Guidelines for assistance in employment matters
If you need assistance with questions about pay and working conditions, we recommend that you first contact the union representative at your workplace – the union representative knows the local conditions. You can also contact NITO's secretariat. The terms and conditions for assistance from the secretariat can be found here.
The guidelines were adopted by the Executive Board of NITO on 23 October 2025 and enter into force from 1 January 2026.
1. Conditions for assistance
1.1 NITO assists NITO members
- You must have become a member at least 3 months before your case became relevant.
- You must be a member and remain a member as long as assistance is provided. You cannot have been withdrawn during the period from when the case arose until you request assistance.
- Once you have joined, you have the right to have a review of your new employment contract with your future employer from the first day of membership.
- In order to receive assistance, you cannot owe membership fees to NITO and you must pay membership fees on an ongoing basis.
- Assistance is not given to members who only pay pensioner dues.
1.2 NITO assists in matters you have as an employee
You can receive assistance in matters concerning pay and working conditions with your employer in your capacity as an employee. After an assessment, you can also receive assistance in other matters that relate to the employment relationship, but which are not directly to the employer.
In some cases, pay and working conditions may be linked to a collective agreement to which NITO is a party to the collective agreement.
If you have a union representative, you must preferably contact your union representative to clarify whether he or she can help you.
1.3 NITO does not assist if you have the assistance of another adviser
NITO does not provide you with assistance if you have another lawyer or adviser in the same case.
NITO does not take over cases that have already been initiated by another lawyer or adviser.
NITO provides assistance in accordance with Norwegian law and jurisdiction. NITO does not provide assistance in cases before foreign courts or under foreign law.
2. Assistance from NITO
When you ask for assistance, we first consider your problem. Based on this, we decide whether we can help you further and, if so, how we can help you.
If NITO considers your case to be suitable for legal assistance, it will be transferred to NITO's lawyers. See section 3 for further information on this type of assistance.
We may also consider your case suitable for other types of assistance. It will then be handled by advisers at NITO, with suitable expertise to assist you in the case.
In special cases, NITO may instead offer assistance from an external lawyer or adviser. NITO decides which lawyer or adviser is to be used and the scope of such assistance.
In cases that require special legal or technical expertise, NITO may limit its assistance to only apply to certain aspects of the case/case.
NITO may terminate the assistance when we assess that your case has reached a point where we no longer find it appropriate to assist. You must provide all relevant case information and contribute in the best possible way so that NITO can make a comprehensive assessment of the case. If you do not follow the advice and recommendation from NITO, NITO can stop the assistance and renounce the case. The same applies if you provide incorrect or incomplete information about the case, or if there are other special circumstances that make cooperation between you and NITO difficult.
If you do not receive assistance, a complaint can be directed to the Director of Employment. NITO assumes that the complaint is based on the fact that our guidelines for assistance have not been followed, and if so, on which point(s).
3. Further information on assistance from NITO's lawyers
NITO's legal activities are regulated by the Act relating to Lawyers and Others Who Provide Legal Assistance ( lovdata.no).
NITO's lawyers are subject to rules on confidentiality, cf. the regulations above. In order to help you in the best possible way, our lawyers discuss cases among themselves. The legal secretary also has access to the case's documents.
The legal assistance initially consists of a legal assessment of your case.
If the lawyer deems it appropriate, further assistance can be provided in your case, or in parts of your case. This may also mean that the case is followed up by others than the lawyers.
If the case has reached the point where it cannot be resolved, a concrete overall assessment is made of whether NITO offers continued legal assistance in the case before the courts or another dispute resolution body. This is done by a process group among NITO's lawyers.
If the lawyers at NITO have decided to support legal action, we will cover all costs for legal assistance when the case is handled by NITO. This also applies to any legal costs from the opposing party. If you are successful with your case, NITO is entitled to awarded legal costs.
You must provide all relevant case information and contribute in the best possible way so that the lawyers at NITO can make a comprehensive assessment of the case. If you do not follow the advice and recommendation of NITO's lawyers, NITO may stop the assistance and withdraw the case. The same applies if you provide incorrect or incomplete information about the case, or if there are other special circumstances that make cooperation between you and the lawyers at NITO difficult.
The lawyers at NITO can terminate the assistance when we assess that your case has reached a point where it is considered that it is no longer appropriate to assist.
If NITO terminates legal assistance for reasons stated in the two preceding paragraphs, NITO will not cover the opposing party's accrued or future legal costs.