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Employment Law

Main issues concerning rights and obligations in the labour market

Here you can find various general information about rights and obligations in the labour market, such as the right to salary in case of illness, the right to vacation, terminations, etc.

If members need help, they can contact the office of Fræðagarður directly, for example by sending us an enquiry.

Working Hours and Arrangement of Work

In most cases, provisions on working hours and work arrangements can be found in general collective agreements.

Provisions on working hours may differ depending on whether the employee is a public employee or works in the public labour market. In some cases, the arrangement of work is stipulated in more detail in institutional contracts and/or employment contracts of individual employees.

The following descriptions are based on general collective agreements unless otherwise stated.

Illness and Vacation

There can be a variety of reasons why staff are absent from work, either planned or unplanned.

Collective agreements describe the rights of both the employee and the employer related to absence from work. One of the key focuses of collective agreements is, for example, the right to vacation, i.e. the right of workers to take leave from work.

Here you can find an overview of the main issues related to absence, sick leave and vacation.

Various Matters of Rights

Here we have summarized some issues related to the labour rights of employees.

Termination and Retirement

Retirement and termination are events that inevitably have a major impact on the existence and survival of employees. It is important that these matters are done with care and that all the employee's rights are taken care of.

The office of Fræðagarður office strives to support its members as much as possible during retirement, both in terms of advice and follow-up assistance.

It is especially important to maintain contact with a trade union in the event of unemployment. When applying for unemployment benefits, you can choose to continue paying the union fee and thus retain membership of funds and services.

Bankruptcy or Changes Related to Employer

If the employer becomes bankrupt, or if major changes are made to the employer's operations, employees have certain rights that the union can help secure.

Fræðagarður Assistance

If you still have questions that have not been answered above, we encourage you to contact the office of Fræðagarður.

You can submit a query, for example regarding general questions about labour law and wage issues.

You can also create a formal service request that is automatically entered into our case file system, for example for complex or sensitive cases.

Finally, you can book a call with a specialist, if you think it is more appropriate.

The Fræðagarður service office is located at Borgartún 6 (same building as BHM). It is open every weekday from 09-12 and 13-16. The phone number is 595 5165.