Pregnancy accommodation form limited to reproductive-harm risk cases

Employers, doctors and midwives handling pregnancy accommodation now have a bright line for the paperwork. The three-part form for tilrettelegging og omplassering ved graviditet is to be used only where the work entails a risk of forplantningsskade (reproductive harm)Arbeidstilsynet. In every other case, the employer's general duty to accommodate the work applies insteadArbeidstilsynet.

The division of labour on the form is now explicit. The first part is completed by the pregnant worker's lege or jordmor, documenting the need for accommodation or reassignment. The second part is completed by the arbeidsgiver, stating whether accommodating the work or reassigning the worker is wholly or partly possible. The third part is for the pregnant worker herself, to use as documentation for a claim to NAV for svangerskapspengar. Filling instructions at the back of the form set out who completes each part and how.

The companion guidance asks the employer, together with the pregnant worker, to establish whether her ordinary duties could expose her to harmful effects carrying a reproductive-harm risk, and to consider removing the risk by accommodating the work or temporarily assigning other duties. Where neither accommodation nor reassignment is possible, the pregnant worker must temporarily leave her work. That withdrawal is neither a dismissal nor a leave ground, and she will usually be entitled to svangerskapspengar from NAV.

The benefit rule behind that step is folketrygdloven § 14-4: an employee ordered by statute or regulation to stop work because of pregnancy, who cannot be reassigned to other suitable work in the undertaking, has the right to pregnancy benefit. The underlying duties sit in forskrift om utførelse av arbeid chapter 7: the employer must assess reproductive-harm risk (§ 7-1), put protective measures in place (§ 7-3) — pregnant and breastfeeding workers must never be set to work that the risk assessment flags as risky — and reassign pregnant and breastfeeding workers to other work where exposure may pose such a risk to the child (§ 7-4). Where reassignment is impossible, the employer must document that in writing, the written record that underpins the NAV claim. Reproductive harm as defined there spans damage to reproductive cells and hormone production, genetic effects, miscarriage, preterm birth and low birth weight, stillbirth, infant death, malformations and certain childhood illnesses, arising from chemical, physical, biological, psychosocial and organisational factors.

Legal basis: forskrift om utførelse av arbeid §§ 7-1, 7-3 and 7-4; folketrygdloven § 14-4; and the general working-environment and accommodation requirements in arbeidsmiljølova §§ 4-1 and 4-2.