New three-party agreement allows employers to demand corona passports

The consideration behind the new three-party agreement is to uphold safety in the workplaces, ensure that employers can reduce the risk of spreading Covid-19 and prevent any outbreaks in the workplaces.

Covid-19 has just again been categorized as a socially critical disease, which has entailed that the objectivity requirement for requiring employees to present corona passport is met. The Government and the labour market parties have also agreed to recommend to the Danish Parliament that the law, which previously gave employers the opportunity to require employees to be tested, is reintroduced.

Employers who require their employees to show corona passport will be subject to a few procedural requirements. It is not specified in the agreement what the content of the requirement will be.

Prior to the conclusion of the new three-party agreement, there has been no legislative basis for companies for introducing measures at the workplace level to protect employees against Covid-19. Thus, the new three-party agreement gives companies access to take the sufficient and necessary measures to prevent outbreaks among employees and ensure, to the greatest extent possible, that employees do not show up for work when infected with Covid-19.

The agreement stipulates that the legislation will apply as long as Covid-19 is categorized as a socially critical disease.

Lund Elmer Sandager’s comments

As the recent introduction in a few large Danish companies show, and as the trend is international, there is no definite labour law requirement that an order from an employer directed at employees about various measures to combat corona infection in the workplace requires legal authority.

In Danish law, a number of conditions developed in labour law practice must be met in order for a company to require its employees to ensure that they do not bring a socially critical illness into the workplace.

When these conditions are met, the legal framework for employers to introduce rules in the workplace for what is required of the individual employee to enter the workplace is very broad.

If you consider introducing rules on how to prevent and handle the spread of Covid-19 at your company, please do not hesitate to contact on of Lund Elmer Sandager’s employment law experts Partner, Attorney Michael Møller Nielsen or Attorney Julie Flindt Rasmussen.