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Comment by rmc | Hacker News Reader

Sounds hard to believe. Denmark is in the European Union, and it's EU law that gives lots of employment rights. These laws would have to be in Danish law aswell.

There are some countries (UK, Ireland) that have implemented the bare minimum of EU employment law. There are some that have implemented above and beyond (France). But Denmark wouldn't be able to ignore most of it

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I found a reference for this vague memory:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/01/04/144673014/the-othe...

In 1994, Denmark modernized a system, which came to be known as "flexicurity," that offered American-style flexibility (layoffs, transitions into new lines of business) coupled with traditional European security. Laid-off workers were offered generous benefits, like 90 percent of their last salary for two years and opportunities to be retrained.

I am a Dane and this makes no sense to me. As far as I know no "benefits" like that are mandated by law. The only thing comparable I know of is during employment your employers notice will grow from 3 months to a max of 6 months (and that is after nine years of employment!). Anything in addition to that has probably been added in individual or union negotiations. Some companies may not require the employee to work during that period but many certainly do.

Edit: I am only talking about individuals. Mass layoff rules are different but I very much doubt they are any worse for the employer.

The 90% of last salary isn't correct. The rate is about 50% of an average salary, or slightly less than minimum wage.

There are some part of "American style employer flexibility" that they cannot do. e.g. they cannot give people less than 4 weeks paid vacation. They cannot let employers fire people who are gay, etc.

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