New ruling confirms that Norway can apply strict rules on temporary hiring

In 2023, Norway introduced strict rules on temporary hiring, which significantly limited companies’ access to use staffing agencies. You can read more about that here and here.

The rules were challenged as a breach of the free movement of workers and services and the freedom of establishment. However, the EFTA Court considered that the rules did not restrict those freedoms as long as there was a justified basis. We have written about the EFTA Court’s decision here.

That decision sent the case back to the Oslo District Court. The Court now had to determine whether there was a justified basis.

On the free movement of workers, it found that companies can still hire foreign workers, so the freedom was not limited in an unjustified manner.

The impact on the freedom to provide services was too uncertain and indirect to determine that the rules constituted an unjustified restriction.

On the last point, whether the restrictions make it less attractive for staffing agencies to establish and operate in Norway, it emphasised that the rules have a clear purpose:

• Protection of workers by making permanent full-time employment the main rule.
• Safeguarding the labour market through preventing staffing agencies from replacing permanent employment.
• Prevention of circumvention by avoiding the use of temporary agency work to bypass rules on permanent employment.

It also noted that so far, the restrictions had worked as intended and were proportional. There are fewer temporary agency workers and more permanent jobs, especially in construction. Less strict measures would not have been as effective.

IUNO’s opinion

With this decision, the new rules have come to stay. Companies must adapt staffing practices to a labour market where the use of agency workers is tightly restricted. The restrictions involve a general ban on the use of agency workers for construction work in Oslo, Viken, and former Vestfold, and a significant limitation on the use of temporary workers.

IUNO recommends that companies closely examine how they use staffing agencies. The rules only allow for the use of temporary agency workers in very limited situations. While there are some exceptions, it varies between industries. If agency workers are hired without the application of an exception, they may gain the right to a permanent position.

[The Oslo District Court’s judgement of 18 August 2025 in case TOSL-2023-130279 – TOSL-2024-80230 – TOSL-2025-42946]