The employment contract
Know what is in your employment contract – and always have our legal advisers review your contract before you sign it.
Have you landed a new employment contract?
The best thing you can do is have our legal advisers go through it before you sign it. Send your employment contract to raadgivning@finansforbundet.dk. We will review it within 24 hours.
What to pay attention to in your employment contract
It is important that you send your employment contract to one of our advisers so that we may go over it before you sign it. And don’t forget to read it yourself to make sure that it includes all that you agreed and so that you will know the terms under which you will be working.
Your contractual relationship establishes what you should pay attention to if:
- Your employer has entered into a collective agreement with Finansforbundet: Most of your rights such as maternity/paternity leave, holidays and increased holiday supplement have been agreed beforehand by way of the collective agreement. In this case, you should focus primarily on the negotiable items like salary and notice periods, making sure that what you agree is written into the contract. Have your contract reviewed for free before you sign it.
See your rights in the collective agreement
- You are employed under an individual contract according to a collective agreement with Finansforbundet: You are generally not covered by the terms of the collective agreement entered into between your employer and Finansforbundet. You must therefore negotiate all the terms of your employment contract yourself. Do not hesitate to use us as a sounding board and get a free review of your contract before signing it.
- Your employer is covered by a collective agreement concluded with someone other than Finansforbundet: Many of your terms will be covered by the collective agreement, but how many and which ones depends on the collective agreement in point. Don’t forget the items that you can negotiate yourself, for example salary and notice periods, and that these items must also appear from the contract. Have your contract reviewed for free before you sign it.
- Your employer is not covered by a collective agreement: You should pay extra attention to your contract because you have to negotiate all your terms yourself. The only thing covering you is your contract and the basic rights of employment law appearing in, for example, the Danish Holiday Act and the Danish Salaried Employees Act (if you are a salaried employee). Do not hesitate to use us as a legal sounding board and to get a free review of your contract before signing it.
The contract must specify if you are covered by a non-solicitation clause or a non-competition clause.
Such clauses are of no advantage to you – not even if their validity is subject to you being compensated. You should therefore try to make your employer remove the clause or limit its scope as far as possible.
Read more about clauses
If you suffer from a disease affecting your ability to do the job in question, you are required to disclose it before starting the new job.
Read more here
The contract must specify the expected amount of travel involved in the job and how your travelling expenses and any overtime are paid.
If you are allowed to undertake special functions or hold second jobs, it should be specified in the employment contract. The procedure for authorising second jobs must appear from the contract.
The scope of confidentiality must be specified.
Normally, the contract will specify that you are not permitted to disclose or use knowledge about the company that you gain during the term of employment.
It must appear from the contract if you have negotiated time off with or without pay for course activity/supplementary training, including if your employer will pay the expenses.
Free car, free phone, agreement on home-based teleworking, health insurance or other items should appear from the contract. You will be taxed according to the rules in force.
You should pay attention to the number of days you are allowed to stay at home with full pay – and whether it concerns the first sick day(s) or any time during the child’s period of illness.
Under Danish law, you are generally not allowed any absence – neither with nor without pay – when your child is ill.
Read your rights here if you are covered by the standard collective agreement
The contract must specify if you have the right to full pay during maternity/paternity leave and for how long.
The Danish Salaried Employee Act grants:
- the mother the right to days off with half pay for four weeks prior to the time of expected birth and for 14 weeks after birth.
- the father the right to days off on leave benefits for two weeks in connection with birth. The father has no right to pay.
The contract must specify if you have the right to paid sick leave if you are not covered by the Danish Salaried Employee Act.
If you are covered by the Danish Salaried Employee Act, you have the right to paid sick leave.
The following 11 mandatory items are standard in an employment contract and must always be stated:
- Employer: The name, address and workplace information of your employer.
- Job description: What your job entails – i.e. title, position or description of the job.
- Start and end dates: When you start the job, including also an end date if you are on a temporary contract.
- Holidays, special holidays and dependants’ leave days: You have the right to five weeks’ holiday a year. The contract must state if you are also entitled to special holidays (the 6th week of holiday) and dependants’ leave days.
- Holiday supplement: Your holiday supplement percentage rate. The Danish Holiday Act entitles you to a holiday supplement equivalent to 1 per cent of the pay you have earned in the last holiday year. The contract must state if you are entitled to a higher holiday supplement.
- Termination and qualifying period: The notices of termination applicable to you and your employer must be indicated, alternatively by way of a reference to the rules in force. It must be indicated if you are employed subject to a qualifying period.
- Salary: Your salary, time of payment and when you will have the opportunity to renegotiate the salary.
- Pension: Your right to pension and the pension contributions paid by you and your employer, respectively.
- Working hours: Most often, the weekly working hours are 37 hours, excluding lunch. It can be agreed that lunch should be included in the working hours.
- Overtime: Whether your employer compensates overtime with pay based on a certain rate or if you have the right to time off in lieu.
- Collective agreement or other agreements: It must appear from the contract if the employment relationship is covered by a collective agreement or other agreements.
You signed the contract – but have changed your mind!
On accepting a new job, you enter into a binding agreement. If you change your mind, you will basically have to show up on the first day and resign according to the contract’s notice of termination and must work throughout the notice period.
If you don’t, your employer may require you to pay half your monthly salary and any recruitment expenses associated with your employment. However, a more likely scenario is that your employer will cancel the employment contract and show understanding.
If you would like to avoid such a situation, we recommend that you:
- contact your employer as soon as possible to have the contract cancelled.
- apologise sincerely for the inconvenience caused.
- give a credible and concrete explanation for changing your mind.
- plan what to say if the rejected employer offers to pay you more.
Check the salary before you sign
New job? Or change in existing terms? We will review your contract!
32 66 13 30Do you have a new job at hand? And would you like to have your employment contract reviewed before signing?
Our experts can help – we will review it within 24 hours.
Send e-mail to raadgivning@finansforbundet.dk
If you are taking up employment with Nykredit, Nordea or Danske Bank, then your contract must be submitted to a local union under Finansforbundet for review.
The lokal union is part of Finansforbundet and the the professional organisation at your workplace. Your inquiry will be treated confidentially.
Finansforbundet Nykreds: finansforbundet@nykredit.dk og tlf. nr. 44 55 25 00
Finansforbundet i Nordea: ffinordea@finansforbundet.dk og tlf. nr. 55 47 82 00
Finansforbundet i Danske Bank: ffidanskebank@finansforbundet.dk og tlf. nr. 45 14 01 11