Important things to remember

The most important thing you can do on your own is to ensure that you have a written employment contract. This contract must state the name of the employer, the name of the employee, where you are employed and the conditions agreed on, including pay and other supplements and remunerations not included in the pay, payment intervals, daily and weekly working time, right to holiday and the period of notice. The contract must be dated and signed by the employer. You should also take care of all pay slips and time lists. If you’re not given time lists from the company, be sure to write up all working hours on your own. A written overview of how many hours you have worked, when and where, can be crucial if you have to drag your employer to court.

 
Tax:  

The pay slip shows that your tax is deducted. In Norway, the employer is obliged to deduct tax from your wages on a monthly basis. But if the employer does not do this, the trouble can be yours! Therefore, it is very important that you receive and do not throw away the pay slips, as they document that it has been paid tax for you. Norwegian tax authorities cooperate with other countries to pursue such claims, so it doesn’t help to travel back to your country. Pay slips are also important if you want to make a claim for wages that have not been not paid, or not paid right. So don’t throw your pay slips away! 

 
 
Do not let your employer register you as self employed!  

More and more foreign workers are tricked to register themselves as self-employed. By doing this, the employers want to circumvent the minimum standards put in place by the trade unions, through the general application of our agreements. To run your own business may sound alluring, but it can be a dangerous trap. As self employed, you have the obligation to value added tax, and your employer does not have any of the commitments he otherwise would have towards you. This means that you are not insured if you are injured on the job. You may also be liable for damage to materials and equipment, and you do not have the right to holiday payment, overtime payment and sickness benefit. You only get the sickness benefit after 16 days, and then receive only 65 percent of your income, instead of the normal 100 percent for workers. In short: Your situation is far more uncertain, and the "freedom" of being independent will probably feel as the exact opposite.