Guys, I think it is a HUGE deal that you couldn't mention maternity leave. In Denmark we are ALL entitles to ONE FULL YEAR off for every kid we have. You even get paid during this year - in different levels of pay though, the first 14 weeks are "birth leave", the remaining weeks are maternity/paternity leave and can be split between parents. You can even save 8-13 weeks of the maternity leave and take it any time you want until your child I 9 year old. Yes it sounds too good to be true, but there you have it.
@PLANT The cost for healthcare is higher per capita in the us, than in denmark. Even thou our healthcare is better, we use less money on it. I dont know the actual numbers, but i think its around twice as much that costs the government than in Denmark. Per person that is. All becuase we have centralised it, government controlled and can make bigger deals, because we buy it in bigger bulk. But yes.. people think healthecare is more expensive in Denmark, becuase we pay it over the taxes, but actually its the other way around.
My American boss used to call Danes lazy and said they didn't want to work. I used to greet him with the following: Welcome back to the land of the truly free. May your stay be One of peace and insight. 😀😊 We got on famously.
It's funny, because a friend of mine was starting danish stores in the US, the stores over there had to have around double staff, mostly because they didn't work as fast and efficient. I'm sure it goes the other way around in other places, but my feeling is Europeans are just a lot more efficient.
I’ve said it before in another of your videos, but it is soooooo rewarding to me, as a dane, to hear your point of view on things I take so much for granted. I’ve lived with it my entire life, so a lot of stuff in society, is just “normal” until you guys highlight it. Making me increasingly more grateful to be the nationality I am. 😂❤️
Maternity/paternity leave is as follows: Mom: 3-6 weeks before the baby's due date 12 weeks after the baby is born Dad: 1-3 weeks after the baby is born To share between mom and dad: 36 weeks after the first 12 weeks that go to mom It differs, from employer to employer, how much of the leave is paid at 100% your normal salary. Regardless, the rest is paid at your "a-kasse" rate (roughly) by the state. It's a pretty sweet deal!
@@tysej4 > at the expense of the woman. Cause equality. Now, there is less freedom to divvy up the shared weeks, compared to previously a lot more necessarily has to be taken by the father - despite many households not wanting to do so.
To be honest. As born and raised in Denmark. I find it hard to understand how people can really complain about anything in this country. If every time something bad happns to you. You just remeber you were born one of the luckiest people on the planet. It is hard to get mad.
In DENMARK you cannot use vacation for being sick. If you are sick when your vacation starts you’ll have to wait starting the vacation until you are well
@@christinwilhelmsen9460 Afaik: Doctors note isn´t necessary unless you´re sick over longer time (more than two weeks i think) - It was changed because doctors have better things to use their time on... Yes. If you are sick, it doesn´t count as vacation. The vacation isn´t automatic extended, wouldn´t be fair to the employer, but you will be able to get the missing days at a later time.
@@fastertove you need a doctors note if you want the days you where sick on a vacation to get reimbursted. you cant just tell them you where sick, even if its just 2 or 4 days of a vacation. Else alot of people would take advantage of it and just "say" they where sick during their vacation, even if they where not, just to get more vacation days..
@@christinwilhelmsen9460 Thanks for correcting me. Just read up on it. It seems, that the employer can demand to see a doctors notice - so it is up to the employer. It also seems, that the beginning of your illness is important(the day you first report sick). If you are sick before a vacation begins you can get all days back (this essentially means that the vacation haven´t begun). If you get sick during the vacation (fx halfway) you won´t get the (up to) 5 first days of vacation back.
@@fastertove my mum worked for NAV for decades, so whenever I had any questions, I always asked her. Im always up for discussions with mindful people like you, and if im wrong, Im not afraid to admit that either ;) see you around ;)
Maternity leave is definitely the single most important difference here and the last one I would want to be without. I couldn't imagine my wife having to go back to work 2 days after.
@@jimmybaldbird3853 I just researched that. And it is partly true. More women, compered to other civilized contries, are not working in the US. But that is actually because the US, don't care if you get a child. So many families, needs to let the mom not work. Not because they choose to, but because they have no other option.
@@TheChrisMiR does that make sense to you? That we are just a nation of cold, uncaring people that prioritize work over family culture? We have traces of traditionalism mixed with higher salaries. As the US industries are shipped and outsourced over seas, this is changing a bit. But no, Americans are paid more, and therefore, only require a single family income. It is more desirable for the children to be raised by their mother than an institution
I worked on farms in the US when I was younger. Zero paid vacation, one week vaca a year after one year. No sick days. I worked 6 days a week and holidays (no extra pay). I also worked on farms in DK with all the benefits you guys mentioned plus rotating weekends off. Not sure why I should have gone back to the US, that was a stupid decision, I was too young to know better.
Watching this friday morning in a break. Working from home as pretty much every one else. Thinking to myself "this is gonna be interesting", and then I hear the line "Im having a whisky because why not". I laughed out loud, and then seriously looked at my liquor cabinet and thought "yes.. why not?" Yee, I will wait until afternoon, but thanks alot for the laugh and lots of fun and interesting videos.
That line was wonderful! And it shows quite a high degree of integration with Danish culture, I feel. If it were up to me, she'd be given immediate permanent residency just for that!
I heard Beer and Whiskey so I thought about a Submarine :) Love you guys and your stories :) Always funny to hear about how "normal" life is in the US compared to "normal" life in Denmark seen from your perspective :) Keep up the good work
About Maternity in Denmark. You get free 4 weeks before due date (8 weeks if you work in public jobs). When you have born the kid you have 6-9 month full pay and after that you can get paid from goverment, i believe it is 3-6 month (total 12 month). But the goverment pay is lower than regular pay... Good video it is difficult topic
This is not true. Maternity leave benefits differ a lot from company to company. It is in no way normal to have 6-9 months of full pay. You have 2 weeks before kid is born, then 14 weeks dedicated to the mom and then 32 weeks that the parents can share. This totals less than a year. You could also end up being on government paid maternity leave for the full duration if your job doesn't offer any pay.
4 weeks before for the pregnant person Then 14 weeks after birth. Then there's 2 weeks at birth for the partner. Total of 20 weeks. Beyond that there's 32 weeks you can freely divide as you you wish between both parents. Totally 52 weeks or a full year.
Regarding sick leave in Denmark, there are actually some restrictions. After 4 consecutive days your employer can demand a doctors note to document that you are actually sick and if you have more than 120 days of sick leave within a 12 month period they are allowed to fire you with 1 months notice regardless of how long of a notice you would normally be entitled to. I believe this is also the only circumstance under which an employer is allowed to fire you while you are on sick leave
The 120d rule, has to be specifically stated in your employment contract, and most contracts doesn't. Yore will still be able to claim at least 120 days on 'sygedagpenge' before you are to use unemployment benefits (dagpenge)
Mit engelske er ikke så godt. Men mange tror, at 120 dages reglen er en fordel for medarbejderen. Det er den ikke. Fordelen har arbejdsgiveren, for på den 120 sygedag kan han fyre dig med kun en måneds varsel, uanset om du har pga din lange ansættelse har flere måneders opsigelsesvarsel. Og det skal fremgå af overenskomsten, at 120 dages reglen er gældende.
In Denmark, the new "vacation" law is as simple as this: Each month of employment, you earn 2.08 vacation days which equals 25 days per year - So 5 weeks vacation.
For sick days in Denmark, I believe that you are allowed 120 days, without consequence. But a unspoken rule is, that if you’re sick, you’re sick - you don’t spend it on anything else.
No you are not allowed to have 120 days without consequence. But if you get a long term illness you cannot be laid off before 120 days for that reason..
Thanks for a nice video - USA i s such a "funny" 'Survival of the fittest' country!! A little request, since i like to listen to you both: split the talking time, so each of you have 50% each - i think that would give the videos a little better balance. Cheers!
Felt real lucky getting a kid in Denmark, had 4 weeks off right after birth, and then another 10 weeks of Barsel later. Really get the time to get to learn your kid at that age, a time that wont come back later. Very informative video, and makes me even happier to live here already :)
It's so nice to see some of the differences between the countries. And it makes me appreciate Denmark even more now for all that we get. Thank you for sharing. Great videos, here's my subscribe....And welcome to Denmark :)
Now...as you wished for, I have done my work to make your channel growing a ton. And its not just empty words...its because of your fantastic way of delivering your experience among people from both sides of the Atlantic ocean. Just want a lot of people to see what I see... a harmonic family taking chances, enjoying life and sharing with us all! ✨ You are really some of the few I really wants to blend in with, learn from and well just wants to spend my sparetime with. I'm fond of the american way of just be in the moment....specially you are so open for new human connections. I like that a lot! I was subscribing very early on your channel, and i just love to see your channel grow ;-)
This is actually interesting. I've been interested in work as a concept artist, which is mostly in California, US. So it's interesting to see what kind of vacation time I can expect when I make the move.
One thing worth noting, at least in the public sector in DK, is "afspadsering". If for example your regular job involves working evenings and nights (and weekends), you accrue afspadsering. If you for example work in a hospital or place that is operating 24/7/365, and you are scheduled to work on holidays during the week you get an additional hourly compensation, both in time off and monetary regard. This is your time to take off as you see fit - as long as it can be planned in respect of work place requirements. So if you give your boss sufficient notice - usually a week - they can cover your 'time off' with a substitute. There are some rules about how much you can accrue and how long you can save up time before you must take it... You also get extra pay for hours between 5 pm and 7am. Also, the standard work week in DK is 37(?) hours, compared to 40 in the USA. Anyway, that's how it was when I left DK in 2003.
I’ve been in the private sector. We were all in a flex time agreement, which just means you need to work your 37 hours/week. Usually everyone were at work between 9-14, the rest depended on how the employees flexed their time. This is great for when you have kids, or if you just dislike rush hour on the roads. Then we also had a flex account. This means that could be -37 to 37 hours. That means that if you needed extra time off you could work up your hours on the flex account and then take a day or two... or maybe a whole week. If there were something acute you had spare room for it, and then could work up the flex account afterwards. This also means that you just had to have a mean week of 37, but every week didn’t need to be 37 hours. If your flex account went above 37 hours, you would get these hours paid out on the following pay check. I know not everyone have this kind of format at work in DK, but many have a kind that resembles. It is my believe that flex time is rather normal in Denmark. And of course nothing longer is sudden in this without giving your boss a call about it. When our oldest had to stay one week in hospital, it felt very safe to have this system ❤️
In Ireland Maternity leave is 26 weeks starting from the day your baby is born, plus extra leave for the number of weeks between your baby's actual date of birth and the date you had planned to start your maternity leave. Maternity Benefit is payable for the whole of this extended maternity leave. The Family Leave and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2021 will provide three extra weeks of paid leave to each parent to be taken in the first two years after the birth or adoption of their child. Most mothers use their unused annual leave days after the maternity leave runs out and then ;may take some unpaid leave.
We have 36 weeks in Denmark by law. (You don’t have to take all 36 weeks, and they can be split freely between the mother and father) Most work places do offer up to one year, as a benefit.
For comparison with maternity leave: All pregnant women are entitled to 4 weeks before the due date and 14 weeks after giving birth Men are entitled to 2 weeks within the first 14 weeks. On top of that: there are 32 weeks that you can split however you like (men are allowed to spend some of that time during the first 14 weeks after spending the aforementioned 2 weeks)
As a swede we get 5 weeks but I negotiated an extra week when I started at my current job. Ususally take 4 or 5 in the summer and pre-covid usually 1-2 weeks somewhere warm in the winter.
og bare for at hjælpe jer lidt på vej kommenterer jeg på Dansk! :) Tak for de fine videoer, jeg deler dem med mine venner i USA, det er en sjov måde at vise både forskelle og ligheder!
So I’m going to try and sum up some of the danish rules regarding maternity leave. In general expectant mothers can stop working 4 weeks before the due date, but some can stop 6 or even 8 weeks before the due date. After the birth the mother gets 14 weeks, often with full pay and the father receives 2 weeks also often with full pay. If you do not qualify for full pay you get a stipend equal to unemployment benefits. Both parents also get a shared 32 weeks of “parent leave”, these can be divided as you wish and can be extended with 8 weeks, but at a reduced pay rate. Most people get 6-12 weeks of this leave with full pay and the rest at the rate of unemployment benefits. If your newboen is sick and has to stay in the hospital after birth these days can be added to the end of the maternaty leave. For each child under the age of 8 many people get 2 “carer days” every year to care for their child. Also the childs first sick day is paid, and for some the childs first 2 sick days er paid. If a chlid gets chronically sick you can recieve permanent leave to take care of the child either full time or part time. Regarding hollidays usually there is between 9 and 12 in any given year.
Some unions have made collctive agreements with employers which includes "senior days". That's some extra days off work if you're over a certain age. I'm turning 61 this autumn and I have got 34 hours this year. As I work part time (30 h/week) that's more than a week for me.😊
For sickness, usually there is the 120 day rule. But everything depends on your employment status - "Funktionær" (monthly paid) or "timelønnet" (hourly paid).
Also there’s extra days you get off - depending on your overenskomst (agreement made between the workers union, the government and the industri(?)) - for example if you’re moving, when you go to a funeral, birthdays such as 40,50,60. And there might be others.
Another thing is notice time if you are dismissed. If you are an "office" worker, you will by law, with up to six months work, have one month notice, after six months work, you will have three months notice. It will increase, so after 9 years work you will have six months notice, and some companies will give you more, if stated in your contract. Employee is required to give one month notice, but employer can require longer notice, if he also give a longer notice than required by law. It will be stated in the contract.
Norway is even more generous. 49 weeks maternity leave 1/3 for dad 1/3 for mother and 1/3 you can divide as you see fit. Also medical leave is usually 21 days own notice if the company is with the governmental scheme called including worklife (Else its 3) For medical leave with doctors notice it is up to 52 weeks. After that the employer can end your job, but you would still qualify for support (albeit lower than your salary)
In Norway its 5 weeks and after 60 you get 6 weeks. If you get sick the employer pays the first 10 days and after that the goverment continues. You get 100% payment.
100% Paid wow, greetings from Sweden. In Sweden, you get nothing the first day then it is 80% of your salary for two weeks then the insurance fund pays 80%, but they have a maximum ceiling that is set quite low. Then if you are ill for a long time, they lower it for a period to 65%, to then raise it again. Very confusing. But it is of course better than in the US, even if it is extremely difficult for someone with a low income to manage on 65% of the salary.
Regarding the 120 days and you are fired, is not always. My dads firm kept him even though he had 2 periods trough his work life he exceed the 120 day rule, first time for a lung illness akind to pneumonia, just way harder on the body, the last time because the cartilage in his spine was deteriorating. For the last one he was re-educated to do a more manageable job at the company, so worker retention is also something Danes value in the workplaces
Yes. The number of days etc. is different from company to company. Generally for the banks I have worked in it has been very relaxed and fair here in Denmark :-)
9:35 About the maternity leave you metioned I think it might be different if you're a goverment employee vs. privately employed. But you get 32 or 40 weeks of maternity leave. This however is shared between partners so usually one stays home while the other still works. It used to be the woman who stayed home but it's becomming more and more normal to see the father staying home and the woman working. The maternity leave is also paid. The amount is however depended on alot of factors. I don't know the rules for a privately employed but as a goverment employee the day your baby is born you ( the father) get 2 weeks paid vacation.
Could you compare american TV to danish TV. stuff like the news seems to be different in america. Would also like a review on Matador if you have gotten around to watching it.
I had 12 weeks of paid leave. And that's not including the 2 weeks (also paid) right after birth. My wife(studying at the time) got a year worth of student pay (somewhere around 5500dkk/880usd dkk a month), so she had the option to stay home for a year or eg. stay home for 6 months and get 2xstudent pay for the last 6 months. Also, the state pays you ~4500 dkk every quarter of the year until the kid is 3 and then it gradually decreases until the age of 18. It is generally not well seen to put your kid in childcare when they are under 10-12 months old in Denmark. Also, this doesn't affect paid vacation :)
12:40 I think there is a fairly simple recepe to why we land in the top 3 happiest ppl in the world.... CONSECUTIVELY!! Maternity leave is 4 (private sector) or 8 (public sector) weeks leading up to term and 8 months after birth. Paternity leave is is way more stringent and only allows for (if I recall correctly) 2 weeks after birth, with an option to share several months with the mother, in all up to 12 months total. Regarding sick leave, in Denmark you have to call in sick (generally required via phone, but most accept email, no reason given). This activates a governed refund at a fixed rate to the employer (most just pay your regular salary) and to get this refund thay have to report it within 5 weeks. Within 4 weeks the employer must have a talk about the sick leave to find a solution that can shorten the extend. The employer can ask for a medical statement (from the GP or other official institution) but have to pay for it. There are numerous other regulations in regard to this little "dance", but buttom line is... You can be sick for up to 120 consecutive days befor your employer can rightfully/legally fire you. During sick leave you are not ENTITELED to more pay than the "sygedagpenge", but it is far from unheard of that employers receive full pay throughout.
Pleje-orlov is maybee relevant in this connection? If a close relative of yours is eg terminally ill, your can get 3-4 months off to take care of her/him. You'll be paid the equivalent of sickpay or unimployment rate.
After second day of sickness the company is partly reimbursed for rest of the period. In a public institution you have to follow up on your co-worker within a month. (4 weeks). Workdays closed in by a holiday can be given to you freely. Ex. Thursday = holiday and Friday = given. But you can't count on it.
Usually if you are working on a holiday they have to give you another day of but only if you are working on a holiday. And if a holiday lands on a Thursday you mostly get friday off and when you are sick you can usually get up to 6 weeks before it becomes a problem. You get around 1 year for maternity leave and they can´t fire you from a job when you are pregnant
Also if you're a public employee in Denmark and you get sick in the beginning of your vacation, then you can get a possibility of having your vacation afterwards from when you have regained healthy status
I'm a bit envious about the "move holyday to the closest weekday" rule you have in the US. We usually distinguish between "employer-" and "employee x-mas" depending on if the holyday ends up in the weekend or not.
Normally if you fall sick within the first 13 weeks of employment you need to get money for compensation from your municipality. After taht time, the workplace pays, normal procedure is a Doctors note after 2 weeks, but employer will ask and will pay for it. You can not be fired during a " sick leave".. however if often sick, you csn be required for a dictors note from first day, which you have to pay yourself...
I think that employment and vacation laws are similar across the EU. In Greece you are entitled of up to 26 working days a year of paid vacation (it depends on your years of registered experience). We have up to 10 days of national Holidays but same as Denmark, if it falls on a weekend, tough luck. You have 12 weeks of birth leave (can be split up before and after birth as you like) and up to 9 months of leave for the new baby which can only be taken from one of the two parents (4 months for the private sector). There is actually a law, that an employee has to guarantee a new mother's job for at least 18 months AFTER she returns to work. Which means that if they want to change jobs they can, but they cannot be fired. There are frequent cases of mothers taking up to 3 years of paid leave because of back-to-back pregnancies. Sick leave without certified hospitalization is up to 14 calendar days but it has to be verified by a doctor that is registered with the National Healthcare and Social Insurance Institute. The time after the first 3 days is split between the government and the employee. You also get a week of paid vacation extra if you get married. You're also entitled a paid day off each month for attending meetings with teachers for your children's school. Also, and I don't know if this applies, in the private sector by law you are entitled a full month's salary as a Christmas bonus , another half month's salary in Easter and another half month's salary as leave time bonus, which is usually paid out by the end of June. This was the case for the public sector as well but it was cut after the financial crisis of 2009
Short about maternity: Mom gets 4 weeks before expected birth and up to 14 weeks after birth. Then on top of that the parents together get up to 32 weeks they can share how they like. So Dads get maternity leave too (if they want). Over the years there have even been times were certain portions of it was earmarked for dads.
Aaaaawww that is sooo nice ! My baby daughter is born on april 7th. She will be 1 year old this year 😊. And it's so true with time off, i feel like my husband is constantly working, he can't afford to take any time off, if it's not payed. I think another topic that danish people are probably not aware of, is the commutes. I wasn't aware of them, before i came to America. The amount of time spent in the car everyday is unbelievable ! I hope you get to your 10k subscribers fast 🤞
Maternity leave is 52 paid weeks - some of this time can be split between the father and mother. If you have sick days during your vacation in Denmark they legally count as sick days - not vacation days (not many use this option however). The difference in time on work also equalizes the wage gap between Denmark and the US. Thus, generally people in the US earn more - but in Denmark people have more time off in stead.
You just got one more subscriber. I live in Kolding, where You have been. You seems like such nice people! So no matter what you talk about, i'll just watch :D
you're right. We have 5 weeks of holidays, and some companies have whats called "Feriefridage" which gives you 1 extra week off. So a total os 6 weeks of. Often if you work at a supermarket, or shoppingcenter you have 6 weeks.
Kid's first sick day is actually not there by law, but by "Overenskomst", which is an agreement between the industry and the workers' unions. Not everyone is covered by such an agreement
Great video guys. Thx a lot. When comparing time of work by weeks, aren't you omitting the issue of how many hours a week you go to work? To my understanding there is a difference there too, that would amount to some cards per year. And thanx for coming here! It adds to the diversity and you guys seem like great people to be around.
Unfortunately in my experience the 37.5 hour work week in Denmark has been a policy only on paper but not in practice. I work the same hours as I did before coming here. But....when I’m off work for sick or holiday here, people leave me be which wasn’t the case in the US. Also, there are some jobs that have 37.5 hour work weeks in the US as well, not common but it does happen. Often with non profits as they tend to have lower pay so they strengthen other benefits. Also thanks! We are super happy to be here :).
@@TravelinYoung Well, I guess you're the exception that confirms the rule then :-) And of course you're videos are from personal experience, as they should be. I got curious though and had to look it up. On average danes work about 10 weeks less per year than US citizens. That's 37 h/weeks ;-)
Week 6 is normally called Ferie fridage, which are days you can choose to get days off from work or you can have them paid out, which means that you get an extra weeks pay added to your salary. or you can choose to have just 1 day paid out, up to you and 4 as vacation.
8:59 the concept of a very limited number of "sick days" is a US capitalistic one. If you are sick, you need to recover before you can return to work. This may need more than just X days. Or less. - Obviously there is an upper limit after which a person is considered to be chronically ill and may not be able to return to work, but this means months, not weeks. Same in all Europe.
In Denmark, maternity leave begins 4 weeks before birth. When the child is born, the father has 2 weeks leave. The parents can now share 32 weeks of maternity leave between them.
You are allowed free days at a funeral for close family member, but not normally for your " wedding " since you can plan this yourself. The sixth week you were speaking about normally is for random days, here and there where needed.
In Denmark you can be sick for 120 days before your work can fire you (after 3 days it's required by management to call and talk about the reason and how long the employee will be gone for. Then there will be frequent conversations/meetings during the 120 days)
maternaty leave is normally about a year. Kids sickness could happen pretty offen sometimes up to once af month... your sick leave is normally a weak or two depending on situation but 3 to 6 month can also happens on sickleave...
To be fair, there are some (a few) companies in the US, that give you really great benefits like retirement, pension, maternity/paternity leave. As a father, I got 12 weeks paid time off for paternity leave that I had to use in the course of 12 months. We also get 4 weeks of PTO per year plus national holidays. Hopefully more jobs here realize how much these benefits can contribute to the happiness factor of their employees.
In regards to pay and vacation. The new rules, as they mentioned, is that you start earning your vacation days on january 1st and then they roll evenly measured on how many days you have worked (in full weeks 37hrs, if I remember correctly, I havent been under the new rules, but had to help implement them at my last job) And then you can start using them as you see fit, 1 day at a time if you can get your employer to agree to that. As for pay when you go on vacation People who are in a hourly based job they save up "feriepenge" which is 12½% of their pay which your employer pays into an account, that you then apply to get your pay from when you take your vacation. and the famous 6th week basicly works like the other 5, you can spread the days out or take them all in 1 big lump, but most employers prefer you to take 3 weeks in summer and 2 weeks in winter, and then the 6th as single days. Many use the 6th week to stretch the public hollidays, like around easter (like Maundy Thursday and good friday they spend 3 days monday-wednesday to get a whole cheap week) Then you have others who work on a contract, usually middle management in the private sector (and yes all you people I know there are many others, this is just an example) whom has a fixed pay with basicly no max hours in their contracts, they have paid vacation, so the employer just pays their wages when they have vacation. And then as a small twist, if you get sick during your vacation, you should call your employer and tell them you are sick, because then you can get those sickdays back and take them later, and the days you were off will be counted as sick days instead in this whole big system :D
Norway and Denmark have simelar rules for maternity leave: Norway: Total 52 weeks where 12 weeks can be during the pregnancy, 6 weeks after for the mother then shared but the father have to use 15 weeks. Denmark: 4 weeks before birth and 14 weeks after, then 64 week shared.
Don’t forget child’s first sick day of. The 120th day rule will normally only be used if you’re in a habit of generally over average amount of sick days off. With danish family in the US, it’s nice to follow the other way around.👍😎
Usually you can keep your job if you are ill for up to 3 months, the first few days are covered by your employer, the rest are covered by sickness benefits for a year. By the way, do not show up at work when you are ill, you do not want to infect your colleagues with your illness.
I started a new job on Dec12th of 2005 and I was able to use my vacation time on January 1st 2006!!!! I saved my entire 4.25 hours of vacation time to travel to Sweden in November.
Commonly, your contract will stipulate that you can be sick for 120 days before your employer can fire you. You have to proof sickness though. Your employer can demand you to do that. Typically your contract will state that you have to do that after a week of sick leave by seeing your doctor and getting a statement of health from him.
There is no limit on sick leave in denmark. After 120 days (within a year) the employee can fire for being sick to much (unless you are sick bc of issues related to pregnancy then you can’t be fired) But no matter how long you are sick you are entitled to full pay
In regards to sick pay its very different from which union or agreement there is on the workplace. You dont necessarily get full pay while sick, if you are hourly paid it could be the minimum of 119 kroners an hour for 7,5 hours while you are sick. after 30 days the kommune will take over the responsibility if the employer petitions for it. Depending on the agreement and contract there can be full pay under sickness. Acutally there's not much decided by law most of the deals like an extra holiday week etc. is all in "overenskomster" which is union agreements. All in the public sector work under union agreements, in the private sector about 80% are covered by union agreements. Depending on which field you work in it gives extra perks like 1 week off extra, or extra pay for special holidays if you are hourly paid. Transport pay, extra pay for a long lists of different things, overhours pay etc.
Some people get an extra Day off if their normal Day off Fall on a national holiday.... as a hairstylist it’s quite normal to have a weekly day off because we work weekends - so at Easter when I had a normal day off on Thursday, I would get an extra day off because of Thursday being a national holiday ;) There are SO many different rules according to what your work is and what union your in.... unions are a BIG part of danish life - ( even our healthcare is born of unions ;) )
I work in the public sector with natural conservation; I get 5+1 weeks of paid vacation each year. Paid 1 and 2 child sick day (paid), 2 (omsorg) days/year because of my son, also fully paid. and after I've paid my taxes I got around the same amount as a average american does per month, with the huge difference that my healthcare, school (for my son) etc is already paid through taxes. Also my pension is fully paid, so I won't have to worry about it when my retirement comes.
if you work in the private sektor in Denmark your is allowedur 14 days the you have to give your imploier a Dockers note and after 3 months you can loos your job
Most white collar workers in Denmark also has 'flextid' (flexible working hours), meaning that if your contract says you have to work 8 hours each day and you work 10 hours one day, you can leave two hours earlier on another day (workload permitting). These hours can be saved up and if you are lucky may be spent as whole weeks.
True. Many places this is done by having a fix-time between 9 and 15, where people are supposed to be at work. And flex-time from 7-9 and 15-17, Of cause some types of jobs is better suited for more flexibility than others and for some jobs that arrangement would make no sense,
I fell down the depressionhole, and was quite astonished that the company I worked for couldn't fire me, before 120 days had gone by. So that's 4 months of sickleave before termination... That's another 80 cards... I love this country...
I would be interested in what I'd the expectation when you take vacation/holiday time. I have never had a job in the US where I could take vacation and not be expected to check email or follow up on work. Also, the video reminds me how terrible our work/life balance is in the US.
I don’t do any work in my vacation time anymore and no one except me too, but I think it depends on the job. I am a teacher and I have much better work conditions than my American colleagues even though many things are the same.
You get 5 weeks vacation plus 1 week in some companies. For maternity leave you get 26 weeks full pay as a mother and the father normally gets 14 weeks fully paid. On top of that the parents can share 26 weeks between them on dagpenge (government pays for this one)
You two are typical Danish people, bye spirit, i like that. Keep enjoying your new life, if you have more American friends, that want to move here, please let them come, we need yaa badly 💎👐🏻
I lived in the USA for many years always had a good job . My last job in a travel business tour guide all over the world and travel agent manager, My boss and owner appreciated my hard work and gave me 6 weeks' holiday. Also, I flew 1 st class or business class free for many years. Do not forget the vacation money the Danes have as well.
I liked the comparison with the poker hand. more time _do_ give a chance for a happier life. But, you should stick with Danish beer 'cause the majority of dish washing water-like stuff they sell in the US isn't worth drinking. :D
Huh, in Norway you can get up to 12 months of sick leave, although you only get paid 66% of your normal salary. Same with maternity/paternity leave, 12 months - split however you like, between the two parents.
Hey guys, your vids seem super wholesome and enjoying the few i've seen just now - your takes seem to be pretty rounded as well, a joy that it isnt just denmark good america bad, or opposite. I just had a thought about the intro (this is super not really important at all). But in the end where all three of you say "Keeping us young" one by another seems (to me) a little outdated, and (I think) would flow much better if you just did one word each.
The extra week of vacation you are talking about is called "feriedage" and you have 5 days where you can choose to take your vacation or get them paid on your last paycheck year, and you can use it whenever you want and as many as you want "total 5 days" But it is usually the craft industry that has it, due to the agreement with the unions. and the new holiday law was forced on Denmark due to the EU-Kommissionen in 2014, because the old holiday law was illegal according to them.
The 2-3 weeks for sickess is not really correct. Others have mentioned the 120 day rule. You will be on socalled "sygedagpenge" which is an amount of money you get paid during ilness,but if your emplyer still pays you you full salary, this amount will instead go to your employer. If they decide to fire you, you might still be on "sygedagpenge". This can be extended up to 2 years. Hereafter you will go into various rehabilitation/"get to work again" programs, but you will get less money each month here. If you so ill that you will never be able to sustain a job, you will become a "førtidspensionist" (early retirement) in which you will get an amount of money every month for the rest of your life to live by :) It is super complicated, but the point is that there is no real limit to your illness, and you will never be left with no income.
True. Most people on sick leave will be reported as "healthy" by their municipality after 22 weeks, however, and many people are struggling to get the "førtidspensionist" (early retirement). These people will often have to apply for cash well-fare (kontanthjælp), which is a system full of control and distrust.
@@Donnah1979 I fully agree on that! It is a complicated and bureaucratic system, I am currently struggling with it myself. But the alternative, these options not being available and all, would be so much worse!
AIn Denmark an employer can't fire you while sick before you have been sick 120 days. At some point they can ask for documentation from your doctor, but this is something they'll have to pay for. But if your doctor says you are sick, they can't do much before the 120 days.
At my job, in Denmark, when your a fulltime worker, you get paid when your sick, parttime workers dont. But partime workers usually dont Work more than 40-50 hours a month
As others have mentioned, you could also look into "maternity leave" - the HOLE package! The mother gets 4 weeks "graviditetsorlov" before the expected date of the birth, then 14 weeks after (2 fixed) and after that you get 32 weeks "forældreorlov" which can be split freely between both parents. The father gets 2 weeks "fædreorlov" right after birth and can extend this with with "forældreorlov". If there are complications before the 4 weeks "gravititetsorlov", then there is also the option for "graviditetsbetinget sygefraværd" which just requires a referral from your doctor. Other than that, some (most?) companies also have 1 or 2 days "barn syg" and in my case my employer also grants me 5 days "indlæggelse med barn" per year, which came in handy when we were admitted to the hospital again right after our daughter was born. Finally all of this "off" time is paid for in some way (employer or state) either fully or mostly, and there is also no hospital bill. Procreation is very much encouraged in the kingdom of Denmark ;)
Guys, I think it is a HUGE deal that you couldn't mention maternity leave. In Denmark we are ALL entitles to ONE FULL YEAR off for every kid we have. You even get paid during this year - in different levels of pay though, the first 14 weeks are "birth leave", the remaining weeks are maternity/paternity leave and can be split between parents. You can even save 8-13 weeks of the maternity leave and take it any time you want until your child I 9 year old.
Yes it sounds too good to be true, but there you have it.
No not all get paid a year. I got paid for three months, and the rest of the year was money from the goverment.
it’s your own money you get back with anything here in Danmark...why do think the taxes are so high?
@PLANT ya but i wouldn’t call it free, as there is no such thing anywhere in the world.
@PLANT The cost for healthcare is higher per capita in the us, than in denmark. Even thou our healthcare is better, we use less money on it. I dont know the actual numbers, but i think its around twice as much that costs the government than in Denmark. Per person that is.
All becuase we have centralised it, government controlled and can make bigger deals, because we buy it in bigger bulk.
But yes.. people think healthecare is more expensive in Denmark, becuase we pay it over the taxes, but actually its the other way around.
@@AnitaBlingBling Does it matter where the money comes from??
My American boss used to call Danes lazy and said they didn't want to work. I used to greet him with the following: Welcome back to the land of the truly free. May your stay be One of peace and insight. 😀😊 We got on famously.
It's funny, because a friend of mine was starting danish stores in the US, the stores over there had to have around double staff, mostly because they didn't work as fast and efficient. I'm sure it goes the other way around in other places, but my feeling is Europeans are just a lot more efficient.
@@darabbit333 Mostly European retail staff just aren't dead tired from working their second job in the evenings in order to make ends meet.
@@Doomlonbbyn makes sense
To be fair; who _wants_ to work? We do it because we need cash.
I’ve said it before in another of your videos, but it is soooooo rewarding to me, as a dane, to hear your point of view on things I take so much for granted. I’ve lived with it my entire life, so a lot of stuff in society, is just “normal” until you guys highlight it.
Making me increasingly more grateful to be the nationality I am. 😂❤️
And we are so grateful that Denmark has welcomed us in to live here :). Thanks for your comments and for following us!
Præcis!! Lige mine ord! Thank you, Youngs for thise kind of videos 🙏😊 and, they are fun, or should I said, you guys are fun 😃👍
As an American I never understood why soooooo many people view the US as THE Country to be in, we have been a fucking shit show since the 1800’s,
Maternity/paternity leave is as follows:
Mom:
3-6 weeks before the baby's due date
12 weeks after the baby is born
Dad:
1-3 weeks after the baby is born
To share between mom and dad:
36 weeks after the first 12 weeks that go to mom
It differs, from employer to employer, how much of the leave is paid at 100% your normal salary. Regardless, the rest is paid at your "a-kasse" rate (roughly) by the state.
It's a pretty sweet deal!
Sounds like you are in Sweden, using the term "A-kassa"
It’s called “A-kasse” in Denmark as well.
Those laws are constantly being updated... Something about men getting more and more weeks etc.
@@tysej4 > at the expense of the woman. Cause equality. Now, there is less freedom to divvy up the shared weeks, compared to previously a lot more necessarily has to be taken by the father - despite many households not wanting to do so.
To be honest.
As born and raised in Denmark.
I find it hard to understand how people can really complain about anything in this country.
If every time something bad happns to you. You just remeber you were born one of the luckiest people on the planet.
It is hard to get mad.
@Hizors Man behøver ikke være socialist for at værdsætte at være født i norden.
We don't even know how good we've got it.
@Hizors Heldigvis er det flertallet der bestemmer. 👍👍
@Hizors At være kunne sætte pris på det man er givet. Har vel 0 at gøre med politisk tankegang?
Exactly.
In DENMARK you cannot use vacation for being sick. If you are sick when your vacation starts you’ll have to wait starting the vacation until you are well
you CAN if you want too, but if you show a doctors note, you get your vacation days reimbursted.. at least, that is how it is in Norway.
@@christinwilhelmsen9460 Afaik: Doctors note isn´t necessary unless you´re sick over longer time (more than two weeks i think) - It was changed because doctors have better things to use their time on... Yes. If you are sick, it doesn´t count as vacation. The vacation isn´t automatic extended, wouldn´t be fair to the employer, but you will be able to get the missing days at a later time.
@@fastertove you need a doctors note if you want the days you where sick on a vacation to get reimbursted. you cant just tell them you where sick, even if its just 2 or 4 days of a vacation. Else alot of people would take advantage of it and just "say" they where sick during their vacation, even if they where not, just to get more vacation days..
@@christinwilhelmsen9460 Thanks for correcting me. Just read up on it.
It seems, that the employer can demand to see a doctors notice - so it is up to the employer.
It also seems, that the beginning of your illness is important(the day you first report sick). If you are sick before a vacation begins you can get all days back (this essentially means that the vacation haven´t begun).
If you get sick during the vacation (fx halfway) you won´t get the (up to) 5 first days of vacation back.
@@fastertove my mum worked for NAV for decades, so whenever I had any questions, I always asked her. Im always up for discussions with mindful people like you, and if im wrong, Im not afraid to admit that either ;) see you around ;)
Maternity leave is definitely the single most important difference here and the last one I would want to be without.
I couldn't imagine my wife having to go back to work 2 days after.
Most women dont need to work in the US. One salary is enough, thats why
@@jimmybaldbird3853 This is absolutely not true.
@@areteeeye yeah it is
@@jimmybaldbird3853 I just researched that. And it is partly true. More women, compered to other civilized contries, are not working in the US. But that is actually because the US, don't care if you get a child. So many families, needs to let the mom not work. Not because they choose to, but because they have no other option.
@@TheChrisMiR does that make sense to you? That we are just a nation of cold, uncaring people that prioritize work over family culture? We have traces of traditionalism mixed with higher salaries. As the US industries are shipped and outsourced over seas, this is changing a bit. But no, Americans are paid more, and therefore, only require a single family income. It is more desirable for the children to be raised by their mother than an institution
I worked on farms in the US when I was younger. Zero paid vacation, one week vaca a year after one year. No sick days. I worked 6 days a week and holidays (no extra pay). I also worked on farms in DK with all the benefits you guys mentioned plus rotating weekends off. Not sure why I should have gone back to the US, that was a stupid decision, I was too young to know better.
Watching this friday morning in a break. Working from home as pretty much every one else. Thinking to myself "this is gonna be interesting", and then I hear the line "Im having a whisky because why not".
I laughed out loud, and then seriously looked at my liquor cabinet and thought "yes.. why not?"
Yee, I will wait until afternoon, but thanks alot for the laugh and lots of fun and interesting videos.
Haha! No problem, we are so glad you enjoy, both our videos and whiskey :).
That line was wonderful!
And it shows quite a high degree of integration with Danish culture, I feel. If it were up to me, she'd be given immediate permanent residency just for that!
I heard Beer and Whiskey so I thought about a Submarine :)
Love you guys and your stories :) Always funny to hear about how "normal" life is in the US compared to "normal" life in Denmark seen from your perspective :)
Keep up the good work
@@jrgenarlgade4581 Thanks, will do! Glad you enjoy!
About Maternity in Denmark. You get free 4 weeks before due date (8 weeks if you work in public jobs). When you have born the kid you have 6-9 month full pay and after that you can get paid from goverment, i believe it is 3-6 month (total 12 month). But the goverment pay is lower than regular pay...
Good video it is difficult topic
Remember that you as a farver gets 2 weeks fully paid just after the birth of your child.
This is not true. Maternity leave benefits differ a lot from company to company. It is in no way normal to have 6-9 months of full pay. You have 2 weeks before kid is born, then 14 weeks dedicated to the mom and then 32 weeks that the parents can share. This totals less than a year. You could also end up being on government paid maternity leave for the full duration if your job doesn't offer any pay.
4 weeks before for the pregnant person
Then 14 weeks after birth.
Then there's 2 weeks at birth for the partner.
Total of 20 weeks.
Beyond that there's 32 weeks you can freely divide as you you wish between both parents. Totally 52 weeks or a full year.
@@kimf.wendel9113 as a bonus you also earn full vacation time even though you are on maternity leave, which is another five weeks
It's awesome news for Denmark that you're sticking around 😊👏
Aww, thanks!
Agree!!
Regarding sick leave in Denmark, there are actually some restrictions. After 4 consecutive days your employer can demand a doctors note to document that you are actually sick and if you have more than 120 days of sick leave within a 12 month period they are allowed to fire you with 1 months notice regardless of how long of a notice you would normally be entitled to. I believe this is also the only circumstance under which an employer is allowed to fire you while you are on sick leave
The 120d rule, has to be specifically stated in your employment contract, and most contracts doesn't. Yore will still be able to claim at least 120 days on 'sygedagpenge' before you are to use unemployment benefits (dagpenge)
Mit engelske er ikke så godt. Men mange tror, at 120 dages reglen er en fordel for medarbejderen. Det er den ikke. Fordelen har arbejdsgiveren, for på den 120 sygedag kan han fyre dig med kun en måneds varsel, uanset om du har pga din lange ansættelse har flere måneders opsigelsesvarsel. Og det skal fremgå af overenskomsten, at 120 dages reglen er gældende.
My kids both here and the ones that live in Canada would love theese
and a short point:
Danish taxes pay for sick leave, maternity leave etc...no extra insurance needed 👍😊
And the US REpuplicans call Danmark socicalistic!!! It is a capitalistic Government
In Denmark, the new "vacation" law is as simple as this:
Each month of employment, you earn 2.08 vacation days which equals 25 days per year - So 5 weeks vacation.
plus 37 timer =feriefri timer .
For sick days in Denmark, I believe that you are allowed 120 days, without consequence.
But a unspoken rule is, that if you’re sick, you’re sick - you don’t spend it on anything else.
No you are not allowed to have 120 days without consequence. But if you get a long term illness you cannot be laid off before 120 days for that reason..
Thanks for a nice video - USA i s such a "funny" 'Survival of the fittest' country!! A little request, since i like to listen to you both: split the talking time, so each of you have 50% each - i think that would give the videos a little better balance. Cheers!
Felt real lucky getting a kid in Denmark, had 4 weeks off right after birth, and then another 10 weeks of Barsel later. Really get the time to get to learn your kid at that age, a time that wont come back later. Very informative video, and makes me even happier to live here already :)
It's so nice to see some of the differences between the countries. And it makes me appreciate Denmark even more now for all that we get. Thank you for sharing. Great videos, here's my subscribe....And welcome to Denmark :)
Now...as you wished for, I have done my work to make your channel growing a ton. And its not just empty words...its because of your fantastic way of delivering your experience among people from both sides of the Atlantic ocean. Just want a lot of people to see what I see... a harmonic family taking chances, enjoying life and sharing with us all! ✨ You are really some of the few I really wants to blend in with, learn from and well just wants to spend my sparetime with. I'm fond of the american way of just be in the moment....specially you are so open for new human connections. I like that a lot! I was subscribing very early on your channel, and i just love to see your channel grow ;-)
Haha, thank you so much! We really appreciate the support. This whole experience has been so much fun for us.
This is actually interesting. I've been interested in work as a concept artist, which is mostly in California, US.
So it's interesting to see what kind of vacation time I can expect when I make the move.
5w, most employment contracts will give you 6w + bankhollidyas which are 8-12d depending on the calendar
Here Your childrens first sick day. Is a day You get to. And a Lot of us get 5 ekstra days. Take care days (in Danish OMSORGSDAGE)
One thing worth noting, at least in the public sector in DK, is "afspadsering".
If for example your regular job involves working evenings and nights (and weekends), you accrue afspadsering. If you for example work in a hospital or place that is operating 24/7/365, and you are scheduled to work on holidays during the week you get an additional hourly compensation, both in time off and monetary regard.
This is your time to take off as you see fit - as long as it can be planned in respect of work place requirements. So if you give your boss sufficient notice - usually a week - they can cover your 'time off' with a substitute. There are some rules about how much you can accrue and how long you can save up time before you must take it... You also get extra pay for hours between 5 pm and 7am.
Also, the standard work week in DK is 37(?) hours, compared to 40 in the USA.
Anyway, that's how it was when I left DK in 2003.
I’ve been in the private sector. We were all in a flex time agreement, which just means you need to work your 37 hours/week. Usually everyone were at work between 9-14, the rest depended on how the employees flexed their time. This is great for when you have kids, or if you just dislike rush hour on the roads.
Then we also had a flex account. This means that could be -37 to 37 hours. That means that if you needed extra time off you could work up your hours on the flex account and then take a day or two... or maybe a whole week. If there were something acute you had spare room for it, and then could work up the flex account afterwards.
This also means that you just had to have a mean week of 37, but every week didn’t need to be 37 hours.
If your flex account went above 37 hours, you would get these hours paid out on the following pay check.
I know not everyone have this kind of format at work in DK, but many have a kind that resembles. It is my believe that flex time is rather normal in Denmark.
And of course nothing longer is sudden in this without giving your boss a call about it.
When our oldest had to stay one week in hospital, it felt very safe to have this system ❤️
The funny thing is that productivity in Denmark is, on average, not lower than in the States. But how can you survive with only 2 weeks?
Because Americans are not conditioned to deserve a vacation. Rules are for the rich people.
In Ireland Maternity leave is 26 weeks starting from the day your baby is born, plus extra leave for the number of weeks between your baby's actual date of birth and the date you had planned to start your maternity leave. Maternity Benefit is payable for the whole of this extended maternity leave. The Family Leave and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2021 will provide three extra weeks of paid leave to each parent to be taken in the first two years after the birth or adoption of their child.
Most mothers use their unused annual leave days after the maternity leave runs out and then ;may take some unpaid leave.
We have 36 weeks in Denmark by law. (You don’t have to take all 36 weeks, and they can be split freely between the mother and father)
Most work places do offer up to one year, as a benefit.
For comparison with maternity leave:
All pregnant women are entitled to 4 weeks before the due date and 14 weeks after giving birth
Men are entitled to 2 weeks within the first 14 weeks.
On top of that: there are 32 weeks that you can split however you like (men are allowed to spend some of that time during the first 14 weeks after spending the aforementioned 2 weeks)
As a swede we get 5 weeks but I negotiated an extra week when I started at my current job. Ususally take 4 or 5 in the summer and pre-covid usually 1-2 weeks somewhere warm in the winter.
og bare for at hjælpe jer lidt på vej kommenterer jeg på Dansk! :) Tak for de fine videoer, jeg deler dem med mine venner i USA, det er en sjov måde at vise både forskelle og ligheder!
So I’m going to try and sum up some of the danish rules regarding maternity leave.
In general expectant mothers can stop working 4 weeks before the due date, but some can stop 6 or even 8 weeks before the due date. After the birth the mother gets 14 weeks, often with full pay and the father receives 2 weeks also often with full pay. If you do not qualify for full pay you get a stipend equal to unemployment benefits. Both parents also get a shared 32 weeks of “parent leave”, these can be divided as you wish and can be extended with 8 weeks, but at a reduced pay rate. Most people get 6-12 weeks of this leave with full pay and the rest at the rate of unemployment benefits. If your newboen is sick and has to stay in the hospital after birth these days can be added to the end of the maternaty leave.
For each child under the age of 8 many people get 2 “carer days” every year to care for their child. Also the childs first sick day is paid, and for some the childs first 2 sick days er paid. If a chlid gets chronically sick you can recieve permanent leave to take care of the child either full time or part time.
Regarding hollidays usually there is between 9 and 12 in any given year.
Many employers also gives more. My wife had 12 months full paid maternity.
Some unions have made collctive agreements with employers which includes "senior days". That's some extra days off work if you're over a certain age. I'm turning 61 this autumn and I have got 34 hours this year. As I work part time (30 h/week) that's more than a week for me.😊
For sickness, usually there is the 120 day rule. But everything depends on your employment status - "Funktionær" (monthly paid) or "timelønnet" (hourly paid).
Quite a lot of people actually have 6 weeks. It depends on how effective the coresponding union has been during the years.
Sickleave : it's 22 weeks, you'd might loose your job (unusual) but you're still payed + extensions if your'e even more sick.
Also there’s extra days you get off - depending on your overenskomst (agreement made between the workers union, the government and the industri(?)) - for example if you’re moving, when you go to a funeral, birthdays such as 40,50,60. And there might be others.
Love your attitude and relaxed way of presenting stuff,
A dark beer and a whiskey is my favorites.. kudos ;)
And yes... just subscribed .
Thanks for the kind words and the sub! :)
Another thing is notice time if you are dismissed. If you are an "office" worker, you will by law, with up to six months work, have one month notice, after six months work, you will have three months notice. It will increase, so after 9 years work you will have six months notice, and some companies will give you more, if stated in your contract. Employee is required to give one month notice, but employer can require longer notice, if he also give a longer notice than required by law. It will be stated in the contract.
Norway is even more generous. 49 weeks maternity leave 1/3 for dad 1/3 for mother and 1/3 you can divide as you see fit. Also medical leave is usually 21 days own notice if the company is with the governmental scheme called including worklife (Else its 3) For medical leave with doctors notice it is up to 52 weeks. After that the employer can end your job, but you would still qualify for support (albeit lower than your salary)
In Norway its 5 weeks and after 60 you get 6 weeks.
If you get sick the employer pays the first 10 days and after that the goverment continues. You get 100% payment.
100% Paid wow, greetings from Sweden. In Sweden, you get nothing the first day then it is 80% of your salary for two weeks then the insurance fund pays 80%, but they have a maximum ceiling that is set quite low. Then if you are ill for a long time, they lower it for a period to 65%, to then raise it again. Very confusing. But it is of course better than in the US, even if it is extremely difficult for someone with a low income to manage on 65% of the salary.
This is a great channel. Subbed!
Thanks!
Regarding the 120 days and you are fired, is not always. My dads firm kept him even though he had 2 periods trough his work life he exceed the 120 day rule, first time for a lung illness akind to pneumonia, just way harder on the body, the last time because the cartilage in his spine was deteriorating. For the last one he was re-educated to do a more manageable job at the company, so worker retention is also something Danes value in the workplaces
Yes. The number of days etc. is different from company to company. Generally for the banks I have worked in it has been very relaxed and fair here in Denmark :-)
9:35 About the maternity leave you metioned I think it might be different if you're a goverment employee vs. privately employed. But you get 32 or 40 weeks of maternity leave. This however is shared between partners so usually one stays home while the other still works. It used to be the woman who stayed home but it's becomming more and more normal to see the father staying home and the woman working. The maternity leave is also paid. The amount is however depended on alot of factors. I don't know the rules for a privately employed but as a goverment employee the day your baby is born you ( the father) get 2 weeks paid vacation.
Could you compare american TV to danish TV. stuff like the news seems to be different in america. Would also like a review on Matador if you have gotten around to watching it.
I had 12 weeks of paid leave. And that's not including the 2 weeks (also paid) right after birth.
My wife(studying at the time) got a year worth of student pay (somewhere around 5500dkk/880usd dkk a month), so she had the option to stay home for a year or eg. stay home for 6 months and get 2xstudent pay for the last 6 months.
Also, the state pays you ~4500 dkk every quarter of the year until the kid is 3 and then it gradually decreases until the age of 18.
It is generally not well seen to put your kid in childcare when they are under 10-12 months old in Denmark.
Also, this doesn't affect paid vacation :)
12:40 I think there is a fairly simple recepe to why we land in the top 3 happiest ppl in the world.... CONSECUTIVELY!!
Maternity leave is 4 (private sector) or 8 (public sector) weeks leading up to term and 8 months after birth.
Paternity leave is is way more stringent and only allows for (if I recall correctly) 2 weeks after birth, with an option to share several months with the mother, in all up to 12 months total.
Regarding sick leave, in Denmark you have to call in sick (generally required via phone, but most accept email, no reason given). This activates a governed refund at a fixed rate to the employer (most just pay your regular salary) and to get this refund thay have to report it within 5 weeks.
Within 4 weeks the employer must have a talk about the sick leave to find a solution that can shorten the extend.
The employer can ask for a medical statement (from the GP or other official institution) but have to pay for it.
There are numerous other regulations in regard to this little "dance", but buttom line is... You can be sick for up to 120 consecutive days befor your employer can rightfully/legally fire you.
During sick leave you are not ENTITELED to more pay than the "sygedagpenge", but it is far from unheard of that employers receive full pay throughout.
Pleje-orlov is maybee relevant in this connection? If a close relative of yours is eg terminally ill, your can get 3-4 months off to take care of her/him. You'll be paid the equivalent of sickpay or unimployment rate.
After second day of sickness the company is partly reimbursed for rest of the period.
In a public institution you have to follow up on your co-worker within a month. (4 weeks).
Workdays closed in by a holiday can be given to you freely. Ex. Thursday = holiday and Friday = given. But you can't count on it.
Usually if you are working on a holiday they have to give you another day of but only if you are working on a holiday. And if a holiday lands on a Thursday you mostly get friday off and when you are sick you can usually get up to 6 weeks before it becomes a problem. You get around 1 year for maternity leave and they can´t fire you from a job when you are pregnant
Also if you're a public employee in Denmark and you get sick in the beginning of your vacation, then you can get a possibility of having your vacation afterwards from when you have regained healthy status
I'm a bit envious about the "move holyday to the closest weekday" rule you have in the US. We usually distinguish between "employer-" and "employee x-mas" depending on if the holyday ends up in the weekend or not.
24 cards for paid long term sick leave in Demark ;)
Hey you ❤.
Love your vids.
Hope you stay at denmark
Thanks so much, we hope to :).
Normally if you fall sick within the first 13 weeks of employment you need to get money for compensation from your municipality. After taht time, the workplace pays, normal procedure is a Doctors note after 2 weeks, but employer will ask and will pay for it. You can not be fired during a " sick leave".. however if often sick, you csn be required for a dictors note from first day, which you have to pay yourself...
I'm sure a lot of us have already shared you on our Facebook sites ;-) ! As always, very interesting post :-) !
I think that employment and vacation laws are similar across the EU. In Greece you are entitled of up to 26 working days a year of paid vacation (it depends on your years of registered experience). We have up to 10 days of national Holidays but same as Denmark, if it falls on a weekend, tough luck. You have 12 weeks of birth leave (can be split up before and after birth as you like) and up to 9 months of leave for the new baby which can only be taken from one of the two parents (4 months for the private sector). There is actually a law, that an employee has to guarantee a new mother's job for at least 18 months AFTER she returns to work. Which means that if they want to change jobs they can, but they cannot be fired. There are frequent cases of mothers taking up to 3 years of paid leave because of back-to-back pregnancies.
Sick leave without certified hospitalization is up to 14 calendar days but it has to be verified by a doctor that is registered with the National Healthcare and Social Insurance Institute. The time after the first 3 days is split between the government and the employee.
You also get a week of paid vacation extra if you get married. You're also entitled a paid day off each month for attending meetings with teachers for your children's school.
Also, and I don't know if this applies, in the private sector by law you are entitled a full month's salary as a Christmas bonus , another half month's salary in Easter and another half month's salary as leave time bonus, which is usually paid out by the end of June. This was the case for the public sector as well but it was cut after the financial crisis of 2009
Short about maternity: Mom gets 4 weeks before expected birth and up to 14 weeks after birth. Then on top of that the parents together get up to 32 weeks they can share how they like. So Dads get maternity leave too (if they want). Over the years there have even been times were certain portions of it was earmarked for dads.
Aaaaawww that is sooo nice ! My baby daughter is born on april 7th. She will be 1 year old this year 😊. And it's so true with time off, i feel like my husband is constantly working, he can't afford to take any time off, if it's not payed. I think another topic that danish people are probably not aware of, is the commutes. I wasn't aware of them, before i came to America. The amount of time spent in the car everyday is unbelievable ! I hope you get to your 10k subscribers fast 🤞
Really cool with this comparison video! Would be awsome if you could do this again comparing US with DK on other topis!
Maternity leave is 52 paid weeks - some of this time can be split between the father and mother. If you have sick days during your vacation in Denmark they legally count as sick days - not vacation days (not many use this option however). The difference in time on work also equalizes the wage gap between Denmark and the US. Thus, generally people in the US earn more - but in Denmark people have more time off in stead.
You just got one more subscriber. I live in Kolding, where You have been. You seems like such nice people! So no matter what you talk about, i'll just watch :D
Thanks, that is awesome to hear.
you're right. We have 5 weeks of holidays, and some companies have whats called "Feriefridage" which gives you 1 extra week off. So a total os 6 weeks of. Often if you work at a supermarket, or shoppingcenter you have 6 weeks.
Kid's first sick day is actually not there by law, but by "Overenskomst", which is an agreement between the industry and the workers' unions.
Not everyone is covered by such an agreement
Great video guys. Thx a lot.
When comparing time of work by weeks, aren't you omitting the issue of how many hours a week you go to work?
To my understanding there is a difference there too, that would amount to some cards per year.
And thanx for coming here! It adds to the diversity and you guys seem like great people to be around.
Unfortunately in my experience the 37.5 hour work week in Denmark has been a policy only on paper but not in practice. I work the same hours as I did before coming here. But....when I’m off work for sick or holiday here, people leave me be which wasn’t the case in the US.
Also, there are some jobs that have 37.5 hour work weeks in the US as well, not common but it does happen. Often with non profits as they tend to have lower pay so they strengthen other benefits.
Also thanks! We are super happy to be here :).
@@TravelinYoung Well, I guess you're the exception that confirms the rule then :-)
And of course you're videos are from personal experience, as they should be.
I got curious though and had to look it up. On average danes work about 10 weeks less per year than US citizens. That's 37 h/weeks ;-)
Week 6 is normally called Ferie fridage, which are days you can choose to get days off from work or you can have them paid out, which means that you get an extra weeks pay added to your salary. or you can choose to have just 1 day paid out, up to you and 4 as vacation.
you are so welcome to stay here in Denmark 😀 where I work a host for 40 years and more be more 20 years
8:59 the concept of a very limited number of "sick days" is a US capitalistic one. If you are sick, you need to recover before you can return to work. This may need more than just X days. Or less. - Obviously there is an upper limit after which a person is considered to be chronically ill and may not be able to return to work, but this means months, not weeks. Same in all Europe.
In Denmark, maternity leave begins 4 weeks before birth. When the child is born, the father has 2 weeks leave. The parents can now share 32 weeks of maternity leave between them.
You are allowed free days at a funeral for close family member, but not normally for your " wedding " since you can plan this yourself. The sixth week you were speaking about normally is for random days, here and there where needed.
In Denmark you can be sick for 120 days before your work can fire you (after 3 days it's required by management to call and talk about the reason and how long the employee will be gone for. Then there will be frequent conversations/meetings during the 120 days)
About holidays og weekends. We have a name for it. We say that the year is an ‘employer year’ or a ‘salary earner year’.
Ah yes yes, I'd heard that but couldn't remember the name. Thanks!
maternaty leave is normally about a year. Kids sickness could happen pretty offen sometimes up to once af month... your sick leave is normally a weak or two depending on situation but 3 to 6 month can also happens on sickleave...
To be fair, there are some (a few) companies in the US, that give you really great benefits like retirement, pension, maternity/paternity leave. As a father, I got 12 weeks paid time off for paternity leave that I had to use in the course of 12 months. We also get 4 weeks of PTO per year plus national holidays.
Hopefully more jobs here realize how much these benefits can contribute to the happiness factor of their employees.
In regards to pay and vacation.
The new rules, as they mentioned, is that you start earning your vacation days on january 1st and then they roll evenly measured on how many days you have worked (in full weeks 37hrs, if I remember correctly, I havent been under the new rules, but had to help implement them at my last job)
And then you can start using them as you see fit, 1 day at a time if you can get your employer to agree to that.
As for pay when you go on vacation
People who are in a hourly based job they save up "feriepenge" which is 12½% of their pay which your employer pays into an account, that you then apply to get your pay from when you take your vacation. and the famous 6th week basicly works like the other 5, you can spread the days out or take them all in 1 big lump, but most employers prefer you to take 3 weeks in summer and 2 weeks in winter, and then the 6th as single days. Many use the 6th week to stretch the public hollidays, like around easter (like Maundy Thursday and good friday they spend 3 days monday-wednesday to get a whole cheap week)
Then you have others who work on a contract, usually middle management in the private sector (and yes all you people I know there are many others, this is just an example) whom has a fixed pay with basicly no max hours in their contracts, they have paid vacation, so the employer just pays their wages when they have vacation.
And then as a small twist, if you get sick during your vacation, you should call your employer and tell them you are sick, because then you can get those sickdays back and take them later, and the days you were off will be counted as sick days instead in this whole big system :D
Have you been to the Rebild fest in Jylland ?
Thats is a danish/amerikansk cellbertion of the 4 july
Venlig hilsen fra David Hellmann ☺️
Not yet! But we will need to go one year for sure.
Norway and Denmark have simelar rules for maternity leave:
Norway: Total 52 weeks where 12 weeks can be during the pregnancy, 6 weeks after for the mother then shared but the father have to use 15 weeks.
Denmark: 4 weeks before birth and 14 weeks after, then 64 week shared.
In most jobs with unions you typically have 216-220 work days a year. Not included sick days.
Don’t forget child’s first sick day of. The 120th day rule will normally only be used if you’re in a habit of generally over average amount of sick days off.
With danish family in the US, it’s nice to follow the other way around.👍😎
Usually you can keep your job if you are ill for up to 3 months, the first few days are covered by your employer, the rest are covered by sickness benefits for a year.
By the way, do not show up at work when you are ill, you do not want to infect your colleagues with your illness.
I started a new job on Dec12th of 2005 and I was able to use my vacation time on January 1st 2006!!!!
I saved my entire 4.25 hours of vacation time to travel to Sweden in November.
Commonly, your contract will stipulate that you can be sick for 120 days before your employer can fire you. You have to proof sickness though. Your employer can demand you to do that. Typically your contract will state that you have to do that after a week of sick leave by seeing your doctor and getting a statement of health from him.
There is no limit on sick leave in denmark.
After 120 days (within a year) the employee can fire for being sick to much (unless you are sick bc of issues related to pregnancy then you can’t be fired)
But no matter how long you are sick you are entitled to full pay
In regards to sick pay its very different from which union or agreement there is on the workplace. You dont necessarily get full pay while sick, if you are hourly paid it could be the minimum of 119 kroners an hour for 7,5 hours while you are sick. after 30 days the kommune will take over the responsibility if the employer petitions for it.
Depending on the agreement and contract there can be full pay under sickness.
Acutally there's not much decided by law most of the deals like an extra holiday week etc. is all in "overenskomster" which is union agreements.
All in the public sector work under union agreements, in the private sector about 80% are covered by union agreements.
Depending on which field you work in it gives extra perks like 1 week off extra, or extra pay for special holidays if you are hourly paid. Transport pay, extra pay for a long lists of different things, overhours pay etc.
92% of jobs are covered by union agreements, 70% of the working population are union members
Good people. The 6th holiday week is an agreement between unions and employers 👊🏻
Fun as one from Denmark to see your videos
Some people get an extra Day off if their normal Day off Fall on a national holiday....
as a hairstylist it’s quite normal to have a weekly day off because we work weekends - so at Easter when I had a normal day off on Thursday, I would get an extra day off because of Thursday being a national holiday ;)
There are SO many different rules according to what your work is and what union your in....
unions are a BIG part of danish life - ( even our healthcare is born of unions ;) )
I work in the public sector with natural conservation; I get 5+1 weeks of paid vacation each year. Paid 1 and 2 child sick day (paid), 2 (omsorg) days/year because of my son, also fully paid. and after I've paid my taxes I got around the same amount as a average american does per month, with the huge difference that my healthcare, school (for my son) etc is already paid through taxes.
Also my pension is fully paid, so I won't have to worry about it when my retirement comes.
if you work in the private sektor in Denmark your is allowedur 14 days the you have to give your imploier a Dockers note and after 3 months you can loos your job
Most white collar workers in Denmark also has 'flextid' (flexible working hours), meaning that if your contract says you have to work 8 hours each day and you work 10 hours one day, you can leave two hours earlier on another day (workload permitting). These hours can be saved up and if you are lucky may be spent as whole weeks.
True.
Many places this is done by having a fix-time between 9 and 15, where people are supposed to be at work. And flex-time from 7-9 and 15-17,
Of cause some types of jobs is better suited for more flexibility than others and for some jobs that arrangement would make no sense,
I fell down the depressionhole, and was quite astonished that the company I worked for couldn't fire me, before 120 days had gone by. So that's 4 months of sickleave before termination... That's another 80 cards... I love this country...
I would be interested in what I'd the expectation when you take vacation/holiday time. I have never had a job in the US where I could take vacation and not be expected to check email or follow up on work.
Also, the video reminds me how terrible our work/life balance is in the US.
I don’t do any work in my vacation time anymore and no one except me too, but I think it depends on the job. I am a teacher and I have much better work conditions than my American colleagues even though many things are the same.
I was thinking the same. I haven't taken one vacation in 11 years where the laptop was left behind.
You get 5 weeks vacation plus 1 week in some companies. For maternity leave you get 26 weeks full pay as a mother and the father normally gets 14 weeks fully paid. On top of that the parents can share 26 weeks between them on dagpenge (government pays for this one)
You two are typical Danish people, bye spirit, i like that. Keep enjoying your new life, if you have more American friends, that want to move here, please let them come, we need yaa badly 💎👐🏻
Thanks!
I lived in the USA for many years always had a good job . My last job in a travel business tour guide all over the world and travel agent manager, My boss and owner appreciated my hard work and gave me 6 weeks' holiday. Also, I flew 1 st class or business class free for many years. Do not forget the vacation money the Danes have as well.
I live in Vanløse (suburbs - Metro 1 and Metro 2 goes there) - you guys seem like someone I'd loooove to grab a beer with one time!
I liked the comparison with the poker hand. more time _do_ give a chance for a happier life.
But, you should stick with Danish beer 'cause the majority of dish washing water-like stuff they sell in the US isn't worth drinking. :D
Huh, in Norway you can get up to 12 months of sick leave, although you only get paid 66% of your normal salary. Same with maternity/paternity leave, 12 months - split however you like, between the two parents.
Hey guys, your vids seem super wholesome and enjoying the few i've seen just now - your takes seem to be pretty rounded as well, a joy that it isnt just denmark good america bad, or opposite.
I just had a thought about the intro (this is super not really important at all). But in the end where all three of you say "Keeping us young" one by another seems (to me) a little outdated, and (I think) would flow much better if you just did one word each.
The extra week of vacation you are talking about is called "feriedage" and you have 5 days where you can choose to take your vacation or get them paid on your last paycheck year, and you can use it whenever you want and as many as you want "total 5 days"
But it is usually the craft industry that has it, due to the agreement with the unions.
and the new holiday law was forced on Denmark due to the EU-Kommissionen in 2014, because the old holiday law was illegal according to them.
And most public servants😊
The 2-3 weeks for sickess is not really correct. Others have mentioned the 120 day rule. You will be on socalled "sygedagpenge" which is an amount of money you get paid during ilness,but if your emplyer still pays you you full salary, this amount will instead go to your employer. If they decide to fire you, you might still be on "sygedagpenge". This can be extended up to 2 years. Hereafter you will go into various rehabilitation/"get to work again" programs, but you will get less money each month here. If you so ill that you will never be able to sustain a job, you will become a "førtidspensionist" (early retirement) in which you will get an amount of money every month for the rest of your life to live by :) It is super complicated, but the point is that there is no real limit to your illness, and you will never be left with no income.
True. Most people on sick leave will be reported as "healthy" by their municipality after 22 weeks, however, and many people are struggling to get the "førtidspensionist" (early retirement).
These people will often have to apply for cash well-fare (kontanthjælp), which is a system full of control and distrust.
@@Donnah1979 I fully agree on that! It is a complicated and bureaucratic system, I am currently struggling with it myself. But the alternative, these options not being available and all, would be so much worse!
AIn Denmark an employer can't fire you while sick before you have been sick 120 days. At some point they can ask for documentation from your doctor, but this is something they'll have to pay for. But if your doctor says you are sick, they can't do much before the 120 days.
At my job, in Denmark, when your a fulltime worker, you get paid when your sick, parttime workers dont. But partime workers usually dont Work more than 40-50 hours a month
Ja, men vi betaler selv for det igennem skat.
Siger ikke at det er dårligt, men det er ikke noget vi bare får smidt i hovedet.
As others have mentioned, you could also look into "maternity leave" - the HOLE package! The mother gets 4 weeks "graviditetsorlov" before the expected date of the birth, then 14 weeks after (2 fixed) and after that you get 32 weeks "forældreorlov" which can be split freely between both parents. The father gets 2 weeks "fædreorlov" right after birth and can extend this with with "forældreorlov". If there are complications before the 4 weeks "gravititetsorlov", then there is also the option for "graviditetsbetinget sygefraværd" which just requires a referral from your doctor. Other than that, some (most?) companies also have 1 or 2 days "barn syg" and in my case my employer also grants me 5 days "indlæggelse med barn" per year, which came in handy when we were admitted to the hospital again right after our daughter was born. Finally all of this "off" time is paid for in some way (employer or state) either fully or mostly, and there is also no hospital bill. Procreation is very much encouraged in the kingdom of Denmark ;)