Case Study - Managing Posted Worker Compliance Abroad

Scene setting

An Irish construction company who specialise in the manufacture and installation of specialist safety equipment such as checker plate flooring and safety rails etc become a sub-contractor on a large construction project of global significance in Denmark. The project required Irish workers to be sent periodically to Denmark on rotational work.

As a sub-contractor, they agreed to meet all of the terms of any agreements the main contractor had entered in terms of working conditions.

The client wanted assistance in implementing this correctly.

The action

We undertook the following work:

  • Briefing on the Danish payroll requirements regarding Labour Market Contributions and Income Tax
  • Reviewing the implementation of a Danish shadow payroll to ensure that all was being correctly to time
  • To provide a briefing on the Denmark 3F Construction collective bargaining agreement terms and explain how these would need to be reflected in the posted workers terms
  • To explain the working time obligations and how these affected overtime working in terms of premium rates that had to be applied on the payroll
  • To produce a staff handbook for Denmark working

The collective agreement proved to be particularly tricky.

The 3F union had an agenda to drive all foreign contractors off the site and created endless issues, particularly regarding pension provision. We negotiated and initially agreed recognition of Irish pension contributions (with a temporary employer contribution increase for Danish work days).

Subsequently negotiations with 3F became “fraught” (they threatened to call a strike and get the client thrown off the site).

We took part in the negotiations as an independent third party to try to provide assurance that the client was not seeking to avoid any of the obligations of the collective agreement by providing payroll evidence to prove this.

The strike was avoided and an uneasy peace returned.

The results

Around 60 hours of work was ultimately put into this project.

This was very much a damage limitation exercise and the client was grateful for our efforts.