A new study of Norwegian business productivity practices has found that, well, some Norwegian bosses are nuts. Like the guy who made his female employees wear red bracelets during their periods "to justify more frequent trips" to the bathroom.

Isn't Norway supposed to be some kind of socialist paradise, with like six months' paid vacation and everyone in the office gets maternity leave when someone has a baby and if you lose your job you get a raise, or something? Apparently not! According to The Daily Mail (so, you know, grain of salt), a report commissioned by the Norwegian union Parat has uncovered some very creepy practices in Norwegian businesses:

It found 66 per cent of managers made staff ask them for an electronic key card to gain access to the toilets so they could monitor breaks. Toilets in one in three companies were placed under video-surveillance, while other firms made staff sign a toilet 'visitors book', the report by the Parat union said. It added: 'But the most extreme action was taken by one manager who made women having their period wear a red bracelet to justify more frequent trips to the loo.

Norwegian consumer ombudsman Bjorn Erik Thon says he "hope[s] and believe[s] that this is not representative of the Norwegian working life in general." Glad to hear you're on the case, Bjorn! If we had a consumer ombudsman in the U.S. (LOL), he would probably be all, "how can I get my girlfriend to wear one of those?" and then all the men in Congress would guffaw and then they'd vote to stop unemployment checks or something.

[Daily Mail; image via Shutterstock]