New rules on employment contracts are on the way

The rules include, among other things:

• The requirement for the employer’s duty to provide information on several basic information in terms of employment is reduced for certain of the information from 1 month to only 7 calendar days after the start of the employment. 

• In future, the law will also apply to employment terms where the predetermined or actual working hours amount to more than three hours per week on average, and in cases where a guaranteed working time has not been agreed upon before the beginning of the employment.

The proposed law also provides for:

• Introduction of various minimum rights for the employee, such as the right to secondary employment, the introduction of a ceiling on any trial period of 6 months, etc., which will primarily benefit employees with a looser connection to the labour market
• A shared burden of proof if the employee can point to factual circumstances which give rise to presume that the employer has dismissed or otherwise subjected the employee to unfavourable treatment because the employee has complained to the employer about non-compliance with the law

The law’s requirements will be largely derogated for those employers who are covered by collective agreements made between the most representative parties on the labour market in Denmark, provided that the agreement gives the employees the same or better rights than what follows from the new legal regulations.

Once the law is passed, we will update the article so you can see the real changes.

If you have any questions regarding the new rules, or if you need help with implementing these, please do not hesitate to contact Attorney Julie Flindt Rasmussen or Attorney David Bar-Shalom.