Moving a worker between EOR providers can change the legal employer even if the role stays the same. Before ending employment, establish whether the same employer continues, an undertaking transfers, or the worker starts a new job with another employer. The route determines which rights continue, what needs agreement, whether work permission changes, and how to close payroll and holiday records.
This guide covers Denmark proper; the worker’s terms, permit and transaction facts determine the route.
What changes when you switch EOR in Denmark?
Start with the employer named in the signed agreement and amendments. Compare it with payslips and any permit decision. A CVR number helps identify an entity, but does not prove that it employs this worker or that an undertaking transferred. Check the employer’s name and address in the written terms and match its CVR against payroll and relevant permit records. Employment Terms Act
Below, A is the outgoing provider and B the incoming provider; verify their actual employing entities separately. A provider’s label, a new services agreement, or the worker staying in the same role does not settle the legal route. Check any applicable collective bargaining agreement (CBA).
The Danish Business Transfers Act covers a qualifying transfer of an enterprise or part. The question is whether an organized economic entity retains its identity. A service contract changing hands alone does not decide it; consider activity, organization, resources, workforce and know how. Court of Justice case law confirms an organized temporary work grouping can transfer when enough administrative staff, workers and know how move. Client integration does not by itself rule out transfer. This is a factual test, not an automatic outcome for every EOR account or worker. Danish Business Transfers Act; Directive 2001/23/EC; C-458/05 judgment
Review the existing service and employee position
Keep the customer’s commercial arrangement separate from the worker’s employment. A notice period in the customer to A services agreement is not the worker’s resignation notice or a statutory transfer notice. Check both calendars before setting a date.
Commercial service agreement with A and B
- Identify contracting entities, service end date, notice clause and counting method, minimum term and extension option.
- Check exit charges, open invoices, deposits, refunds, currency and who funds final payroll liabilities.
- Assign owners for records and corrections after service ends. A’s duties for its employment period remain.
- Confirm B’s employer registration, payroll cutoff, funding method and approval owners.
Employee arrangements and status
- Compare the contract, amendments and CBA. Confirm worker category, service date, notice, probation, pay components, bonus or equity terms and claims.
- Reconcile holiday taken and unused, extra leave, pension, insurance, benefits and protected leave. Do not assume every balance transfers.
- Check citizenship or residence basis and the actual permit decision. Confirm whether permission is tied to the current job or employer.
- Agree B terms and date with the worker on a fresh hire. Separate statutory continuity from any service credit B expressly promises.
- Explain proposed payroll and benefit records, purpose, recipient, secure channel and question owner.
Many terms depend on collective agreements. For a worker within Funktionærloven, ordinary employee notice is one month to month end, subject to probation, short temporary employment and valid longer-notice agreements. Employer notice depends on service. Check the category and actual terms; these rules do not prescribe resignation for a switch. Salaried Employees Act; Workindenmark labour rights
Establish transfer and continuity treatment
Do not promise that all rights carry over or reset. On a qualifying transfer, the incoming employer succeeds immediately to covered legal, contract and CBA rights. Specified old age, invalidity and dependant pension benefits are excluded. A transfer alone is not a valid dismissal reason, subject to the statutory exception for economic, technical or organizational reasons involving workforce changes. For a qualifying transfer, A must inform representatives, or affected employees where none exist, a reasonable time beforehand about the date, reason, consequences and planned measures. Planned measures trigger negotiations aimed at agreement; B has corresponding duties for its affected workforce. Check collective agreement accession separately. If a worker ends the contract because a transfer substantially worsens their working conditions, section 3(2) treats that ending as dismissal in the worker-employer relationship. A request to resign cannot safely bypass this protection. Business Transfers Act
Pregnancy and protected parental leave cannot be the reason for dismissal or less favourable treatment. Check current leave, return rights and benefits before choosing an end date. For postponed leave, distinguish the statutory right under section 11 from agreement-based postponement under section 12. Section 12(4) requires a new employer agreement for that agreed route; do not extend this condition to all postponed leave. Pay during leave and public benefit eligibility need separate confirmation. Equal Treatment Act; Maternity Leave Act
Agency-law screening asks whether the worker is employed by an agency and temporarily assigned to a user company under that company’s supervision and direction. For an arrangement in scope, Danish law restricts successive assignments without objective justification, subject to a qualifying CBA exception. The EOR label alone does not establish agency status. Retain the assignment history and assess any proposed continuation. Changing an intermediary does not establish that an assignment restriction has restarted. Temporary Agency Workers Act
Set one coordinated cutover calendar
The example assumes a Danish citizen with verified unrestricted work rights, distinct legal employers A and B, and a reviewed transaction in which no organized undertaking transfers. A employment ends by agreement on 28 February 2027; B starts Monday 1 March. The worker does not resign. B terms, benefits, payroll owner and funding are confirmed before A’s end agreement is signed.
The assumed 60 day commercial service notice excludes delivery day and includes 28 February: 31 December is day 1, 31 January is day 32 and 28 February is day 60. It is not employee notice or the statutory consultation period. Service notice may precede the employee exit decision if an extension is available. Replace these dates if the signed contract differs.
Bank cutoffs matter near the first B payday. Denmark’s Nationalbank lists 25 March (Maundy Thursday), 26 March (Good Friday) and 29 March (Easter Monday) as 2027 bank holidays. The assumed 24 March approval is before them; confirm B’s cutoff. The 31 March payday and 26 February funding date are scenario assumptions. Nationalbank bank holidays
Reconcile transition costs and cash
Assume B cover starts 1 March, the day after A cover ends. Confirm actual plan terms. Fees, deposits and refunds remain contract variables. A remains responsible for its period reporting and liabilities after service ends; B handles its employment and payroll from its start.
Assume A’s reconciled records establish DKK 60,000 of residual qualifying earnings for unused holiday. At 12.5%, the gross balance is DKK 60,000 × 12.5% = DKK 7,500, before withholding. This is not headline salary by default: exclude salary already paid during holiday and the holiday supplement, and reconcile leave already taken or paid. It is not net pay or a country cost estimate. For this salaried leaver, A reports and remits the net FerieKonto amount after actual A-tax and labour-market deductions; no net amount is assumed here. A handles the corresponding tax remittance. B retains A’s statement as history and does not credit or pay that same liability again. B records its own future accrual separately. Holiday Act; Holiday Regulation 1054/2024; Virk holiday guide
Test the first payroll and close the old arrangement
Release only when each item passes. A parallel calculation is a control, not a second live payroll.
- Route and dates: documents name the right employers and effective dates. Confirm worker status and applicable process. Service notice is not employee notice.
- Payroll ownership: A reports its period; B reports its own. Do not duplicate February or March earnings.
- Tax and pay dates: B retrieves the current tax card. Check both wage period and payment availability date in eIndkomst. Retain A’s year-to-date values as history, separate from B’s live earnings and new funding. The employee checks their preliminary tax assessment and tells B which tax card to use. SKAT reporting pay; SKAT tax card
- Final balances: A reconciles payslips, pay components, leave taken/unused, qualifying holiday base, expenses, bonus, pension and benefits. For the example, target Friday 26 February for the FerieKonto deadline that falls Sunday 28 February.
- First B payroll: verify account, cutoff, actual hours/ATP category, deductions, payslip, 1 March benefits and funding. ATP follows actual eligible period hours. Virk ATP guidance
- Records and closeout: document each party’s data role and lawful basis, share the minimum necessary records securely, log receipt, and assign A a correction owner. Reconcile deposits separately. Data protection guidance
If a critical record is missing, disputed or refused, the client’s transition lead tracks the request, A supplies or corrects its records, and B validates sufficiency. At minimum, reconcile identity and work permission, agreed terms, pay periods and amounts, holiday balances, benefit dates, payroll identifiers, tax-card instructions and payment details. Share only what the lawful route requires. Reconstruct only from lawful source records that are sufficient and independently checked. Otherwise defer the end agreement before signing and secure an agreed extension. Do not guess a balance or backdate a report.
Two employee situations that change the switch
Situation 1: independently authorized worker. In the example, a Danish citizen moves between distinct employers after review finds no organized undertaking transfer. A and the worker agree an end date of 28 February; the worker accepts B terms for 1 March. This is a hypothetical fresh hire. The same role and client do not create succession. B should state any service credit it agrees to recognize.
Situation 2: worker with an employer specific permit. Assume a second employee holds a Pay Limit Scheme permit tied to A and proposes to start with B on 1 March. First establish that B and the offered arrangement qualify for the incoming route. An employer change generally requires a new application, even if the client and duties stay the same. SIRI’s job change rule allows eligible workers on listed schemes to start when a qualifying new application has been submitted no later than the start day. The assumed permit does not establish B’s eligibility. For this example, obtain the application receipt and verify job-change eligibility before the 12 February readiness check. This is an earlier operational control, while SIRI’s deadline is no later than the first workday. Otherwise defer the 15 February employee-exit agreement. For routes outside the rule, obtain the required grant or another valid authorization before work starts. SIRI lists a qualifying business transfer exception, but that requires actual transfer facts. A pending application or unchanged client assignment alone does not authorize work for B. SIRI change in employment; SIRI job change rule
Explain A and B pay periods and dates, benefit cover, holiday handling, documents and the question owner. Separate statutory rights from B’s agreed service credit. Update the worker if dates or records change.
Questions about switching EOR in Denmark
Does switching EOR providers automatically transfer the worker?
No. Determine whether the employer stays the same or an undertaking or part retaining its identity moves with the worker. A provider change alone is not enough, but an organized unit can qualify. If it does, statutory succession applies. Business Transfers Act
Does the employee need to resign?
Not as a routine switch step. A statutory transfer does not arise from resignation and a new contract. For a fresh hire, agree the lawful end of A employment and B start. Commercial service notice is not employee notice.
Do holiday, seniority and pension all carry over?
They do not follow one rule. Covered rights may succeed by law on a qualifying transfer. Termination can require unused holiday settlement; a new employer may agree service credit. Specified pension benefits are excluded from statutory succession, and plans need separate review.
Can a worker keep working while a new permit is pending?
Only if the exact SIRI route permits it and the application meets the required date, or another authorization applies. Some categories require a granted permit first. Check the worker’s decision and B’s eligibility.
What if A has not supplied all payroll records?
A should own the correction; B should identify minimum records. Share only on a documented lawful basis and through a secure channel. If sufficient lawful reconstruction is impossible, defer signing the employee exit and seek an agreed extension. If an end agreement is already signed, obtain a valid written change or another lawful contingency; do not assume unilateral extension. Work must stop if no valid permission covers it.
Borderless describes global EOR services that include onboarding, contracts, payroll, benefits and compliance. Employers considering a Denmark transition can ask Borderless to review the proposed arrangement and readiness steps; this does not promise that a particular transfer or permit route is available. Borderless global EOR services
