The introduction of new rules on recording working hours in 2024 meant the return of a system some Danish workplaces may not have seen for years: a clock for punching-in when you arrive at work and leave to go home.
There may now be electronic systems in place instead of the old-fashioned cards, punches and stamps, but the point is that there will be tighter control on working hours.
The requirement implemented a 2019 judgement of the EU Court, with Denmark's version built on an agreement reached on June 30th, 2023 between the Confederation of Danish Employers, the Danish Trade Union Confederation, and Denmark’s white collar union, the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations.
The primary intention of the EU law is enforce equal working conditions for all staff at companies – including foreigners such as EU nationals who might not be familiar with local practices – and to ensure standards such as the 11-hour rule which provides regular breaks.
It has been met with some skepticism in parts of the Danish labour market, where a culture of trust – present throughout Danish society – means many employers have not previously required their staff to record their working hours.
But removing this element of trust from an employer-employee relationship is a positive step according to the chairperson of trade union confederation 3F’s Aalborg section, Benny Vinther.
“If disagreements emerge related to wages, it will be a clear advantage for staff that working hours are now registered and you can look up the information,” he told broadcaster DR when the law was introduced on July 1st, 2024.
Under the law, workers must register deviations from agreed or scheduled working hours and must also register interruptions to the working day if they need to, for example, pop out to the dentist or stay late to finish a presentation.
Some 85 percent of Danish companies already had some form of system in place for registering working hours prior to the new rules, according to data from the Confederation of Danish Industry (DI)’s construction and building department.
However, Vinther told DR that this is a sign of room for improvement – and that people who lose wages when their hours are not properly registered are more likely to be foreign workers.
“It will now be easier for our members to be proved correct when they haven’t been paid as agreed,” he said.
“Both sides must approve how to register (hours) so you can’t really end up in an argument about whether it’s the right thing to do,” he said.
Under the law, employers are required to keep the records for five years.
Employees empowered to set their own schedule — so called self-organisers — are exempt from the law, but the law states that such people should be able to reorganise their own working time “in its entirety” and that this power should be enshrined in their contracts. As such, this is only expected to apply to senior executives in practice.
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