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WORKING IN DENMARK

Denmark announces new rules for working from home

New rules for people who work from home in Denmark have been announced following an agreement between a majority of political parties.

Published: 7 February 2022 17:29 CET
New rules announced by the Danish government adjust requirements for businesses to provide equipment for staff who use screens to work from home.
New rules announced by the Danish government adjust requirements for businesses to provide equipment for staff who use screens to work from home. Photo by Sigmund on Unsplash

The Danish Ministry of Employment announced the new rules in a statement on Monday afternoon after the government and centre-left ally the Social Liberals (Radikale Venstre) agreed on terms with the opposition Liberal (Venstre), Conservative and Danish People’s parties.

The new rules are particularly important for people who use a screen for working from home.

Employees of companies are allowed to use their own equipment to work from home provided the equipment fulfils certain standards.

If it does not meet the standards set out in the new agreement, employers are obliged to provide the necessary hardware.

Under the outgoing rules, that rule applies for employees who work from home once a week or more.

The new rules relax this, meaning the employer must only provide equipment for staff who work from home or at other fixed places of work at an average of more than two days per week over the course of a month.

The change in rules, expected to take effect at the end of April, allow more flexibility for people who work on their screens at several different locations, the ministry said in the statement.

“I am pleased that we have now found a political and balanced solution which gives both more flexibility and consideration to employees with varying places of work,” Employment Minister Peter Hummelgaard said in the statement.

“We are now making the rules for home working more up-to-date so they reflect the labour market of today in which work for certain types of staff can be done at many different places and not just at the office,” he said.

A trade union which counts many office workers among its members slammed the decision to ease requirement on companies who have staff working from home.

“I am simply shaken,” Mads Samsing, the deputy leader of the trade union, HK, said to broadcaster DR.

“In practice, this is exclusively about employers wanting to get off cheaply by pushing their costs over to staff,” Samsing said.

The Danish Chamber of Commerce (Dansk Erhverv) was more positive.

“We (now) have a sensible and balanced set of rules for home working. It’s a set of rules which is easy to understand,” the organisation’s deputy director Laurits Rønn said to DR.

Hummelgaard said in the ministry statement that the rules would be reviewed again next year.

READ ALSO: Can you take sick leave in Denmark if your child is ill?

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POLITICS

ANALYSIS: Is left-wing party’s EU election win good news for foreigners in Denmark?   

Denmark’s EU election returned a dream result for the Socialist People’s Party (SF), a centre-left opposition party. Could it have any long-term impact for foreigners who live in Denmark?

Published: 11 June 2024 18:58 CEST
ANALYSIS: Is left-wing party’s EU election win good news for foreigners in Denmark?   

What happened in the election? 

Sunday’s EU elections can be considered a huge win for the Socialist People’s Party (SF).

The party reeived 17.4 percent of the vote, up 4.2 points from 2019, making it the largest Danish party in the EU parliament and giving it 3 of Denmark’s 15 seats.

It also means SF now has as many EU parliament seats as the goverining Social Democrats, who lost 5.9 points to end on 15.6 percent, with their mandate allocation staying at 3.

The two parties are closely aligned in domestic Danish politics, despite SF currently being in opposition and the Social Democrats being the senior partner in a tripartite coalition with the centre-right Liberals (Venstre) and centrist Moderates.

Like the Social Democrats, the Liberals also had a damaging evening. The party lost 8.8 points and is now Denmark’s third-largest in the EU on 14.7 percent and 2 seats – 2 fewer than it had in 2019. However, they remain the largest Danish right-wing party in the EU by some distance, seeing off any challenge from the libertarian Liberal Alliance (LA) along with the far right. 

The Moderates, meanwhile, took a single seat in the EU parliament for their lead candidate Stine Bosse with a 5.9 percent share in their first EU election.

READ ALSO: Four key takeaways from the EU elections in Denmark

What is the potential impact on domestic politics? 

Speaking on election night, SF leader Pia Olsen Dyhr said the party’s excellent result could be used as a “catalyst” for a new political landscape in Denmark.

The EU election result can fuel further gains for SF when the next general election comes around, Dyhr said in the midst of her party’s celebrations.

“There’s an alternative to this government. There’s an alternative that wants [more] welfare and [to do more for] the climate and we are willing to deliver this in the EU parliament,” she told broadcaster DR.

“It gives us a tailwind and enthusiasm for the party and it means people will be even more ready for local elections next year and the general election further ahead,” she said.

During a press briefing on Monday, chief political analyst at Think Tank Europe Christine Nissen said that the resounding result for SF could indeed have implications for future national elections.

“We won’t see any direct results or change in government right away but there’s no doubt that the power balances are reflected in such a result as yesterday because it was so significant,” Nissen said, highlighting in particular the poor outcome for the Social Democrats.

“I think that looking towards the next national election, the Social Democrats might well have a very strong party on the left. And this will also matter,” she said.

During Prime Minister Frederiksen’s first term between 2019 and 2022, the Social Democrats ruled as a minority government propped up by parties to its left – including SF.

Theoretically, this structure or a similar one could return but with a stronger and more influential SF, if that party can transfer its European vote return to a national one. Neither the Social Democrats nor SF have given any hint of this happening, it should be noted.

Would a more influential SF change anything for foreigners?

The answer to this question is speculative, but SF and Social Democrats are generally allies. SF says it favours a “sensible” approach to immigration and in practice agrees with the Social Democrats more often than not.

SF has, occasionally, set out areas on which it does not agree with Social Democratic policies.

This has included accepting quota refugees from the UN – a question on which the Social Democrats eventually changed stance and agreed with SF.

The smaller party has also advocated more accommodating rules for family reunification of refugees, and opposed some controversial policies such as the “Jewellery Law” which was supported by the Social Democrats (but proposed by the Liberals).

On broad issues such as citizenship and residency permits, SF has not often broken with the Social Democrats during Frederiksen’s time in office – so much so, that the party has been criticised by its own youth wing for taking too tough a line on immigration.

While other left-wing parties like the Red-Green Alliance and Social Liberals, for example, want to change citizenship rules to better accommodate Danish-born non-citizens, SF is yet to explicitly support this.

On work permits, the party sometimes votes against rule adjustments that make it easier to hire from abroad (as can be seen here), ostensibly because one of its core identities is as a workers’ party which protects Danish labour. 

It is therefore far from certain, if SF had many more seats in parliament than it does today, that the party would pursue a significantly changed approach on immigration and integration.

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