The regulations have been adopted in accordance with Section 2 of the Civil Servants Act, and are applicable from 1 July 2019

Personnel regulations for the University of Bergen (UiB)

1. Scope of application for the personnel regulations

1.1 The personnel regulations have legal authority in Section 2 of the Civil Servants Act and deal with provisions that, by law, shall or may be agreed between the employer and the civil servants’ organisations in the organization that have a right to negotiate under the Civil Service Disputes Act.

1.2 The personnel regulations apply to all employees and positions at UiB covered by the Civil Servants Act to the extent that these are not specifically regulated in or pursuant to the University and University College Act (UHL). Reference is made to «Regulations for appointment to academic positions and academic/administrative management positions and rules for appointment procedure etc. at the Sars Centre».

1.3 The personnel regulations apply in addition to provisions contained in other formal regulations, such as laws, regulations or central agreements. The personnel regulations must give way to provisions of such formal regulations, unless the relevant regulations themselves are non-mandatory or allow for exceptions. UiB’s internal regulations may have rules that supplement the personnel regulations.

2. The qualification principle

2.1 The qualification principle shall form the basis for appointments to UiB. The best qualified applicant shall be appointed to the vacant position, unless exceptions are made in law or regulation. In assessing who is best qualified, emphasis should be placed on education, experience and personal suitability, compared with the qualification requirements set out in the announcement, cf. The Norwegian Civil Service Act Section 3 (1) and (2).

2.2 The qualification principle does not apply to appointments pursuant to Section 8.1, cf. Section 7 (1) of the Civil Servants Act.

3. Announcement of positions

3.1 The vacant position shall, with the exceptions mentioned in section 8.1, be publicly announced. Vacant positions to be publicly announced are reported to NAV.

3.2 Publicly announced positions shall also be announced internally on UiB’s website. All employees, including those who are absent, can stay informed of vacant positions by visiting UiB’s website. Anyone employed in the organization, permanently or temporarily, as well as temporary employees from employment agencies, can apply for positions that are only announced internally.

4. Recommendation

4.1 The immediate manager makes recommendations, cf. Section 5 (1) of the Civil Servants Act. This is usually the Head of Department or Division Director. For appointments in the newspaper of the University of Bergen – «På Høyden», the editor is the recommending authority.

4.2 If the immediate manager is a member of the Appointments Board, he or she instead makes a proposal for appointment, cf. Section 5 (2) of the Civil Servants Act. As the immediate manager, the University Director makes a proposal for appointment.

4.3 The recommending authority appoints a committee that participates in interviews and collection of references. The composition of the committee and the work itself must be adapted with consideration to efficient and proper administrative processing with respect to the announced position, number of applicants etc. The committee shall at a minimum consist of the immediate manager to the position and an HR member of staff, or others with good knowledge of the area of work assigned to the position. For appointments to management positions, advisory positions, engineering positions, academic librarian and department dentist, the committee shall consist of at least three members. As far as possible, both genders should be represented.

4.4 Those applicants deemed to be best qualified shall be invited for an interview.

If any of the qualified applicants for a position state that they have a disability that will require adaptation of the workplace or working conditions, at least one of these applicants shall be called in for interview, cf. Regulations of the Civil Service Act Section 6 (1).

According to civil service personnel policy guidelines, at least one applicant with an immigrant background shall be called in for interview. This is conditional on the applicant being eligible for the position. This applies preferably for immigrants from Europe other than EU/EFTA, Asia (incl. Turkey), Africa, South- and Central America and Oceania except Australia and New Zealand.

4.5 If there are applicants who have preferential rights to employment in the civil service, cf. Civil Service Act Section 24, failure to recommend these must be specifically justified.

4.6 A copy of the recommendation is sent to UiB’s Equal Opportunities Committee which has an opportunity to make comments within 3 working days. The statement of the committee must accompany the case documents sent to the appointments board.

The purpose of the Equal Opportunities Committee is to promote genuine equality at the University of Bergen regardless of gender, ethnicity, national origin, colour, language, religion and life stance, political opinions, organisational affiliation, sexual orientation, functional ability, age and other conditions.

4.7 The applicants’ (parties’) right of access to the recommendations is governed by the regulations to the Public Administration Act. Applicants shall have the same right of access to a proposal for appointment.

5. Appointment to administrative positions and librarian positions

5.1 The appointments board for administrative positions shall make appointments to General positions in the Basic Collective Agreement in the Norwegian State - salary plan for: management positions, case officer, office positions, librarian, adviser, project manager and positions in the occupational health service.

5.2 The Appointments Board for administrative positions is also the appointments board for positions as Academic Librarian/Senior Academic Librarian under the Ministry of Education’s salary plan 17.520. For appointment to Senior Academic Librarian positions, there shall be an expert assessment of the recommended candidates. The Division Director of the University Library appoints three members to the expert committee in accordance with Section 4 of the Regulations for promotion to the position of Senior Academic Librarian.

5.3 The Appointments Board for administrative positions shall have a chairperson and four members, two of whom represent the employer and two the employee. The University Director appoints the chairperson of the appointments board. The two employer representatives shall have a position as Head of Department or Deputy Director/Head of Section. The two employee representatives are appointed by the civil servants’ organisations. Personal deputies are appointed to the appointments board. It is stated in the appointment letter who are the chairperson, members and deputies of the appointments board at any given time.

5.4 For appointments to positions such as Academic Librarian and Senior Academic Librarian, the one permanent employer representative is replaced by the Dean who is chairperson of the University Library Committee.

5.5 If the University Director as the immediate manager has submitted proposals for appointment, the University Director himself chairs the Appointments Board. The two permanent employer representatives are then replaced by employees in the position of Dean or Head of Department. It shall be stated in the appointment letter who is a member and deputy member in the processing of these cases.

6. Appointment to technical positions

6.1 The Appointments Board for Technical Positions makes appointments to General positions in the Basic Collective Agreement in the Norwegian State that are not to be processed by the appointments board for administrative positions, and technical positions under the Ministry of Education’s salary plans 17.550 and 17.568.

6.2 The Appointments Board for Technical Positions shall have a chairperson and four members, two of whom represent the employer and two the employee. The University Director appoints the chairperson of the appointments board. The two employer representatives shall have a position as Head of Department or Deputy Director/Head of Section. The two employee representatives are appointed by the civil servants’ organisations. Personal deputies are appointed to the appointments board. It is stated in the appointment letter who are the chairperson, members and deputies of the Appointments Board at any given time.

7. Appointment to dental positions

7.1 The Appointments Board for Dental Positions shall make appointments to dental positions under the Ministry of Education’s salary plan 17.511 - instructor dentist, special dentist, instructor dentist with approved specialist education and department dentist.

7.2 The Appointments Board for Dental Positions shall have a chairperson and four members, two of whom represent the employer ,two the employee and one is a student. The student representative has the right to speak but does not have the right to vote during the Board’s processing of the cases.

The two representatives of the employer shall be a permanent academic member of staff with at least a 50% position at the Department of Clinical Dentistry and a Senior Dentist (salary plan 14.100 – position code 1301) at the Department of Clinical Dentistry.

The Faculty Board of the Faculty of Medicine appoints the chairperson and members of the appointments board, as well as deputies for these. The chairperson and the two representatives of the employer are appointed according to a proposal from the Dean. The two representatives of the employees and the student representative are appointed according to a proposal from the civil servants’ and students’ organizations respectively. It is stated in the appointment letter who are the chairperson, members and deputies of the Appointments Board at any given time.

8. Exceptions to the rules on announcement, recommendation and appointment

8.1 The rules regarding the announcement, recommendation and appointment do not apply to temporary employment for a period of up to six months, cf. the Civil Service Act Section 7 (1). Such temporary employment may be made where an unforeseen need has arisen, cf. Section 9 (1) e of the Civil Servants Act.

Employment is decided administratively and is undertaken by the Head of Administration of the Faculty, the University Museum, the University Library and by the HR Director for appointments to central administration. As a general rule, the positions should be announced internally.

8.2 An appointment or extension of the terms of employment that will extend beyond six months, cf. section 9.1 shall be processed in accordance with the normal rules of the regulations in relation to the announcement, recommendations and appointment.

8.3 Exceptions may be made to the rules on recommendations and appointment for terms of employment with shorter working hours than 15 hours per week, cf. Section 7 (3), b) of the Civil Servants Act.

The immediate employee service authority makes a simplified recommendation. Employment is undertaken by the Head of Administration of the Faculty, the University Museum, the University Library and by the HR Director for appointments to central administration.

8.4 In connection with restructuring processes, only vacant positions are subject to an announcement requirement. In such processes, there will only be a vacant position when the employer has met its obligation to place any redundant staff in appropriate positions.

9. Appointment of employee representatives to the Appointments Board

9.1 Representatives of the employees shall, wherever possible, belong to the same groups of employees in which each appointments board shall make appointments.

9.2 The civil servants’ organisation that organizes employees of the group concerned and who, either themselves or through their affiliation with a confederation, have collective bargaining rights, appoints representatives of the employees with personal deputies. If there are several such organizations that have members in the employee group concerned, the organizations jointly appoint the representatives with personal deputies. The representatives of the employees do not represent their own organization when they are appointed, but shall safeguard the interests of all applicants.

9.3 Employee representatives should be appointed for a period of two years at a time. The term of office is set so that it does not expire at the same time for both representatives within the same group of employees.

9.4 If the organisations do not agree on who should be appointed, two representatives of the employees with deputies are appointed according to the following rules:

a) In order for an organisation to be able to appoint representatives according to the rules below, it must have at least 25% of the organised employees of the group as members.

b) The primary organisations under the same confederation may merge the membership in relation to the rules in this section.

c) If two or more civil servants’ organisations organize employees in the employee group concerned, the two organisations with the largest membership within the group shall appoint their own representative with a deputy representative.

10. Administrative procedure in the appointment boards

10.1 In employment cases, the case documents are sent to the members of the appointments board, each of whom makes a statement. Finally, the chairperson of the appointments board submits his/her statement.

A meeting is held when one member of the appointments board so requires, or when there is dissent among the members of the appointments board.

A meeting shall be held in cases related to disciplinary action, suspension, termination and dismissal.

Exemption for cases related to dismissal due to the employee being incapable of resuming work due to illness,cf. Section 20 (1) a of the Civil Servants Act. In such cases, the case documents may be sent to the members of the appointments board if the employee has not submitted a written statement in the case or asked to make an oral statement to the appointments board. Each of the members makes a statement. Finally, the chairperson of the appointments board submits his/her statement. A meeting is held when one member of the appointments board so requires, or when there is dissent among the members of the appointments board.

10.2 The appointments board has a quorum when all members in circulation have made a statement on the case or when there is a plenary meeting.

10.3 Members of the board cannot prevent decisions by not participating in the processing or refusing to sign the minutes of meeting.

However, if some members of the board do not participate in the processing of a case or do not sign the minutes of meeting, the board has a quorum if at least half of the members participate and sign. When there is parity of votes, the chairperson of the appointments board has a double vote.

10.4 The appointments board may choose to appoint one of the recommended candidates. In cases where proposals have been submitted, and not recommendations, the appointments board may select from the entire pool of applicants.

If an applicant with an external preferential right fulfils the academic and personal requirements for the position, that person should be appointed, unless the exclusions in the Regulations of the Civil Service Act Section 8 apply.

An applicant with a disability may be appointed if the person is approximately as well qualified as the best qualified applicant, cf. Regulations of the Civil Service Act Section 6 (2).

10.5 If a member of an appointments board wishes to employ an applicant who has not been recommended, a written assessment of the applicant shall be obtained from the person making the recommendation, cf. Civil Service Act Section 6 (3). The appointments board may then choose to appoint one of those who have been recommended or an applicant on whom they have obtained a written assessment.

10.6 The appointments board may decide that a trial period should not apply, or be shorter than six months, when the employee is already employed at UiB. The same applies when the work in the new position does not differ materially from the previous civil service position.

10.6 The appointments board’s formal decisions are recorded in the minutes, where it should be shown how the individual members voted. The members have an opportunity to have their objections/points of view recorded in the minutes. The objection must be put on record before the appointments board has finished processing the case in a the meeting.

11. Appeals body

If a state employee pursuant to the Public Administration Act appeals a decision concerning termination, disciplinary action, suspension or dismissal, the appeals body is the University Board.

12. Prohibition of gifts in the service

Section 39 of the Civil Service Act provides an opportunity to determine in regulations which gifts, commission, service or other benefits are prohibited for employees to receive in connection with the service. Reference is made to the rules relating to gifts and other benefits for employees at UiB.

13. Entry into force and revision

13.1 These personnel regulations are negotiated between the management of UiB and the civil servants organizations at UiB who have a right of collective bargaining under the Civil Service Disputes Act. The personnel regulations cover the circumstances established as subject to negotiation in the Civil Servants Act, and are in accordance with the requirements of Section 2 (4) of the Act.

13.2 The personnel regulations come into force on 1 January 2019 in accordance with what the parties have agreed, cf. Section 2(1) of the Civil Service Act and Section 19 no.2 letter d of the Basic Agreement.

13.3 Either of the parties at UiB and the Ministry of Education and Research may at any time require that the personnel regulations be subject to revision, cf. Section 2 (5) of the Civil Servants Act.

13.4 The parties shall evaluate the regulations by the end of 2021.

Date	Comment	Entered by
Thursday 14 May 2020 2:40:28 pm	Oversettelse til engelsk	Kathrine Brosvik Thorsen
Thursday 26 September 2019 9:32:47 am	Lagt inn	Kathrine Brosvik Thorsen
Tuesday 25 June 2013 9:01:17 am	Lagt inn	Kathrine Brosvik Thorsen
Tuesday 25 June 2013 8:57:37 am	Lagt inn	Kathrine Brosvik Thorsen
Tuesday 25 June 2013 8:52:44 am	Lagt inn	Kathrine Brosvik Thorsen
Friday 04 February 2011 9:44:46 am	Lagt inn	Kathrine Brosvik Thorsen
Wednesday 02 February 2011 12:24:49 pm	Lagt inn	Kathrine Brosvik Thorsen
Wednesday 07 April 2010 3:02:58 pm	Lagt inn	Kathrine Brosvik Thorsen
Tuesday 16 March 2010 8:31:20 am	Lagt inn	Kathrine Brosvik Thorsen