This year, even more catering establishments will be supervised by the Norwegian Labor Inspectorate than last year. We check whether employees have decent remuneration and working conditions.
– We have received clear instructions to react more rigorously in the event of discovering violations of the law, and we will do so – says the director of the Norwegian Labor Inspectorate Torgeir Moholt.
– In the previous round of inspections, we discovered a number of violations regulations regarding the working environment in many catering establishments we visited. Violations range from omissions in employment contracts to missing schedules or duty schedules and lack of overtime pay.
Threats in the catering industry
– It is important to monitor parts of this industry because we have experience in detecting many violations of the law, even if they are of different severity. There are also many vulnerable workers in this industry, Moholt says.
– The accommodation and catering industry is characterized by a large number of small enterprises and high turnover. Moreover, there is a high percentage of young and foreign workers here.
Parts of the industry are also subject to significant rates of crime and dishonesty in the workplace, with companies deliberately breaching regulations regarding working environment and other regulations regarding taxes and fees, accounting and work and residence permits.
Minimum wage requirement
The catering industry is widespread. This means that employees are entitled to it minimum wage. The minimum wage was established, among other things, to ensure equality pay conditions in industries where workers may be exposed to exploitation and applies regardless of whether the employee is Norwegian or foreign. It does not matter whether the employee is employed permanently, temporarily, or works part-time full-time or part-time.
Read more about the minimum wage
Still needs to be controlled
– During previous inspections, we found violations in 70 percent. audited enterprises. This shows that there is still a need for further action," says department director Moholt.
The Norwegian Labor Inspectorate monitors industries in particular general, such as accommodation and catering, cleaning, construction and transport.
You want directions
– Let us know if you suspect or experience an employer in breach Act on the working environment. This may be, for example, lack of overtime pay or employment contract violation regulations regarding working time, occupational health and safety regulations or regulations regarding the disclosure of public information - says Moholt.
