HR law

HR law - also known as employment and labor law - regulates the legal relationship between employers and employees and is based on both statutory rights and obligations as well as unwritten employment law principles. It is an area in rapid development and regulation is constantly intensifying, which can make it a tricky area for Danish employers.

Our advice

At CLEMENS, we are highly specialized, and our experienced team of lawyers provide advice in all areas of HR law. Our advice typically falls within the following main categories:

• Employment contracts
• Director relationships
• Termination and expulsion
• Mass layoffs
• Restrictions on competition
• Incentive programs
• Sickness, maternity and vacation advice
• Employee handbooks and policies
• Disputes

Furthermore, we assist with a number of special types of tasks that do not necessarily fall within the above categories, such as

• Advice on health and safety legislation
• Employment law aspects of M&A and restructuring
• Employee use of social media
• Control measures, including employee monitoring and background checks
• Coordination of international projects, including obtaining and analyzing local advice
• Assistance with collective bargaining, including local agreements

Our employment law team

Our strong team of HR legal experts provide advice in all areas of HR law based on years of legal and commercial experience. Our team members are passionate about HR law and HR in general, and we have a holistic understanding of the importance of HR law for employers and employees, which is a crucial prerequisite for delivering holistic, value-adding advice.

We provide HR legal advice at the highest international level, as evidenced by both leading international lawyer rankings and our client base. The team is regularly ranked among the leaders in Denmark in various international publications (e.g. Legal 500 (EMEA) and Chambers Europe) based on feedback from clients and other leading HR law experts from around the world. In the 2023 edition of Legal 500 (EMEA), the team is mentioned as follows:

"Magic Circle quality with high-caliber lawyers. Strong team of genuine experts with confidence." "Clemens Law works with close relations with me and our company. I always get professional feedback and they know our company and its ethics and values."

Our advice is holistic. This means that we focus not only on the law, but also on commercial interests and HR legal aspects. Therefore, we often work closely with CLEMENS specialists in areas such as data protection, tax, M&A and insolvency. Our team stands out from the market primarily through a combination of highly experienced and skilled HR law experts and our uncompromising focus on service and investment in long-term and meaningful relationships with customers and partners. In addition, we offer competitive prices that are often significantly lower than those of other firms with similar expertise. Our advice is provided in Danish or English, depending on the customer's preference.

Who do we help?

We primarily advise employers, including private companies, foundations, associations and public and semi-public organizations. Our client base spans the full spectrum of private employers from global heavyweights, including several Fortune 500/FTSE 100 companies to relatively small start-ups. See a number of recent examples of private sector clients. We also advise CEOs and other senior executives on their personal HR legal matters, e.g. as part of the negotiation of their employment contract or termination of employment. Due to our strong reputation and international network, we are trusted local partners for several international law firms that do not have an office in Denmark, including a number of the largest full-service firms as well as smaller firms specializing in HR law.

Our unique international experience and network

We continuously participate in major international projects - often in collaboration with international large and medium-sized law firms from all over the world - as well as in the role of project manager responsible for international coordination as a local project participant providing Danish HR legal advice. We have relationships with HR legal experts in all EU countries as well as several other countries around the world - such as the US, UK, Canada, India, Brazil, Australia and China. We regularly make our international network available to our customers in order to provide them with the best possible conditions for a good cooperation with the foreign law firm in question. The team's international expertise is also reflected in our contributions to international publications on HR law. Most recently, we have written the chapter on Denmark in the internationally recognized Employment Law Review for the 8th consecutive year, which is available here.

What is HR law?

In a broad sense, HR law regulates the legal relationship between employers and employees and is often referred to as labor and employment law. An employment relationship is first and foremost regulated by a wide range of complex Danish and international regulations. In addition, the employment relationship is supplemented by the individual agreements between the employer and the individual employee, in particular the employment contract. Furthermore, there may be collective agreements that set the framework for what the parties can agree, and case law is also of great importance in the development of HR law.

In addition, a number of key unwritten principles apply, such as the employer's right to manage, i.e. the employer's right to direct and distribute work. HR law contains a number of requirements for the wording of the employment contract, the applicable pay and employment conditions and the employer's personnel administration - i.e. the employment relationship from start to finish. The purpose of the requirements is mainly to protect the employee, but HR law also includes a number of written and unwritten rules for employee behavior, such as the employee's duty of confidentiality and loyalty.

Particularly due to rapid developments in EU legislation and the relatively high number of disputes in Danish workplaces, HR law is very dynamic and many employers find it difficult to keep up. Compliance requirements are increasing, and in addition, the HR field is constantly changing due to global, regional and national trends, such as increased focus on work-life balance, the current ethical agenda, ESG, work outside the workplace, the use of artificial intelligence (AI), etc.

Courses, presentations, etc.

CLEMENS regularly organizes seminars on current HR legal topics, which are typically free to attend. Our team also regularly organizes courses, presentations, etc. on various HR legal topics for individual companies, networks, conferences and other professional contexts. We are of course available for a non-binding conversation if you or your company needs HR legal advice.