DENMARK Law and Practice Contributed by: Lise Lauridsen and Sandro Ratkovic, Bech-Bruun
Negotiations with the employees’ representatives (or the employees) must be initiated with the intention to reach an agreement so that redundancies are either avoided or limited, eg, by replacing or retraining the employees in question. The only procedural require - ment in relation to the negotiations is that the negotia - tions are real and not pro forma. The rules apply when the number of employees to be dismissed over a period of 30 days is expected to constitute: • at least 10 employees in businesses employ - ing more than 20 employees and less than 100 employees; • at least 10% of the employees in businesses employing more than 100 and less than 300 employees; or • at least 30 employees in businesses employing more than 300 employees. The days are counted from the date when notices are effected and not from the expiry of the notice period. The number of employees employed in a business is calculated on the basis of the average number of employees employed during the four last preceding quarters. The average number of employees in a quar - ter is calculated by counting the number of employ - ees at the expiry of each month. All employees are included in the calculation with the exception of the managing director and independent consultants (who are not considered to be salaried employees). Employees, who enter into a voluntary agreement on the employer’s initiative, are also included in the cal - culation of employees that are dismissed and would therefore also trigger the Collective Redundancies Act. The general rule in relation to collective redundancies is that terminations cannot be effected before the employer has initiated an information and negotiation procedure with the employees’ representatives. Compliance with the requirements regarding col - lective redundancies is important, as a breach is sanctioned by payment of compensation and pos -
sible fines. Should the relevant Regional Employment Council believe that the rules have not been observed, the Regional Employment Council has the option of filing a police report. The employer must initiate an information and nego - tiation procedure with the employees’ representatives as soon as possible before any dismissals in accord - ance with the Collective Redundancies Act can be legally effected. The purpose of the information and negotiation pro - cedure is to reach an agreement on how to avoid or reduce the contemplated redundancies and to miti - gate the consequences for the employees through activities aimed especially at redeploying or retraining employees made redundant. The Collective Redundancies Act does not stipulate minimum requirements with regard to the length of the negotiations. Accordingly, the negotiations may be very short (a few days) with an aim to merely resolve points of dispute in relation to the practicalities of the redundancies. As part of the information and negotiation procedure, the employer must provide the employees’ represent - atives with all relevant information of importance to the mass redundancies and must in any event notify the employees’ representatives in writing of: • the reasons for the contemplated redundancies; • the number and relevant categories of employees to be made redundant, and the period over which the projected redundancies are to be effected; • the number and categories of employees normally employed with the employer; • the criteria proposed for the selection of the employees to be made redundant; and • whether the employees to be made redundant include employees having a right to redundancy payments in accordance with an individual or col - lective bargaining agreement, and if so the method for calculating these payments. In addition to informing the employees’ representa - tives, the employer must also inform the Regional Employment Council in three separate letters. The
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