Additional leave compliance rules and complexities

Working patterns

A full-time working week is considered to be 37 hours. No workweek is allowed to exceed 48 hours, not even with overtime. There are no mandatory or statutory rules for overtime pay.

Annual leave

In terms of paid leave, Denmark operates on a system called “concurrent holiday”. This basically means that employees accrue leave days each month, but they’re allowed to take holidays even while they earn their days. So by agreement, employees can take leave days before they accrue them. The holiday year runs from September 1 to August 31 of the following year. Employees get a total of 25 days’ leave each year, which they accrue at a rate of 2.08 days a month.

Sick leave

As for sick leave, employers must continue to pay their employees for the first 30 days of an illness. After this, Denmark’s social benefits system takes over for a maximum of 22 weeks.

Maternity and paternity leave

When it comes to maternity leave, employees can take up to 4 weeks before birth and 14 weeks after. They’re entitled to 50% of their wages during this period. Male employees can take up to 2 weeks of paternity leave so long as they do so in the first 14 weeks after the birth. After 14 weeks, either parent can take up to 32 weeks of parental leave. Though the more leave they take, the less parental allowance they receive each month.