Rules applicable when you are terminated

If your employer is dissatisfied with your work performance or behaviour, you may be reprimanded or warned. You will be given such reprimand or warning at a meeting where you are entitled to bring your union representative. Regardless of participation, he/she must be informed no later than two days after the meeting. 

A warning must be in writing, clear and specific. It must state: 

• What the criticism is about 
• What you need to change – and how. The requirements should be objective and measurable 
• Whether follow-up meetings will be held 
• That it may have employment law consequences such as termination if you do not meet the requirements  
• The deadline, if any 

If you fail to address the issues outlined in the warning, it may result in termination.

Disagree with the warning 

If you disagree with the warning, you must prepare a written objection or, if the content gives rise to questions, ask for clarification.  

Contact your union representative or Finansforbundet as soon as possible – it is important to react immediately if you disagree with the warning.

A severance agreement is a voluntary agreement on departure between you and your employer. It is an alternative to a termination, and therefore the terms should at least correspond to what you would have been entitled to in connection with an ordinary termination. 

It is important that you know all the details of the agreement. Therefore, talk to your union representative or Finansforbundet before you sign.  

Also contact your unemployment insurance fund as voluntary departure may trigger a disqualification period, and salary protection insurance does not usually cover. 

Your employer may change your terms of employment. The rules depend on the type of change in question:  

• Insignificant changes related to, for instance, working hours, place of work or tasks may take effect immediately.
• Significant changes require a notice corresponding to your notice period, and they will not take effect until the period has expired. Significant changes are in fact equivalent to a termination with an offer of re-employment on new terms. You may decline and be considered terminated with the rights that entails – e.g. notice period, objective reasons and any compensation. 
  
  

Significant or insignificant 

Changes in salary are generally always significant.  

Other changes are assessed on a case-by-case basis as what is important to one person is not necessarily important to another.  

If you are in doubt, contact your union representative or Finansforbundet for advice – it is important to react quickly to changes to your employment relationship.  

A termination can be verbal, but is typically written and includes an effective date of termination.  

You are entitled to: 

• A notice period corresponding to your length of service 
• A written reason for your termination  

If you disagree with the reason, you should contact your union representative or Finansforbundet for advice. 

Reasons  

If you have more than one year's length of service at the time of termination, objective reasons must be given for the termination. Objective reasons may be matters concerning: 

• Your employer, e.g. financial situation or organisational changes. If the reason is genuine, it is usually also fair 
• You as an employee, e.g. performance, inflexibility or illness. As a general rule, this requires that you have previously received a warning, enabling you to make corrective changes. 

If you find the termination to be unfair, you must contact your union representative or Finansforbundet for advice. Please note the important deadline of four weeks from the date of termination in relation to bringing the matter up. 

When terminated, you are entitled to a notice that depends on how long you have been employed. The rules appear from the Danish Salaried Employees Act (funktionærloven).  

If you have agreed on an extended notice period with your employer, this will apply.  

Please note that the notice period may be shorter if you are terminated during your probationary period or according to the 120-day rule. In these situations, you should contact Finansforbundet for a concrete assessment. 

The notice periods are:

Your employer decides whether to release you from your duties during the entire notice period or part of it .

If you are released from the duty to work, it means that: 

• You are still employed but do not have to work 
• You receive your usual salary 
• Your other terms and conditions generally continue unchanged 
  

You are allowed to perform other work as long as it is not in a competing company. In some cases, your employer may offset your new income against your salary – however, you are always entitled to at least three months' pay. 

Use Finansforbundet's minimum compensation calculator

Duty to go job hunting 

If you have been relieved of your duty to work for more than three months, you must actively look for another job throughout the notice period. If you fail to search for another job, your employer may refrain from paying salary.

and may also ask for documentation of your job search. We therefore recommend that you keep a log of all your job search activities. Starting a business or an educational/training programme does not count as a job search.   

Loyalty 

Although relieved of your duty to work, you are still employed and subject to a duty of loyalty. As a result, you are not allowed to start working for a competing company without it being agreed, and you must continue to make only loyal statements about your employer.

Make sure to agree on when and how to change your information on LinkedIn and other social media. 

Read Finansforbundet's pamphlet on termination of employment

If you are employed under the standard collective agreement and terminated due to the affairs of your company – e.g. restructuring or its financial situation – you are entitled to an outplacement programme. 

You will be given time off with pay to participate, and the programme must adhere to the principles of the Code of Good Outplacement Practices in the financial sector. 

No outplacement programme 

Even if your termination is due to the affairs of your company, you should contact Finansforbundet if you are not offered an outplacement programme.  

A summary dismissal means that your employment ends immediately. This happens if your employer believes that you are in material breach of your employment relationship, e.g. through disloyal conduct.

If you are dismissed summarily, it is vital that you: 

• immediately object to your employer 
• contact your union representative or Finansforbundet so that we may assess the circumstances and possibly raise a claim for salary, holiday pay and compensation 

If you want a legal assessment of your summary dismissal, a mandatory time limit of four weeks applies from the date on which you received the dismissal.  

You are entitled to severance pay if you are terminated and have been continuously employed with the same company for more than 12 years.

The Danish Salaried Employees Act 

In addition to salary during the notice period, you are entitled to: 

• 1 month's salary if you have been employed for 12 years when you leave. 
• 3 months' salary if you have been employed for 17 years when you leave. 

The standard collective agreement 

If you have been employed for more than 12 years and are of a certain age when you leave the company, you are furthermore entitled to: 

• 40 years old: 1 month's salary 
• 45 years old: 2 months’ salary 
• 50 years old: 3 months’ salary 
• 55 years old: 5 months’ salary 
• 60 years old: 6 months’ salary 

In addition, you are entitled to extra pension contributions if, on the effective date of termination, you are:

• 50 years old: 8 months' pension contribution 
• 55 years old: 20 months' pension contribution 

If you are terminated for objective disciplinary reasons, you will not receive the special compensation or the pension contributions in accordance with the collective agreement. If this is the case for you, you should contact Finansforbundet.  

Mitigation measures 

If you are terminated due to the affairs of your employer, you are not entitled to the above compensation and you have not found a new job on the date of exit, you are entitled to compensation of one month's salary when you leave.  

If agreed with your employer, you may take holiday during the notice period. 

As a general rule, you must take any holiday planned in the notice period. However, not the main holiday (three weeks) if your notice period is three months or less. 

Notice of holiday 

You may be given notice to take holiday during the notice period in accordance with the notices stated in the Danish Holiday Act (ferieloven), i.e. three months for the main holiday and one month for other days of holiday. 

If you are suspended, you will normally not be able to take holiday. 

Holiday allowance 

When you leave the company, your employer must compute your remaining days of holiday, calculate your holiday allowance and pay the amount to FerieKonto or a holiday allowance scheme.  

See a statement of the amount and number of days of holiday on Borger.dk (danish)

When you stop working for the company, your free-choice bank balance is paid out at the hourly rate applicable on the date of payment. 

Your employer may demand that you take the hours corresponding to the days of holiday secured by the collective agreement in the notice period. 

Flex hours will not be paid out to you, but you may agree with your manager to take the hours in the notice period.

If you have signed a bonus agreement, making bonus a fixed foreseeable part of your salary, and the bonus agreement requirements have been met, you are, as a general rule, entitled to a bonus – if terminated. 

The amount of your bonus depends on what has been agreed in your bonus agreement and when you leave: 

• At the end of a year, you are entitled to a bonus for the entire year of accrual
• In the middle of the year, e.g. on 30 September, you are entitled to a proportionate share of your bonus of 9/12. 

Severance agreement 

If you enter into a severance agreement, you should pay attention to whether the agreement removes your right to bonus as it is often considered a full and final settlement. You should therefore talk to your union representative or Finansforbundet before signing. 

Holiday allowance 

Bonus is part of your salary, and you will therefore receive holiday allowance on your bonus.

Pension

As a general rule, bonuses do not trigger pension contributions.

Som ansat i et fleksjob med et handicap, er du særligt beskyttet af As a flex jobber with an impairment, you enjoy special protection under the Danish Consolidation Act on the Prohibition of Differences of Treatment in the Labour Market etc. (forskelsbehandlingsloven). This means that your employer is obliged to look into the possibility of adapting the tasks so that you can stay in the job before they terminate you due to your impairment. 

You should contact Finansforbundet so that we can help assess your situation.  

Contact the municipality 

You should also contact the municipality administering your flex job scheme for them to assess whether you are unemployed through no fault of your own and entitled to unemployment benefit. 

Rules on flex jobs

Your employer is not allowed to dismiss you because you are pregnant or on maternity leave. If you are nevertheless terminated during your pregnancy or leave of absence, and your employer knows about your pregnancy, your employer must be able to prove that your termination is not related to your pregnancy or maternity leave. The rules apply to both mother and father/co-mother. If you are terminated contrary to the Danish Equal Opportunities Act (ligebehandlingsloven), you may be entitled to compensation. 

Timing 

If you are terminated shortly after having informed your employer about the pregnancy, it may create doubt about the reason. In such case, you should immediately contact your union representative or Finansforbundet.

Ill during pregnancy 

If you are terminated on the grounds of absence due to illness, the reason for being ill is important. If your doctor deems the illness to be pregnancy related, it means that you are protected by the Equal Opportunities Act. Your sickness absence may therefore not lead to termination, because then you would in fact be terminated because of your pregnancy. 

Contact your local union representative or Finansforbundet if you are terminated while pregnant or on maternity leave.

Rules on parental leave.