Your rights: changes to your employment terms

Notification of changes

Your employer has managerial rights and can therefore change your employment conditions at any time. If the changes are insignificant, they can be made with immediate effect. However, if the changes are substantial, you are entitled to notice equivalent to your notice period.

Unacceptable changes

If you cannot accept the change in your terms, you may consider yourself dismissed and resign from your position at the end of the notice period. Employment terms agreed in a collective agreement can only be changed in accordance with the rules set out in that agreement.

Reduction of salary and pension

Any reduction of your salary and pension conditions is considered a substantial change in your conditions and must therefore be notified with your individual notice.

If you are stripped of managerial responsibilities or moved to a completely different job from the one you were originally hired for, this will typically also be a substantial change.

Your employer changes address

It may be a significant change to your conditions of employment if moving your workplace causes you major inconvenience.

Whether this is the case will depend on a specific assessment of whether travel time and transportation costs between home and work increase, or whether there is an increased inconvenience in picking up and dropping off children at institutions or other social considerations.

Transport possibilities must always be taken into account in such an assessment.

Insertion of non-compete clause

Signing a non-compete or non-solicitation clause will be a significant change and must be notified with your individual notice.

However, if the clauses are presented in the context of a promotion, the situation may be different, as promotions and other improvements to terms and conditions are not normally notified.

Change of job content

Changing the content of your position can count as a substantial change. However, it takes a lot to constitute a substantial change of position, which must be notified with your individual notice period.

It will always be a specific assessment whether there is a substantial change in your position. We therefore recommend that you contact our legal counselling before agreeing to any major changes to your position.

Specific for public sector employees

In public workplaces, employees have the opportunity to influence an organisational change and its process through works councils or employee committees.

The same applies to larger companies in the private labour market, where a cooperation system has been agreed.

You can read more about this at the Association of Local Authorities and Regionerne.dk.

• For municipalities (In Danish)
• For regions (In Danish)