Employer action code: Act
Two recent decisions by the Danish labor court found that paying overtime compensation to part-time workers only for hours worked in excess of normal hours for comparable full-time employees, as specified under the terms of the relevant collective bargaining agreement (CBA), was discriminatory under the EU Part-Time Work Directive (97/81/EC).
Denmark does not have a statutory definition of “normal” workday or workweek. CBAs, which cover 73% of the private-sector workforce (Confederation of Danish Employers data for 2023), are the main source of a definition and the main source of provisions on overtime compensation.
Key details
Decisions No. 2025-528 and 2025-928, both issued on February 4, 2026, found that CBAs that require overtime pay for part-time employees only for hours worked in excess of the regular work hours of a comparable full-time employee (i.e., commonly over 37 hours) were discriminatory under the EU directive. The EU directive prescribes that part-time workers shall not be treated less favorably than comparable full-time workers solely because they work part time, unless different treatment is justified on objective grounds. The lawsuits were filed following a 2024 European Court of Justice judgment (in response to a request by the German labor court for a specific case) that the aforementioned practice constituted less favorable treatment of part-time workers without objective justification.
Although the labor court’s decisions only directly apply to the CBAs that were challenged, the rulings apply in principle to all CBAs or workplace policies that have similar provisions on pay for part-time workers for hours exceeding agreed working time. The decisions also found that instances of such treatment going back to 2001, when the directive was transposed into Danish law, may be subject to retroactive claims for compensation.
Employer implications
Employers should review their overtime pay policies to reflect the court’s rulings as well as consider auditing past overtime pay practices to mitigate the effects of possible back-pay claims. Nearly 75% of Danish companies surveyed by WTW employ part-time workers. The labor court’s decisions echo a similar ruling in Germany, another EU member state with a significant CBA coverage of the workforce (see Global News Brief).
