What Is Policy Space for Diaconal Institutions? Challenges from Pension Obligations
By Hans Morten Haugen (VID Specialized University)
Norwegian non-profit institutions have provided health care and social services in accordance with contracts with various public authorities. These contracts had various specifications concerning pensions. The core message in the contracts was, however, that employees in non-profit institutions were required to be included in similar pension agreements as public employees. During the latter part of the 2000s, this was no longer an explicit requirement in new contracts, but neither the various public contractors, nor the non-profit institutions pushed for a change in the pension rights of employees in non-profit institutions. This gave the non-profit actors a considerable extra cost, as they were about to take part in new tender processes. Coverage of pension costs beyond the contract period have been found by both Norwegian courts and a Public commission report to be a responsibility of the state. The current Norwegian government must determine how to respond to the public commission’s recommendations, but the counties’ and municipalities’ responsibilities are still not adequately addressed.
Source: SSRN
