Norwgian Tripartite Agreement on a More Inclusive Workplace
Following is a first translation of a Norwegian governmental initiative to stimulate employment of disabled persons, based on a coordination of a combination of initiatives from the public and private sectors.
1. Objectives of this Agreement
The tendency in recent years for more and more employees to leave working life on prolonged social security benefits is not to the good of individuals, enterprises or society. Sickness absence, disability benefits and early retirement also play a part in weakening the supply of labour to all parts of community life. The social partners have a particular responsibility which they share with the authorities to work towards changing attitudes and to reverse this trend.
The Government and the social partners represented by the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO), the Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry (NHO), the Confederation of Vocational Unions (YS), the Federation of Norwegian Commercial and Service Enterprises (HSH), the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities (KS), the State represented by the Ministry of Labour and Government Administration (AAD) and the Federation of Norwegian Professional Associations (Akademikerne) have therefore agreed to sign an Agreement to cooperate on strengthening an active labour market policy in the workplace. The purpose of this Agreement is to help to:
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create a more inclusive workplace for the good of individual employees, workplaces and society
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reduce the utilisation of disability benefits and sickness absence
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make better use of older employees' resources and labour in the workplace (ref. The Centre for Senior Policy's campaign to combat early retirement among older members of the workforce, "Nasjonalt krafttak for eldre i arbeidslivet").
The specific objectives of this Agreement are:
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to reduce sickness absence by at least 20% for the whole of the contractual period as compared with the sickness absence rate for the second quarter 2001, as reported in the new statistics compiled by the National Insurance Administration and Statistics Norway .
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to secure employment for a far greater number of employees whose functional capacity is impaired (employees with occupational disabilities, employees in rehabilitation schemes, reactivated employees on disability benefits) than is the case today. The parties to this Agreement will set the target figures after further discussions.
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to raise the real retirement age (i.e. the average age of retirement from working life).
2. Duration
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This Agreement is being entered into for a trial period of four years, effective from 3 October 2001 until 31 December 2005.
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The parties will meet every six months after the sickness absence statistics for the 2nd and 4th quarters become available. Experience will be reviewed during the contractual period in light of the results achieved, and the parties undertake to discuss adjustments of the individual elements of this Agreement in relation to the results achieved.
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A thorough evaluation of this Agreement will be carried out after the 2nd quarter 2003. The parties will nominate one representative each for a working party which will draw up an evaluation report. (The evaluation report must take into consideration any demographic changes in the working population.)
If the evaluation report shows that it is clearly not possible to achieve the specific objectives for the period of the Agreement, the Agreement will be terminated, unless the parties reach some other agreement.
3. Measures to achieve a more inclusive workplace
The Government and the social partners agree to base active cooperation to reduce sickness absence, reduce the drain to disability benefits, raise the real retirement age and achieve a more inclusive workplace on the following measures:
3.1 Better follow-up of employees on sick leave
If the objectives are to be achieved, measures must be implemented as soon as possible after an employee goes on sick leave. This indicates that a substantial part of the authorities' measures must be set in motion at a far earlier stage than is the case today. The following general principles will therefore apply:
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Earlier intervention and qualitatively better follow-up of employees on sick leave in order to prevent prolonged absence and 'exclusion'.
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The measures must be rooted in the individual workplace and responsibility for them must lie with the employer and employee.
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Greater emphasis on functional capacity
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Active dialogue between employer and employee.
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More goal-oriented use of government aid schemes in support of preventive and inclusive measures in the workplace.
Re c) More focus on functional capacity
The Government will propose necessary amendments in legislation and regulations obliging the employee and the health services to give the necessary information to employers regarding the employee's functional capacity.
It is proposed that the Act relating to medical practitioners be amended so that doctor's certificates issued after the self-reporting period will not be accepted without an evaluation of the patient's functional capacity. This is necessary if the employers are to be able to implement adequate measures.
3.2 New incentives for employers
An important prerequisite for the achievement of a more inclusive workplace is the establishment of employer incentives such as:
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making it economically worthwhile for employers to make adjustments in the workplace to enable employees to continue working
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rewarding employers which work specifically to achieve a more inclusive workplace, ref. sub-clause 3.3.
3.3 "Inclusive workplace companies/enterprises" (IW enterprises)
If the specific objectives of this Agreement are to be realised, efforts to achieve an inclusive workplace must be firmly rooted in the workplace itself. With this in view, a special cooperation agreement will be drawn up between the individual enterprise and the authorities (the National Insurance Service). The cooperation agreement will be formulated as a framework agreement and it will be the same for all enterprises (regardless of size, branch of industry, organizational affiliation, geographical location, etc.). The main content of the cooperation agreement must be discussed and agreed on in collaboration with the central social partners (i.e. the parties to this Agreement).
The cooperation agreement must be based on the specific objectives of this Agreement. The cooperation agreement will outline measures and procedures that the enterprise and the authorities will be obliged to follow in their efforts to create an inclusive workplace. The primary purpose is to achieve a greater effort on the part of all the parties (including the authorities) to reduce sickness absence and transfer to disability pension/insurance in individual enterprises. The agreement must be based on the experience gained by the parties in their efforts over many years to reduce sickness absence.
The central parties base their cooperation on the initiation by the enterprises at local level of a collaboration between employer and employees on measures to combat any absence that is not related to sickness.
Enterprises which enter into a cooperation agreement with the authorities must undertake to work systematically to reduce sickness absence. The authorities undertake to provide these enterprises with both administrative and financial support, to ensure that the enterprises receive the help and support they need to make a greater effort. Every enterprise that enters into a cooperation agreement of this kind will be approved by the authorities as an 'inclusive workplace enterprise' (hereinafter called IW enterprises). IW enterprises will enter into an agreement with their local social security office and this office will administer the arrangement.
In order to motivate enterprises to take part in efforts to achieve an inclusive workplace, the following measures will be reserved for IW enterprises:
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they will have the right to make use of the active sick leave scheme without prior consent from the social security office
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they will have a regular contact person at the social security office to help them follow up employees on sick leave.
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the occupational health services in IW enterprises will be given a special refund rate from the National Health Service for efforts to bring employees on prolonged sick leave or disability benefits back to work.
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In IW enterprises, the employees' right to take sick leave without a doctor's certificate will be extended to eight calendar days per sickness absence with a total upper limit of 24 days per year. This presumes a more detailed personal declaration in which emphasis is given to functional capacity. This personal declaration will then be used as the basis for a close dialogue between the employee and employer. In the event of misuse, the employer will be entitled to demand a doctor's certificate from the first day of absence.
3.4 The employer's obligations:
Sickness absence guarantee. When an employee is unable to continue in his job (position) due to sickness, the employer is obliged, in collaboration with the authorities, to contribute to retraining, further and continuing education, so that the employee can become qualified for another job (position) in the enterprise. The limits for such work will be set and discussed by the parties locally. See also sub-clause 3.6 item d).
3.5 The employee's obligations:
The employees undertake to contribute information about their own functional capacity when taking sick leave, so that relevant measures can be implemented as quickly as possible. The employee must agree to a dialogue with the employer on the possible reorganisation of his/her work and to participate in the solutions available to the employer/employee.
3.6 The government's obligations:
To support the parties' efforts to reduce sickness absence and achieve a more inclusive workplace, the Government undertakes to implement and/or submit proposals on the following:
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The introduction of far greater incentives than today to encourage employers to retain and recruit employees with impaired ability to work (employees who are in the process of leaving working life because of sickness, partial disability, etc.) and to achieve a more inclusive workplace.
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The Government will avoid the use of 'passive' insurance benefits as far as possible. A greater part of national health benefits will be used for active measures targeting the enterprises.
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Better follow-up and assistance to the enterprises through better coordination of the public services (the Labour Market Administration, National Insurance Service, Labour Inspectorate).
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A considerable extension of the current limits for in-house rehabilitation, under the direction of both the Labour Market Administration and the National Insurance Service.
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A considerable extension of the current arrangement of purchasing health services in close cooperation between the National Insurance Service and the enterprise. The National Health Service has the authority to make decisions.
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A considerable increase in wage subsidies for companies that recruit/have employees whose functional capacity is impaired.
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The Government will submit a proposal to the Storting that the National Insurance Scheme covers the cost of sick pay paid by the employer when the reason for sickness absence is related to pregnancy and it is not possible to transfer the employee to other work in the enterprise.
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In order to stimulate employers to retain and recruit older employees, the Government will propose to the Storting that the social security contributions paid by the employer for employees over 62 years of age be reduced by four percentage points from 1 July 2002. If this measure produces the desired effect, the Government will consider proposing a further reduction in employer's contributions for this group. If the scheme conflicts with EEA regulations, other measures of a similar financial scope will be considered.
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The Government will not submit any proposals to the Storting on changes in the current sick-pay scheme, either for employees or for employers, during the period of this Agreement.
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The Government will follow up the recommendations of the Sandman Committee on disability benefits.
The parties are agreed that, if items g), h) and i) above do not win the support of the Storting, this Agreement will be terminated.
Oslo, 3 October 2001
The Ministry of Labour and Government Administration
The Ministry of Health and Social Affairs
The Federation of Norwegian Business and Industry
The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions
The Federation of Norwegian Commercial and Service Enterprises
The Confederation of Vocational Unions
The Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities The Federation of Norwegian Professional Associations
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