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The Danish Working Time Act: What you need to know as an employer
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  • 14/05/24

From July 1, 2024, employers are required to have a work time registration system in place to record employees' working hours. In response to this, a number of questions arise. PwC's experts provide answers to the most frequently asked questions.

What significance does the Working Hours Act have ?

From July 1, 2024, all employers in Denmark will be obligated to have a work time registration system in place to record employees' working hours. Therefore, as an employer, you need to consider how employees will register their daily working hours, including what would make the most sense in terms of the company's operations. This could, for example, involve the use of Excel spreadsheets, an app, or a more advanced time registration system

But in what format should the hours be recorded, how does it relate to rest periods, and how do you handle remote work?

We have compiled the most frequently asked questions from employers, which you'll find answered below:

It is your duty as employer to register employees' daily working hours, i.e. the number of hours they worked that day. There is no obligation to record what time of day the working hours are completed, or how the work in question is paid (or not paid).

No, it does not need to be stated in the contract how you register working hours in your company. PwC recommends that you create a policy for working time registration. If the employee is a self-organizer this will have to be stated in the employee's contract.

As an employer, you have an obligation to ensure that your employees get the necessary rest. However, the new rules for recording working hours do not contain a requirement that it can be seen from the registration that this rest has been given. Deviations from the 11-hour rule and the rule on the weekly day off must still be registered in the supervision book or other equivalent documentation, cf. section 5 of the executive order on rest period and day off etc. 

Should disputes arise as to whether the rest time rules have been broken, a time registration system with this information would be advantageous, as it would otherwise be the employee's own registrations that could be used as a basis for the assessment.

The rest time rules do not relate to payment. It is therefore important to remember that simply because you have agreed that you will be paid for something, e.g. in connection with on-call shifts at home, this does not mean that it is working time. The same applies to overtime that is included in the salary, and the employee therefore does not receive additional payment for working. In principle, this will also be work that must be registered, as the remuneration is irrelevant for registration.

What must be recorded is actual working time.

The requirement means that the employee must have the opportunity to see information about their own working hours going back five years. This requirement also applies to former employees. The requirement must be seen as an opportunity for the employee to be able to document any breakup. It is therefore important that the employee can extract data for himself and that the data is reliable and unaffected. It is you who determine the process for handing over and access to data, but it must be assumed that particularly difficult or cumbersome processes for handing over and access to data may mean that the registrations are not considered accessible.

No, there is no requirement that the registration takes place digitally. However, there are some good arguments for recording working hours digitally, as it can otherwise be difficult to meet the requirement to save the records for five years and to ensure reliability. If you can meet the requirements, there is basically nothing to prevent the registration taking place analogously, e.g. on a physical calendar.

As a starting point, it requires a concrete assessment of a work function to determine whether the individual employee can be considered a self-organizer. The employee must a) work predominantly with management, or b) be able to make independent decisions and the employee's working hours must either be able to be determined by the employee himself or have some special features that mean that it either cannot be measured or cannot be determined in advance.

An HR function in one company may well be a self-organizer, while due to the specific circumstances it is not in another company. For the same reason, it is not possible to consider entire organizations or departments as self-organizers.

Specifically, directors registered with the Danish Business and Companies Agency are exempt from the rules, as they are not employees. Other directors are, with great probability, to be considered self-organizers.

If you are assessed to be a self-organizer, you should get an addendum to the employment contract, which states this.

Working from home is basically work like anything else and must also be registered. However, if the employee occasionally works at home, the work at home is exempt from the 11-hour rule and the rule on the weekly day off, cf. executive order on rest periods and days off etc. §§ 28 and 29. This means that although the hours must be registered, as they still count towards the 48 hour rule, the work is not a breach of the daily or weekly rest period. However, it is important that the employee organizes the work themselves. If the work is required at that time, the exception does not apply.

If the employee exclusively or predominantly works at home, the exception does not apply.

For salespeople, service fitters etc. working hours start at the starting point the moment the employee leaves home. Their working time registration is independent of what they are compensated for in terms of wages. 

As an employer, you are only responsible for the working hours the employee performs for you. The employees' use of their free time, possibly with another employer, is not relevant for you.. However, it is impossible to say whether in the future we see an obligation to ensure that one's employees do not work too much as a whole.

There is no widely agreed option to opt-out from the 48-hour rule across the standard-setting agreements. PwC is aware that e.g. The Association of General Practitioners and the Danish Regions have agreed on an opt-out option.

The table below can be seen as an overall guideline for recording working time when employees travel on company service. As long as you are within the EU, you are still covered by the 11-hour rule, the weekly day off and the 48-hour rule. However, you are not covered by the Danish implementation as soon as you leave Denmark.

Travel in Danmark

You must register your actual travel time if it exceeds the travel time you normally spend getting to work. If the journey is with an overnight stay, the time you are not at work is considered rest time. Should the total working time, incl. travel time, not exceed your normal working time, you should therefore not register any deviations.

Travel in the EU

You must register your actual travel time if you are available for work during your trip or have been required to work during the trip. When you return home from your trip, you must ensure that you get 11 hours of rest and a day off (35 hours of rest), if you have not had it within the last day and the last week before your arrival.

Travel outside the EU

You do not have to register your travel time in connection with travel outside the EU. Be aware that there may be local requirements for time registration where you travel. When you return home from your trip, you must ensure that you get 11 hours of rest and a day off (35 hours of rest), if you have not had it within the last day and the last week before your arrival.

 

Webcast: The Working Hours Act - for everyone

  • Introduction to the legislation, including the requirements for the work time registration system
  • Which employee groups may be exempt from the requirement for time registration
  • Review of requirements for storage and documentation
  • Considerations for which processes would make the most sense in relation to your company's operations, including the development of a work time registration policy
  • The law viewed through the lens of GDPR

Download webcast and presentation

Webcast: The Working Hours Act - for smaller companies

  • Introduction to the legislation, including the requirements for the work time registration system
  • Which employee groups may be exempt from the requirement for time registration
  • Review of requirements for storage and documentation
  • Considerations for which processes would make the most sense in relation to your company's operations, including the development of a work time registration policy
  • The law viewed through the lens of GDPR
  • What should smaller companies pay particular attention to?

Download webcast and presentation

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Contact us

Catrine Søndergaard Byrne

Partner, Head of Employment, GDPR and Dataethics, København, PwC Denmark

2448 9299

Email

Nicolas Mosgaard-Kristiansen

Senior Manager, PwC Denmark

2155 8471

Email

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