The Danish Act on Working Hours

23 January 2024

What is the content of the amendment to the law?

The bill has been passed in an unchanged form as no amendments have been put forward. We have previously written a newsletter about the content of the bill, where you can read more about the new requirements.

The registration requirement

Essentially, all employers are required to record each employee's daily working hours. The purpose is to ensure compliance with rules on maximum weekly working hours and daily and weekly rest periods. In this connection, the following points have been clarified in the course of the legislative work:

• The Minister for Employment has confirmed in writing that the requirement for time registration only concerns the total daily working hours. Thus, it is not a requirement that there is a registration of time slots indicating when work was performed during the day.
• Furthermore, the Minister for Employment has confirmed in writing that the new rules allow employers to choose a system for registering daily working hours, where the daily working hours are only recorded by employees on days where the performed working hours deviate from the agreed and/or scheduled working hours.

Previously, the widely held understanding was that the system should enable employers to document the individual employee's daily working hours, specifically what time of day the work was performed in order to document compliance with rest time requirements. However, the Minister for Employment has clarified that it is sufficient for the system to register the total daily working time and not when during the day the work is performed.

The registration requirement will undeniably result in some administrative burdens for Danish employers. The extent of such burdens depends on the specific circumstances of the employer. Many Danish companies are expected to have an existing system that meets the new requirements. Other Danish companies, on the other hand, will have to introduce a new system for time registration to comply with the new requirements.

How should employers approach the registration requirement?

Employers have great freedom of method when it comes to implementing a time registration system. How the individual employer should go about it depends on several different circumstances. Among other things, it is important whether a time registration system is used today. Further, it is important how the current time registration system is set up and whether it meets the new requirements.

When implementing a new time tracking system or when adjusting an existing time registration system, employers should, among other things, consider the following aspects:

• Composition and implementation of a system for working time registration
• Information to and instruction of employees (preferably by drafting a company policy)
• Data protection considerations in connection with working time registration
• Drafting employment contract addendum for self-organisers
• Information process, if relevant, in connection with the introduction of working time registration (control measure)

Possibility to enter into opt-out agreements

The Working Time Directive provides for the possibility of derogating from the maximum weekly working hours rule, also known as the 48-hours rule. The agreement must be entered between the employer and the employee, but it is a requirement that the collective agreement provides for the possibility of concluding such agreement. Furthermore, it is a requirement that the employee is covered by a collective agreement’s provisions on on-call time and performs a function critical to society.