The right to sickness benefit for employees in the event of travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic was introduced on 16 April 2021. The right to sickness benefit is valid from 29 January 2021 and as long as travel restrictions for those coming to Norway to work apply. The employer must pay the sickness benefit in advance. If the employer has paid salary so that the employee has not lost any income, the employer can claim a refund corresponding to what the employee would have been entitled to in sickness benefit.

Employers do not have to pay national insurance contributions on sickness benefit that they have paid in advance. The exemption only applies if the employer is refunded for the paid sickness benefit.

The employer’s national insurance contribution refund scheme works in the same way as when the employer is refunded sickness benefit, parental benefit, etc., pursuant to the Act relating to National Insurance Contributions. This means you’ll get a deduction in the contribution basis for employer's national insurance contributions when the benefits are actually refunded. The deduction may only be claimed the month in which the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration has refunded the amount, see Employer's national insurance contributions - contribution basis, item 3.

See the temporary provision from 20 March 2020, number 368, chapter 3A (in Norwegian only) and the temporary provision from 19 April 2021, number 1188 (in Norwegian only).