Regulation of working hours for employees in scientific posts at the University of Oslo

PART 1 NORMAL WORKING HOURS

Item 1.1 Posts which are normally ¡°particularly independent¡± in legal terms

Research demands a high degree of individual independence when organising the working day. This is difficult to combine with ordinary regulation of working hours. Many of the University employees will therefore come under the legal and collective agreement based term ¡°particularly independent post¡±. In principle, an individual assessment is required to determine whether an employee falls into this category or not. However, it is also possible to simultaneously assess several employees with the same types of assignment. The criteria for assessment are presented in item 1.3 of these guidelines.

Employees whose work represents around 50% research in addition to other independent assignments, such as preparing classes, are in the main in charge of organising their working day. On this basis, the following categories at the University of Oslo are regarded as a rule as ¡°particularly independent posts¡±, cf. section 10-12, second paragraph of the Norwegian Working Environment Act and section 13 no. 4 of the Basic Collective Agreement.

The same applies to educational posts where the main purpose is formal qualification and which comprise a minor volume of obligatory work;

Employees in these posts normally have a clear and obvious independence as to how and when their work is organised and executed. Unless the employer confirms in writing that a specific employee is not covered by this rule, employees in the above-mentioned position categories are legally regarded as particularly independent.

Item 1.2 Posts which require specific assessment

For employees in the following categories, the nature of assignments and organisation of work may vary:

An assessment of whether the individual employees in the above-mentioned categories are covered by the legal term "particular independence" has to be carried out by a local supervisor based on specific circumstances. This assessment shall be based on the criteria specified in item 1.3 of these guidelines.

If the assessment concludes that the employee cannot be regarded as ¡°particularly independent¡±, then he/she will be subject to the normal regulation of working hours pursuant to the Norwegian Working Environment Act, supplemented by the provisions of the Basic Collective Agreement. This includes the requirement in section 10-7 of the Working Environment Act which states that: ¡°An account shall be kept of the hours worked by each employee.¡± If the employee is permitted to freely choose his or her working hours, then he/she must record the hours worked every day on a continuous basis. This record of working hours shall be made accessible to the employee¡¯s supervisor.

Item 1.3 Criteria for individual assessment

Individual assessments shall be based on typical characteristics for the different categories of positions. As such, an individual element can be linked to variations in the actual working situation for each employee, viewed in light of type criteria for the category in question.

The Working Environment Act and the Basic Collective Agreement are, in principle, co-independent also in terms of the definition of "particular independence". However, there are no real circumstances which require a different interpretation of the legal term than that stated in the Basic Collective Agreement. The University of Oslo therefore bases its interpretation on joint criteria. Whether employees are covered by the legal term ¡°particular independence¡± must be determined according to the degree to which they themselves:

• control their own working hours

• prioritise their own assignments

• decide what has to be done

• decide how the work is to be executed

• decide when the work is to be executed

If the major share of the work is controlled by the employee, then the employee can legally be defined as particularly independent. If, however, the dominant share of the work is governed by the employer, the term "particular independence" cannot be applied. For such individual assessment, it is thus the degree of ¡°constraint¡± versus the degree of ¡°freedom¡± when organising the working day and assignments which is of interest.

Scientific work is mainly independently initiated, and characteristics of particular independence are that the work is distinguishable by:

• professional freedom to choose research-related issues, methods and the like

• freedom to publish research-based work, scientific articles, specialised books or other method of communication

• independent educational activity, such as professional preparation of classes, guidance for graduates, planning courses, compiling textbooks

• independent professional input to public research work, media or other types of social contribution

• freedom to plan activities in other locations than the normal workplace, such as field work, observations, interviews, studies in archives/libraries

• the employee¡¯s working hours during such processes can be difficult to control, as the employer does not have specialised professional expertise to check how much time is needed to complete an assignment

Examples of questions which may help assess whether a position is covered by the term "particular independence":

• To what extent are the employee¡¯s working hours governed by the decisions of others? If the extent is relatively small, then the employee is most probably particularly independent. This will typically be cases where a scientific employee may have from 260-300 obligatory hours of teaching per year or less, taking into consideration that a number of these hours may represent guidance which is not governed according to time or location.

• To what extent can the employee choose assignments and working methods? This item may also include the extent to which the employee is free to prioritise assignments and working hours. The more freedom the employee has, the more likely he/she is to be particularly independent. This issue must be considered in relation to the exten