Article

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Description

To be covered by the national legislation on mass redundancies a company should employ more than 20 persons and the dismissals should affect:

• a minimum of 10 workers in companies which normally employ 21 - 99 persons;
• a minimum of 10% of the workforce in companies which normally employ 100 - 299 persons;
• a minimum of 30 workers in companies which normally employ a minimum of 300 persons.

Seamen are excluded from the legislation.

For a dismissal to be accepted as 'collective', it should take place within a 30 day period for a reason which is unrelated to the employees’ performance.

The Collective Redundancies Act does not apply to dismissals resulting from an employer being wound up by court order.

The employer has an obligation to negotiate with the employees' representatives right after the announcement of restructuring with the aim to mitigate the effects of the collective dismissals.

In case of substantial change to employment conditions (eg: transfer to a different geographical location) is a redundancy combined with an offer of continued employment on new terms.

Commentary

The Danish Agency for Labour Market and Recruitment (Styrelsen for Arbejdsmarked og Rekruttering, STAR) publishes annual data on collective redundancy notices.

Additional metadata

Cost covered by

None

Involved actors other than national government

National government

Involvement (others)

None

Thresholds

Affected employees: 10
Company size: 21
Additional information: No, applicable in all circumstances

Sources

• Bekendtgørelse af lov om varsling m.v. i forbindelse med varsling af større afskedigelser
• Ius Laboris (2011), Individual Dismissals Across Europe, Brussels
• Ius Laboris (2009), Collective Redundancies Guide, Brussels
• Alpha Consulting (2003), Anticipating & Managing Change - A dynamic approach to the social aspects of corporate restructuring, Brussels, European Commission
• Watson Wyatt (2006). Employment Terms & Conditions Report Europe, Volume I, Brussels, Belgium
• Hansen, T., Jensen, O.B., Mahncke, H. and Christensen, A. (2009), National background paper Denmark, Anticipating and managing restructuring in enterprises: 27 national seminars, ARENAS Report, Brussels, European Commission
• Danish Act on Collective Redudancies No.291 of 22 March 2010