Conditions of employment and social security 

Provisions of the Danish Merchant Shipping Act

Provisions on sickness benefits for seafarers

Health insurance scheme for seafarers

Danish Industrial Insurance Act

Seafarers’ holidays

Provisions of the Danish Merchant Shipping Act

Seafarers on Danish ships are covered by the Danish Merchant Shipping Act. However, not actual seafarers only have limited insurance and are, for example, not covered by the provisions of the Danish Merchant Shipping Act on rights in case of illness, etc.

The Act concerns social security and its purpose is to protect employed seafarers. This is evident from the Act’s provisions on, for example, the following:

• Conclusion and contents of the employment agreement.
• Seafarers’ right to resign in situations where their stay on board may pose a threat to the welfare.
• Seafarers’ protection in case of illness.
• Protection against unjustified dismissals, etc.

The Act is also an instrument that the ship management may use to maintain order on board and to dismiss seafarers who break the law, etc.

In addition, seafarers, including not actual seafarers, are covered by special provisions on unemployment benefits and sickness benefits administered by the Danish Maritime Authority. All seafarers are especially secured in case of industrial accidents, according to law. Furthermore, seafarers may be especially secured in case of illness and accidents, by collective agreement.

Employment contract

Seafarers must have a written contract when going to serve on a merchant or fishing vessel. The contract must have been concluded no later than when entering service on board the vessel. The contract is made between you and the master/shipping company.

Read the form “articles of agreement” .
 

The guidelines on the filling in of the form “Articles of agreement”. 

The provisions on the master/shipping company’s obligation to conclude a written contract with the seafarer about the conditions of employment are found in Order no. 848 of 15 October 2002, which is available here.

The Danish Merchant Shipping Act

Below, conditions of special importance to seafarers are described.

Read the act here.
 

An able seaman employed on board a ship

A master may legally dismiss an able seaman employed on board a ship who cannot, as a consequence of illness or bodily injury, carry out his work on board a Danish ship for a longer period of time.

What is to be understood by “longer period of time” is to be determined in each individual case according to the circumstances. Normally, the master must be able to base his decision on a doctor’s statement. If, for example, the doctor declares the seafarer “unfit for duty” for a longer period of time on a “Medical Report”, it will normally be considered a reason for dismissal.

The provisions of the Danish Merchant Shipping Act are the same in case of illness and occupational accidents

An able seaman who is ill or injured at the termination of his service on board, has a right to receive sickness wages from the shipowner for as long as he is unfit for service – however no longer than for two months from the date of signing off.

More information about the provisions on the right of seafarers employed on board ships to receive sickness wages is available from section 29 of the Danish Merchant Shipping Act.

Sickness wages

The Danish Merchant Shipping Act’s concept of “wages during illness/sickness wages” covers – unless otherwise agreed – the basic wages, cost of living allowance and an age increment, if relevant. On the other hand, they do not include allowances paid for special service or for especially hard and burdensome work or the like.

An able seamen employed by a shipping company

An able seaman employed by a shipping company who is ill or injured at the termination of his service is entitled to receive wages during his illness until the employment terminates and, subsequently, for a period of up to two months. The same applies if the seafarer becomes unfit for duty at a time when he is not on duty on one of the shipping company’s ships.

The way in which the employment is terminated (resignation or dismissal) depends on the seafarer’s employment contract. The special provision of reckoning backwards stipulated in section 40 of the Danish Merchant Shipping Act, which is mentioned below, does not apply to able seamen employed by a shipping company.

More information about the right of able seamen employed by a shipping company to receive sickness wages is available from section 35 of the Act.

Termination of ship officers’ agreements

The termination of ship officers’ agreements must comply with certain terms of time and geography. An employment agreement may be terminated at three months’ notice unless otherwise stipulated in the agreement. However, terms of notice shorter than one month may not be agreed for the shipowner during the first year of employment and not shorter than three months subsequently. Temporary employment is regulated by special termination rules for officers.

It is possible to dismiss an officer irrespective of the general provisions on dismissal of the Act or of the employment agreement if the person in question is unable to carry out his work for a longer period of time due to illness or bodily injury. The same applies if the officer suffers from an illness posing a danger to the other seafarers on board.

More information on termination of ship officers’ agreements is available from sections 37-38 of the Act.

Ship officers’ right to receive wages during illness/sickness wages

In case of officers employed on board or by a shipping company, illness or bodily injury is considered lawful absence. This means that the ship officer has a right to receive wages from the shipping company until the employment is terminated by dismissal/resignation.

If the term of notice lapses within two months from either the termination of the service on board or the sickness report ashore, the ship officer is entitled to receive sickness wages, however not for a period of more than two months from these dates. This is stipulated in a special provision of the Danish Merchant Shipping Act on reckoning backwards. If the term of notice lapses after the period of two months, the officer is entitled to receive wages during his illness until the employment terminates.

More information on the provision on reckoning backwards is available from section 40 of the Act.

The master

In case of illness, the master is covered by the same provisions as those that apply to ship officers. This is stipulated in the Danish Merchant Shipping Act’s section on the master’s rights.

Provisions on sickness benefits for seafarers

Who is covered?

All seafarers (regardless of nationality) on Danish ships not exclusively engaged in voyages between Danish ports are covered by special provisions on sickness benefits for seafarers.

Seafarers mean all persons carrying out work normal for the operation of the relevant ship though the function cannot be characterised as ship service in a more narrow sense. This means that not actual seafarers are covered as well.

Seafarers who are in Denmark after the termination of their ship service on holiday are covered by the general provisions of the Danish Sickness Benefits Act though they are still employed by the shipping company. Seafarers who are seeking work in Denmark are also directly covered by the provisions of the Danish Sickness Benefits Act. Finally, seafarers on ships exclusively engaged in voyages between Danish ports are directly covered by the provisions of the Danish Sickness Benefits Act.

Allowance period

Sickness benefits are paid by the shipping company during the first 21 days and subsequently by the Danish Maritime Authority for a period of up to 18 weeks calculated from the first full day lost through illness. In case of illness, the right to receive benefits from the Danish Maritime Authority is conditional upon the seafarer having been employed for 13 weeks on the European market (EU member States), including on Danish ships, immediately prior to the illness. Sickness benefits are paid for a period from 4 to 18 weeks in case of occupational accidents covered by the Danish Act on Industrial Injury Insurance. However, no there is no requirement for 13 weeks’ previous employment.

If the seafarer is domiciled in Denmark, he will, after the expiry of the 18-week period, be entitled to receive sickness benefits from the social services department in the municipality in which he is domiciled. If the seafarer is domiciled in another EU member State or in an EEA country, sickness benefits will be paid by the social services department in the municipality in which the shipping company has its address.

If the seafarer is domiciled outside the EU, the right to receive sickness benefits will cease after the expiry of the 18-week period. In case of occupational accidents, the right to receive sickness benefits from the Danish Maritime Authority is retained for as long as the seafarer is fully unfit for duty, however not for longer than until the date when the National Board of Industrial Injuries decides whether the seafarer has lost his capacity for work.

Normally, sickness benefits from the Danish Maritime Authority to seafarers outside Denmark are paid through the local Danish foreign representation.

The shipping company’s right to have sickness benefits reimbursed

When the shipping company has paid sickness wages to the seafarer for more than the first 21 days and until the expiry of the 18 weeks, it has a right to have the sickness benefits that the seafarer should have received from the Danish Maritime Authority reimbursed.

If the seafarer still receives sickness wages after the expiry of the 18 weeks, the shipping company also has the right to have the sickness benefits reimbursed from the seafarer’s or the shipping company’s municipality of residence. This depends on whether the seafarer is domiciled in Denmark or in another EU member State. In case of seafarers domiciled outside the EU who are still fully unfit for duty because of an occupational accident after the expiry of the 18-week period, sickness benefits are reimbursed by the Danish Maritime Authority – however not for longer than until the date when the National Board of Industrial Injuries decides whether the seafarer has lost his capacity for work.

The reimbursement paid by the Danish Maritime Authority is not greater than an amount corresponding to the paid wages/sickness wages for the same period of time. The amount per week cannot exceed the greatest amount of sickness benefits stipulated by the Danish Act on Sickness Benefits.

In case of requests for reimbursement, the shipping company is to use the form “Sickness benefits for seafarers”. At the same time, the form is a request for sickness benefits for the seafarer.

Please observe that, when the shipping company’s obligation to pay wages/sickness wages ceases, it is obliged to inform the Danish Maritime Authority of this immediately when the seafarer is still unfit for duty and the case, consequently, is transferred to the Danish Maritime Authority for continued payment of sickness benefits. The information provided to the Danish Maritime Authority must, among other things, include the reason for the incapacity for work and the conditions of income and work. The special form on sickness benefits for seafarers is to be used. The obligation to inform the Danish Maritime Authority of the case immediately applies irrespective of whether the company simultaneously asks to have the wages/sickness wages reimbursed or not.

More information about the special provisions on sickness benefits for seafarers is available from Order no. 678 of 22 June 2006.

Health insurance scheme for seafarers

Seafarers on Danish ships not exclusively engaged on voyages between Danish ports have the right to receive health insurance allowances outside Denmark for a period of up to 18 weeks from the first full day lost through illness. After the return to Denmark, the right is retained for two weeks.

As above, seafarers mean all persons carrying out work normal for the operation of the relevant ship though the function cannot be characterised as ship service in a more narrow sense. This means that not actual seafarers are covered as well.

The health insurance allowances include, among other things, free medical assistance, medicine, hospital treatment and maternity care, home journey as well as assistance for a decent funeral. Furthermore, in special cases ill seafarers have a right to receive subsistence allowance.

The provisions on seafarers’ right to receive health insurance allowances (treatment and care) at the shipowner’s expense under the Danish Merchant Shipping Act are the same in case of illness or injury. The allowances correspond more or less to those that are evident from the provisions on health insurance for seafarers. This means that the shipowner’s obligation to pay for the seafarer’s treatment and care, including home journey, has been changed into an obligation to pay the expenses in advance on behalf of the State.

More information about the special health insurance scheme for seafarers and others is available from Order no. 1331 of 5 December 2006.

Danish Industrial Insurance Act

All seafarers (irrespective of nationality) on Danish ships are covered by the Danish Act on Industrial Insurance.

Owners of Danish ships are obliged to take out insurance for the seafarers. This insurance covers the risk of accidents and short-term harmful effects of no more than five days’ duration. Furthermore, the shipowner has an obligation to join the Danish labour market insurance scheme for industrial diseases as regards industrial diseases and sudden lifting injuries. Almost all Danish shipowners meet their obligation to take out insurance against accidents through the Danish Shipowners Accident Insurance Association.

In case of industrial injuries, seafarers have the possibility of receiving the following damages and compensation:

• Payment of expenses for treatment, rehabilitation and aids, etc. to the extent that the expenses are not covered under the Danish Hospital Act, the Danish Act on Health Insurance, etc.
• Compensation for loss of capability for work.
• Compensation for permanent damage.

In case of a seafarer’s death, there is under certain conditions a possibility that the dead person’s spouse or cohabitator may receive a temporary amount in connection with the death and compensation for the loss of a breadwinner. The dead person’s children whom the seafarer was obliged to support are entitled to receive compensation for the loss of a supporter.

In general, compensation for loss of incapability for work and loss of a supporter is paid as an on-going compensation which, in some cases, must – and in other cases can – be paid as a capital payment.

When an industrial injury is reported to the National Board of Industrial Injuries, it will firstly decide whether the reported injury is covered by the Danish Act on Industrial Injuries (recognises or rejects the injury as an industrial injury). The decision whether an accident or a short-term harmful effect is covered by the Act must be made no later than three months after the receipt of the report. Decisions on occupational diseases must be made within nine months, while decisions on sudden lifting injuries must be made within a maximum of two years.

When it is possible to assess the injured seafarer’s future health condition and work possibilities, the national Board of Industrial Injuries will decide on damages and compensation. Decisions on loss of incapability for work and compensation for permanent damage must, in so far as possible, be made within a year and no later than two years after the reporting of the industrial injury.

Seafarers’ holidays

The holiday provisions for seafarers correspond to those of the ordinary Danish Holidays Act. In order to make the provisions at sea more flexible, they do, however, differ from the provisions of the Act in the following areas:

• Within the field of shipping, it is possible by collective agreement to decide that the holiday year follows the holiday year after the calendar year.
• For seafarers on cargo ships it is still possible to place the main holiday during the entire holiday year.
• Only by collective agreement is it possible to agree that holidays in addition to the main holiday are given as individual days.
• The right to receive holiday allowance at a point in time that is too early is restricted to seafarers domiciled outside the EU and EEA countries.

Information about the holiday provisions for seafarers is available from Order no. 12 of 9 January 2002.