DENMARK Law and Practice Contributed by: Lise Lauridsen and Sandro Ratkovic, Bech-Bruun
mum notice period before starting a task, and any minimum deadline before task cancellation; • the right to education offered by the employer, if applicable; • details of any applicable collective agreements; and • the identity of the social security institutions receiving contributions related to the employment relationship, and any employer-provided social security protection. The information must be provided to the employee in writing through one of the following methods: • given in a written statement; or • sent electronically, provided that: (a) the information is accessible to the employee; (b) it can be stored and printed; and (c) the employer retains documentation of the transmission or receipt. With regard to paid holiday, notice periods, remunera - tion and working time, the employer may refer in the written details of employment conditions to relevant legislation or collective agreements governing these issues. The employer must inform the employee in writing of any change in the above-mentioned employment con - ditions promptly and no later than the effective date of the changes. This does not apply where the change is caused by changes in legislation or collective agree - ments referred to in the written details. Employment contracts may be for full-time or part- time work. Contracts can be concluded for an indefi - nite duration or for a fixed term – that is, ending on a specific date, when a specific task is completed or when a specific event occurs. Fixed-term contracts may be renewed only if there are objective reasons for doing so. There are several specific types of employ - ment contract governed by particular rules, notably apprenticeship contracts. 1.3 Working Hours Employees must not work more than 48 hours a week, calculated on average over a four-month reference period. The 48-hour limit includes overtime.
Employees are obliged to work a reasonable amount of overtime when this is necessary to carry on the employer’s business. There are no statutory limits on the number of overtime hours, except that the 48-hour maximum week includes overtime, nor statutory rules on compensation for overtime. Overtime is usually regulated by collective agreements, which often con - tain provisions on prior notification to the employee if overtime work is required and on compensation. Overtime is usually compensated by either time off in lieu or a premium rate of pay. Agreements on flexible working hours whereby over - time is compensated by time off are common. In some cases, especially for white-collar workers, it may be agreed as part of the employee’s pay package that a reasonable amount of overtime work must be carried out without compensation. Companies are required to implement a reliable work - ing time registration system to measure each employ - ee’s daily working hours, ensuring compliance with requirements on rest periods and maximum working hours. Employees must have access to their data within the system to protect their rights. 1.4 Compensation The main obligation for the employer in an employ - ment relationship is to pay the employee for the work that they perform. Remuneration is deemed to include all elements of the pay package and all ben - efits agreed and provided to the employee as payment for work, including basic pay, overtime pay, paid holi - day and holiday pay, bonuses, share incentives and taxable non-pay benefits such as employer-provided cars, newspapers and telecommunications facilities (such as mobile telephones and home computers and internet connections). There is no statutory minimum wage in Denmark and, unless there is a collectively agreed pay arrangement in place, the employer and the employee are free to agree the pay terms. There are no statutory provisions governing the fre - quency of payment of wages, and this issue is usu - ally governed by collective agreements. However, the employer is required to state in the written details of
153 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook