Accuracy of sick days

An employee could be dismissed with a reduced notice under the 120 sick-days rule as a count showed that she had been off sick for exactly 120 days.

 

Employees covered by the 120 sick-days rule of the Danish Salaried Employees Act can only be dismissed with a reduced notice of one month if they have received sick pay for an aggregate period of 120 days during any 12-month period and if notice is given in immediate connection to the expiry of the 120 sick days and whilst the employee is still off sick. This requires an accurate count of actual sick days, as illustrated by this case from a Danish district court.

 

A supermarket office manager was on long-term sick leave from October 2007 to February 2008. However, she had agreed with her manager to work a few hours from time to time when she felt up to it. When the employer’s count showed that she had been off sick for 120 days, she was dismissed with a reduced notice under the 120 sick-days rule of the Danish Salaried Employees Act.

 

But the employer and the employee disagreed on how to count the sick days and whether the notice of termination had been delivered in accordance with the 120 sick-days rule.

 

The Court counted the sick days
The Court held that it was okay to dismiss the employee with a reduced notice. After a detailed count of when and for how many hours – without breaks – the employee had been working, the Court came to the result that the employee had been off sick for exactly 120 days at the date of notice. The Court also based its decision on the fact that the notice of termination had not reached the employee until the day after the end of the 120 sick days.