Collective agreements provide the framework and content for individual employment contracts, and they play an important role in Norwegian working life. They may regulate wages, working hours, lay-offs, contracting of temporary staff and severance payments, as well collective rights and duties such as the duty of information, co-determination and cooperation, as well as the duty to keep industrial peace and industrial conflicts.

The lawyers on Wiersholm’s employment law team assist key players on both the employer’s and employee’s side, which has given us respect for the interests the parties represent and the manner in which these interests are safeguarded. We can assist with drafting, amending and terminating collective wage agreements, collective wage negotiations, arbitration, industrial conflicts, interpretation of collective wage agreements, matters concerning the legal status of the parties during a contract period, use of industrial actions in conflicts of interest, and the resolution of disputes, including proceedings before the Labour Court.

In 2004, a group of lawyers on Wiersholm's employment law team published the book “Collective Employment Law”, which gives an overview of the collective part of employment law based on practice and a selection of key collective wage agreements.