Denmark
Find out key information relating to Denmark’s leave entitlements
Leave entitlement & working time regulations at a glance
Minimum Holiday Entitlement
25 days
Public Holidays
10 per year
Parental Leave
52 weeks, with varying pay schemes.
Working Week
37 hours (full time)
Sick Leave Entitlement
Paid by the employer for the first 30 days, then by the municipality
Region
EMEA
ABSENCE & LEAVE
Additional information
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.
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.