The 48-hour rule is one of the rules designed to ensure proper conditions for employees - and breaking the rule can have financial consequences for you as an employer. But what exactly is it? We'll enlighten you here.
What is the 48-hour rule?
The Working Hours Act, which forms the basis for the 48-hour rule, is part of an EU directive. The main purpose of the 48-hour rule is to set a framework for how much your employee can work for you. In this way, the rule helps to ensure that employees' labour is not exploited and that they are not subjected to excessive work pressure.
The 48-hour rule states that the employee may not work more than 48 hours over a seven-day period averaged over a four-month period - including overtime. Periods of paid holidays and periods of sick leave are not included in the calculation of the average.
It doesn't matter what time of year the four months are. However, they must be four consecutive months.
The rule applies to all employees. However, employees who have a collective agreement that guarantees them at least the same rights as the Working Hours Act are exempt.
However, periods of special paid holidays and periods of sick leave are not included in the calculation of the average.
What happens if the rule is broken?
If you as an employer violate the 48-hour rule, it means that the employee is entitled to compensation. This means that you must pay compensation to your employee, which is typically between DKK 25,000 and 50,000, although it can be set at a different amount if there are special circumstances. The amount of compensation was decided by the Supreme Court in 2017. And it is solely your responsibility as an employer to ensure that the rule is followed.
It doesn't take much for there to be financial consequences for you as an employer. Even small breaches of the rules can trigger compensation.
In addition, don't assume that a claim for compensation is not valid if the employee has agreed to the hours. If the employee has voluntarily taken on extra work, it may affect the amount of compensation, but not the employee's responsibility to ensure that the employee does not work more than the 48 hours.
At the same time, just because the employee is no longer employed by you, you are not protected against claims for compensation. A dismissed employee can claim compensation for violation of the 48-hour rule - and if the rules are violated, the employer must pay compensation.
How do you protect yourself from breaking the 48-hour rule?
With a large group of employees and many daily tasks, it can be difficult to keep an overview of whether each employee's working hours comply with the 48-hour rule. But the responsibility lies with the employer, and therefore it is important to have an overview of the hours. With digital recording of working time You can easily keep track of employees' hours and get the overview that helps you comply with the rules.
Instead of having all the records of each employee's working hours on physical papers lying around the office, with digital time tracking you can always have the updated time usage in one place.
This allows you to check how much each employee has worked in a matter of seconds. This will help you get the overview that can secure you with future claims for compensation - and save you money.
An hour recording system like Intempus can do much more than ease the daily time recording for employees and ensure that it is manageable to comply with rules like the 48-hour rule. The system can also be integrated with other systems, including both quality assurance as well as payroll and accounting systems, so that data can easily flow between the systems. This can save your company time and, most importantly, errors. If you are more curious about the possibilities with Intempus, you can try the system for free and without obligation for 14 days
You are also welcome to give us a call at: +45 26390400
Act on compliance with the 48-hour rule
On July 1st, 2024, it became mandatory for employers to implement an “objective, reliable, and accessible system that allows measuring the length of each individual worker’s daily working time”. The law is intended to help ensure that employees’ hours are documented so that they do not work too much. The system must also be able to document that the 48-hour rule is being observed. You can read more about the legal requirements Here.
