In connection with the new legal requirements for working time registration, This raises a number of questions related to what working time actually is and when it should be recorded. For example, if an employee is travelling to a conference or visiting a customer or business partner abroad, should they record from departure to return? Or only the time actually worked? And what about the 48-hour rule and rest period rules?
What is business travel?
Business travel is when an employee has to travel to locations other than their normal workplace to perform a work-related task. This could be in connection with a conference, a course, a trade fair or a meeting with a business partner or customer.
Working hours during business trips
Working hours during business travel will typically be determined by the applicable collective agreement, local agreement or contract.
However, for all employees, the actual service or work on site is counted according to the general rules for calculating working hours, and free time not worked at the foreign workplace is not counted as working time.
Employee and Competence Agency has also defined some rules for state, municipal and regional employees. If you are employed by the state, business trips are included in working hours, up to a maximum of 13 hours per day, unless otherwise agreed between employee and employer. There are no upper limits in municipalities and regions, except that the time between 10pm and 8am does not count if an overnight stay has been organised.
Furthermore, if the employee travels from their place of residence to a location other than their normal place of work, only the “additional travel time” is included, i.e. the time in addition to the travel time between the place of residence and the normal place of work.
Rest time and days off when travelling on business?
According to The 11-hour rule, the employee must have a rest period of at least 11 consecutive hours within each 24-hour period. This also applies when travelling on business.
The Working Environment Act Chapter 3, §13 states that: “Travelling time to and from a workplace other than the fixed workplace is not considered a rest period or day off to the extent that it exceeds the employees” normal travelling time to the workplace."
This means that when travelling abroad, the employee is entitled to an 11-hour uninterrupted rest period no later than upon arrival at home if this has not been possible due to travel time. The same applies when returning home:
§Section 14: Upon return from a business trip abroad or to the Faroe Islands and Greenland, employees must be granted 11 hours of uninterrupted rest calculated from their return, unless the employees have had a similar rest period in the last 24 hours prior to resuming their usual work.”
In addition, when travelling abroad, the employee is entitled to one extra day off per week, i.e. one day off for every seven-day period. In other words, the employee normally has one day off per seven-day period, but when travelling abroad, the employee must have an extra day off either immediately upon return, in extension of their rest period, or during the trip itself, again, in extension of a rest period.
Deviations
In special cases, you may be allowed to deviate from the 11-hour rest and rest day rule with permission from the Danish Working Environment Authority - this also applies to business-related travel. Special cases can be, for example, when “acts of nature, accidents, machine breakdowns or similar unforeseen events disrupt or have disrupted regular operations (force majeure)” (Labour Inspection Authority). However, all cases must be noted in the inspection book.
You can read more about the rules for deviations here.
The 48-hour rule and business travel
According to The 48-hour rule, 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.
In relation to business travel, where total working hours will typically be higher than during periods of work at the workplace, the 48-hour rule also applies. Of course, this doesn't mean that the employee cannot work more or take overtime while travelling. It just means that the employer must ensure that the employee takes time off within the 4 months if the total working hours have been more than 48 hours on average.
However, the Working Time Registration Act contains an exception that makes it possible to deviate from the 48-hour rule. The rule applies to employees who perform functions that are critical to society and who are covered by a collective agreement or local agreement on on-call duty.
You can read more about the 48-hour rule and the exception clause here.
Automatically comply with working time and rest time regulations
Do you want a system that automatically helps you keep track of whether all employees comply with the rules for maximum weekly working hours and rest periods - both on days when they are in the office and during periods of business travel? Then get in touch with one of our skilled sales consultants to discuss your needs and which solution could be right for you. Call us on +45 26 390 400. You can also try designing your own solution here:
