Being laid off (permittering) in Norway: your rights, rules and what to do

Being laid off (permittert) is not the same as being dismissed. You are still employed. The employer temporarily relieves you of work because the company lacks work or has another problem it can't control, and the idea is that you return when it resolves. The pay stops, but the employment continues.

This guide explains what a lay-off actually involves, which rights you have, how the employer period and unemployment benefit fit together, and what to do from day one. At the very end we take the most important point: as a laid-off person you are an active job seeker, and it pays to act accordingly.

What a lay-off actually is

A lay-off is a temporary arrangement. The employer has too little work for everyone, or is in a situation it couldn't foresee, and so relieves you of the duty to work for a period. You don't have to work, the employer is released from the duty to pay after an initial period, and both expect you to come back.

Two things distinguish a lay-off from a dismissal. The first is that the employment doesn't end. You are still in the job on paper, and are in principle to return. The second is that the cause must be temporary. If it is clear that the work will never come back, it is really a dismissal, not a lay-off. The distinction matters, because your rights are different. See the separate guide on resigning and dismissal if that is where you are.

A lay-off can be full or partial. A full lay-off means you don't work at all. A partial lay-off means you work reduced hours, for example half time, while the rest is laid off.

You are still employed

This is worth repeating, because it decides a lot. When you are laid off, you still have an employment contract. You keep your seniority. You are still bound by the duty of loyalty towards the employer. And you still have the rights that follow from your employment contract, even though the pay has stopped.

At the same time you are free to resign if you find something new. During a lay-off you usually have a shorter notice period than otherwise, often only a few days. That makes it easier to say yes to a new job quickly. Check your employment contract and the current rules before you resign, so you know what actually applies to you.

The employer period: when the pay stops

When the lay-off starts, the employer goes on paying regular pay for a while. This period is called the employer period (arbeidsgiverperioden).

The main rule is that the employer has a duty to pay for 15 working days from the first day the lay-off applies. These are working days, not calendar days, so the period stretches over roughly three weeks. In a partial lay-off the laid-off hours are added together until they make up 15 working days, and then the period can in practice last longer in calendar time.

When the employer period is over, the duty to pay falls away. That is when unemployment benefit from NAV becomes relevant. Note that the number of days in the employer period is one of the things that has been changed politically several times, so confirm the current figure on nav.no.

The notice deadline: the main rule is 14 days

The employer can't lay you off on the spot. The main rule is that you should be given 14 days' notice before the lay-off takes effect. That gives you a little time to get your bearings.

There are exceptions. In the case of unforeseen events, that is, something the employer could not plan for, the notice deadline can be shorter, down to around two days. The exact rules follow from an interplay between legislation, the main agreement between the parties in working life and any collective agreement in your industry. If you are in a union, the union representatives often have a role in the process. Check what applies in your case, and read the notice carefully, it should say when the lay-off starts and how long it is meant to last.

Unemployment benefit during a lay-off

After the employer period you can apply for unemployment benefit (dagpenger) from NAV. You can in principle get benefit from the first day after the employer period is over, but you must meet the conditions, and you must apply yourself.

To be entitled to unemployment benefit as a laid-off person, among other things the following must be in place:

• The cause is a lack of work or circumstances the employer can't influence. A lay-off for other reasons doesn't automatically give a right to benefit.
• The situation is temporary. Benefit during a lay-off assumes that you are going back to the job.
• You meet the usual conditions for unemployment benefit. That includes, among other things, a requirement for how much you have earned previously, and that you are a genuine job seeker who can take work.
• You are registered as a job seeker with NAV and send the fortnightly employment status form (meldekort).

The income requirement, the size of the benefit and how long you can receive it as a laid-off person are all figures that are adjusted regularly. During 2020 to 2022 several of these rules were temporarily changed considerably, which shows how fast this area moves. So: don't rely on figures you have heard from a colleague or read in an older article. Go to nav.no and read what applies now.

How long can a lay-off last?

A lay-off is meant to be temporary, but it can last a while. There is an outer limit on how long the employer can be released from the duty to pay, and so on how long you can normally receive benefit as a laid-off person from the same employer within a given period.

This limit is one of the most politically debated parts of the rules, and it has been both extended and shortened several times in recent years. Precisely for that reason we don't give a fixed figure here that could be out of date tomorrow. What matters for you is twofold. First: a lay-off isn't a permanent state, and when the limit is reached the employer must either take you back or move to dismissal. Second: precisely because there is a limit, you shouldn't wait passively for the lay-off to end. Check the current maximum period on nav.no, and plan accordingly.

The most important thing: use the time to look for a job

Here is the point many overlook. A lay-off often feels like a pause, something you just wait out. But waiting is risky. The lay-off can drag on, it can end in dismissal, and even if you return, you have had a lower income in the meantime. The safest position is to have an alternative.

As a laid-off person you are in practice an active job seeker, and you have a big advantage: you have time. That time is worth using well.

Start with the basics. Update your CV so it is ready to send, and add your latest job with tasks and results while it is still fresh. Then go about the search itself systematically. The guide on how to search for a job takes you through the whole process, from finding relevant vacancies to writing applications that get read. If you want a plan to follow rather than searching at random, you find a concrete method in the job search plan.

NAV's CV service on arbeidsplassen.no was shut down on 1 October 2025. If you are being followed up by NAV, you can still find your CV at nav.no/min-cv. If not, you have to make it somewhere else. See what replaces NAV's CV service.

You don't have to resign from the job you have in order to apply. You can explore the market, go to interviews and see what is out there, and then decide if an offer comes. The worst that happens is that you stand stronger when the lay-off is over.

In short

A lay-off means you are still employed, but temporarily relieved of work because the company lacks work. The employer pays pay during an employer period, the main rule being 15 working days, and after that you can apply for unemployment benefit from NAV if you meet the conditions. As a rule you should be given 14 days' notice, and a lay-off can't last forever.

The rules, rates and deadlines in this area change often and quickly. Treat all figures in this guide as a starting point, not the answer, and confirm what applies to you on nav.no or with Arbeidstilsynet. And whatever the figures: use the time to apply. See vacancies and stand stronger, wherever the lay-off ends.