In Denmark, there is a fund (LG = Employees' Guarantee Fund) which pays the missing wages to workers in companies that have gone bankrupt. You can report your lack of salary to the LG fund yourself, but it can be difficult. That is why your trade union will help you. In BJMF we have a team that works with bankruptcies and LG cases.
In the event of a bankruptcy, there are some things you should be aware of. We have created this article to help you through the process. If you are a member of 3F-BJMF, the union's bankruptcy-team will help you through the process.
Step one, stop working and contact your union
In the event of a bankruptcy, then your employer is no longer obliged to pay your salary, pension, holiday pay etc. therefore you should stop working and contact your union.
This also applies if you have a strong suspicion that the company is about to go bankrupt. like if your employer is no longer able to pay your salary.
Step two, sign up to jobnet
You must sign up for www.jobnet.dk without support (Uden Ydelse). If you are unsure how to do this, ask the jobcenter or contact your union.
Step three, the curator will contact you
In the event of a bankruptcy, a trustee is appointed - it is a lawyer who is appointed by the district court to manage the bankruptcy estate. The curator's task is to run the company and ensure that the company's creditors get as much money as possible to cover the requirements they have in the company. At the bankruptcy, the trustee has a maximum of 14 days to decide whether he wants some employees to work for the estate or whether they are terminated. After the 14 days, the curator often chooses to terminate the employees - or most employees. The curator can also terminate immediately.
If you are unsure whether you are terminated, ask the curator directly or contact your union
If the curator (the lawyer) wants you to work for the estate, it is very important that there is a guarantee for your salary, holiday money, etc. If you work for the estate, LG does not cover your requirements. It is not good enough if the curator says that the estate pays wages, etc. Always contact your union before you start working for the estate
Step four collect documentation
Then you need to gather documentation for your employment and the requirements you have. BJMF bankruptcies team always needs:
- Employment contract
- Termination notice
- Correspondence from curator
- Payslips for min. 6 months or the period you have a wage requirement from
- Information on hourly wage
- Information on holiday held
- Extract from Holiday Money Info (found at www.borger.dk)
- Possibly. Accord or bonus agreement
- Possibly. Holiday card
Other relevant documentation:
- Information on what requirements you think you have.
- Information about your email address. We need your email address to report your requirements in LG.
- If you lack documentation, we need to know it too and why, then 3F BJMF´s team will try to help you proof your claims in another way.
Step five, report your claim to the LG fund
If you are a member of a trade union, the union will apply to the LG fund for you. If you are not a member of a union, you can do it yourself, via this link:
https://lifeindenmark.borger.dk/working/work-rights/bankruptcy-and-cessation-of-operations/payment-in-the-event-of-bankruptcy
LG only covers claims for salary, pension, etc. 6 months back from the "deadline". (Most often the date the company was declared bankrupt). There are also a number of things that LG does not cover, like Driving money and expenses you have had for the employer, it could be buying something for the boss in a store.
Holiday money and s/h
Holiday money and s/h is covered according to the rules of the Holiday Law. (max. 3 years back).
For the companies covered by agreements with a holiday guarantee, the claim for holiday money and S/H will be notified to the guarantee scheme. It could be companies who are members of the employer organization DI.
If there is a guarantee scheme, there will be nothing about holiday money and SH on the notification to LG. If the company is not covered by a recognized holiday guarantee, the requirements for LG are reported and will be paid into a holiday account.
What happens in 3F BJMF?
3F BJMF has a team that works with bankruptcies and LG cases, which helps the union's members through the process. They are experts in this type of case, and work hard to get as much money home to the members as possible.
The team is primarily:
They are best met on Tuesday morning and Thursday afternoon or by appointment.
Read more about 3F BJMF: https://tema.3f.dk/bjmfimmigrant/about-the-union
You are yourself part of the case
There are a number of information, such as Date of employment, termination date, date for the last time you were at work, etc., which we need to have at all to be able to report your requirements for LG. Therefore, it is very important that you answer the questions we ask and provide the documentation we ask for. If there is a lack of documentation or information, it will delay the case processing or you may risk the requirements being rejected by LG.
Expedition time in the union
Unfortunately, we have many bankruptcy cases, so you have to expect that it can take up to 4 weeks before we have calculated your requirements and created the review (digital).
When the case is ready on our part, we will send you an email with the message that you should go to LG via www.borger.dk (You will also receive an email from borger.dk)
The processing time varies on a case -by -case basis, although the cases appear to be the same.
Your approval of the notification
When you receive an email about the review is ready, go in via the web (with NemID) and find your case at LG. Inside the case, you must enter your personal information yourself such as name, address and telephone.
You must then browse the case and finally press "Send" and "To Overview".
When you are back on the overview, you will receive a receipt that the case has been reported to LG.
.. and then it's just waiting.
LG's expedition of the case
On LG's website you can see how long the processing time they have at the given time. You have to expect that it may take longer than what they write, as the time processing time is constantly changing after how many cases they receive. Usually their expedition time is approx. 2 months from the date you have approved the notification. You hear from us when LG has dealt with the case and either paid or asked in -depth questions.
If there is a lack of documentation in the case or there are other ambiguities, the case processing will take longer. Each time LG asks for additional documentation or asks questions, it will extend the expedition time by approx. 5 weeks.
All in all, you need to prepare for approx. 3 months before payment is made in the case.
When LG pays out
The salary is sent to us. We check if the payment is in line with the requirements we have reported and transfer the money to your NemKonto as soon as possible
The pension will be deployed in your pension company. From the case is dispatched at LG, it will take about a week before we have received information about what requirements they have approved and the money is in our account.