.

If the employee does not want to contribute or collaborate, the employer is exempt from the duty to prepare a follow-up plan. This is because the preparation of such a plan requires dialogue between the parties.

The employee only has a duty to provide information about their capacity for work. They are not obligated to provide their employer with medical or other private information.

Nav is responsible for the following:

Nav must summon the parties to dialogue meeting 2 within 26 weeks.

Within one year, which is the maximum sickness benefit period under the National Insurance Act, Nav must review the rights of the parties and the need for potential employment schemes.

Nav’s role in the follow-up of sick leaves – how to follow up on employees on sick leave/information material (in Norwegian) (nav.no)

Role of the Labour Inspection Authority

The Labour Inspection Authority supervises systematic HSE activities in Norwegian enterprises, as well as how enterprises work to reduce sickness absences by following up on and implementing adaptations for employees on sick leave.

If the Labour Inspection Authority uncovers any non-compliance with these responsibilities, the Authority may implement sanctions.

Regulations

Requirements for the prevention and follow-up of absence due to sickness: Section 3-1 of the Working Environment Act

Particularly concerning adaptation for employees with reduced capacity for work: Section 4-6 of the Working Environment Act