The Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority found a crime in a high-profile public relations agency – E24

The Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority discovered a violation of the Work Environment Act at Gambit Hill + Knowlton after an inspection at one of the country’s largest public relations agencies this fall, the documents E24 had access to show .

The audit has resulted in two audit orders, requiring Gambit to rectify “non-compliant matters”.

– We are in the process of collecting the necessary information to comply with this and will comply with the deadlines set out in the orders of the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority, writes Henrik Halvorsen, CEO of Gambit, to E24.

The Authority’s response is aimed, among other things, at the public relations agency’s extensive use of employment contracts that place employees in “particularly independent positions,” a type of position that is exempt from hourly regulations. work and does not entitle employees to additional pay for overtime work.

Most exceptional contracts

The Work Environment Act exceptionally provides the opportunity to use such employment agreements for employees who are not part of management, but who nevertheless have “superior and responsible positions”.

On the other hand, it is not allowed to use the job type throughout the organization, so “normal” employees lose the right, for example, to extra pay for overtime.

Among the consulting positions at Gambit, there are still 8 employees on regular employment contracts, while 35 are in “particularly independent positions,” according to the audit report.

This includes counselors, assistant counselors, and senior agency counselors.

The labor agreements regulate the working hours until August 16 from Monday to Friday, but also establish that “The employee must, however, be prepared for night and weekend work when necessary,” says the Authority of Norwegian Labor Inspectorate.

Gambit: “Less suitable for our business”

Gambit has submitted its assessment of why positions should be exempted from working hours regulations for audit, but without getting the go-ahead:

“Arbeidstilsynet finds that the evaluation carried out does not sufficiently document that the positions are legal, except for the provisions on working hours in accordance with the Work Environment Law § 10-12 (2)”, it is stated in the inspection report, which establishes that this is a violation of the Work Environment Law.

The Authority emphasizes that the possibility of using such contracts is so restrictive that not a whole type of position can be excluded; an individual assessment should always be carried out. Gambit has been ordered to reconsider contracts before December 16.

Furthermore, the company was ordered to correct what the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority believes to be a violation of the law’s requirement for the recording of working hours.

In its response letter to the audit, to which E24 has also been given access, Gambit writes that they are “a differentiated knowledge company, which places great demands on the independence of our employees in the execution of tasks and the resolution of problems for our customers. ”

“Our international focus also means that the traditional definition of working hours within fixed hours of the day is less appropriate for our business,” Gambit states in the reply letter.

The committee will evaluate which employees are considered

However, after receiving Gambit’s comments, the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority has confirmed his two orders.

Gambit CEO Henrik Halvorsen informs E24 that they have already taken several steps after the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority gave them what he calls “feedback on the potential for improvement in our business.”

– We do not perceive that the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority has concluded that our practice, with the exception of working time rules, violates the law. The Arbeidstilsynet order means they are requesting more information about the evaluations we make of employees who are categorized as “particularly independent” under the Work Environment Act, Halvorsen writes in an email.

– Until now we have relied on an evaluation based on job level, but we must also do an individual evaluation beyond this and it should be handled in another way. Inspired by the legal profession, which in practice operates in the same way as our business, we have created a committee and a separate case processing structure that will assess which employees should be classified as “particularly independent.”