Sick-leave follow-up for managers

No. There is no approval or certification scheme for courses in sick-leave follow-up, and neither NAV, the Labour Inspection Authority nor the Directorate of Health approves such courses. The follow-up itself is statutory under the Working Environment Act section 4-6 and the National Insurance Act chapter 8, but there is no statutory course requirement (unlike the section 3-5 course for managers). The certificate documents that you have completed the training; it is not a certification.

The course is made for managers with personnel responsibility and for HR staff who follow up sick-listed employees. It suits both those who are new to the manager role and experienced managers who want to be sure that the current deadlines and roles have stuck, especially after the old IA-enterprise scheme was abolished and the new IA agreement 2025-2028 came into force.

The course goes through the whole process: the follow-up plan within 4 weeks (Working Environment Act section 4-6 third paragraph), dialogue meeting 1 within seven weeks (section 4-6 fourth paragraph) and the documentation duty (section 4-6 fifth paragraph), which are all the employer's duties under the Working Environment Act. It also covers the activity requirement at 8 weeks, dialogue meeting 2 at 26 weeks (National Insurance Act section 8-7a, called by NAV) and the sick-pay period of around 52 weeks (section 8-12), which are based in the National Insurance Act chapter 8. The course places strong emphasis on separating these two sets of rules correctly.

The course takes around 60 minutes and consists of seven short lessons plus a final test of 13 questions with a 70 percent pass threshold. You start for free and can go through all the content without paying. You pay only at the end to unlock the certificate, either by card or by invoice against the company registration number for businesses. The price is 790 kroner per participant, with discounted volume tiers for more employees.

No. As an employer you have no right to know the diagnosis. The follow-up is about function and working capacity, that is, what the employee can and cannot do, not about what is medically wrong. Health information is a special category of personal data with stricter protection under GDPR article 9. The course shows you how to conduct a good conversation and document it without collecting health information you should not have.

No. The course gives general guidance that makes you confident about the rules, deadlines and tools, but it is not individual legal or medical advice. In concrete individual cases, especially where things move towards conflict or dismissal, you should consult a lawyer, HR, the occupational health service or NAV. That is part of good management, and the course points to this along the way.