DENMARK Law and Practice Contributed by: Lise Lauridsen and Sandro Ratkovic, Bech-Bruun
• having made any claim under the legislation gov - erning fixed-term contracts; • pregnancy or pregnancy-related illness; • requesting or taking pregnancy, maternity, adop - tion, paternity or parental leave; • requesting or taking leave to care for seriously ill relatives; • requesting or taking leave to perform national service; • running as a candidate in municipal council elec - tions or being elected to a municipal council; • membership or non-membership of any trade union or a particular trade union; and • making a disclosure under the whistle-blowing scheme. If an employee is dismissed on any of these grounds, the employer must usually pay compensation to the employee, set by the relevant court or tribunal. The compensation is not subject to a maximum, but case law has established levels of compensation from six to 12 months’ salary in cases of dismissal on the grounds of pregnancy, or requesting or taking maternity, pater - nity or parental leave, depending on the employee’s length of service and the relevant circumstances. In some circumstances – for example, dismissal for requesting or taking pregnancy, maternity, adoption, paternity or parental leave or requesting equal pay – employees may seek reinstatement. Reinstatement cannot be ordered if it is considered unreasonable in the circumstances to maintain or restore the employ - ment relationship. In practice, reinstatement is rarely awarded. Most collective agreements provide special protec - tion against dismissal for workplace trade union repre - sentatives, providing that they may be dismissed only for “compelling” reasons. Many collective agreements also provide that representatives may not be dis - missed before the relevant trade union and employer or employers’ organisation have negotiated the terms of termination, or the union has had a chance to test the dismissal’s fairness through industrial arbitration. Some agreements stipulate an extended period of notice for union representatives. However, in the event of gross misconduct, union representatives may be
dismissed without notice, in the same way as other employees.
8. Disputes 8.1 Wrongful Dismissal White-Collar
White-collar (salaried) employees who have at least 12 months’ continuous service with the employer may be dismissed only if this is considered to be reason - ably justified by the conduct of the employee or the circumstances of the business. If the employer dis - misses a white-collar employee in breach of this provi - sion, it must pay compensation to the employee. The amount of compensation must be determined by the relevant court with regard to the employee’s length of service and other circumstances. The compensation is generally capped at the employee’s pay for half of the statutory notice period to which the employee is entitled but may be as high as: • three months’ pay for employees over 30 years of age; • four months’ pay for employees with at least ten years’ service with the employer; and • six months’ pay for employees with at least 15 years’ service with the employer. White-collar employees must, at their request, be pro - vided by the employer with a written statement of the reason for their dismissal. Blue-Collar With regard to blue-collar employees, general protec - tion against unfair dismissal is provided only by col - lective agreements. Notably, the general agreement between FH (the Danish Trade Union Confederation) and DA provides minimum rules in this area for much of the private sector. The agreement provides that “no arbitrary action shall take place in connection with dis - missals” and that dismissal should be warranted by the situation of the employee or of the company. The agreement lays down a procedure for claiming unfair dismissal, as follows.
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