How to Calculate Overtime for Polish Workers on a Danish Construction Site 2026

Calculating overtime for Polish workers on a Danish construction site is one of the most common sources of confusion, and disputes, between employers, staffing agencies, and workers in 2026. Get it wrong and you face claims from the worker, scrutiny from Arbejdstilsynet (the Danish Working Environment Authority), and potential liability under Danish collective agreements. Get it right and you protect your business, keep your workforce motivated, and stay compliant with both Danish and EU law. This guide walks through the calculation step by step, with concrete hypothetical numbers to illustrate each stage.

Step 1: Establish Whether Overtime Rules Apply to Your Worker

Before reaching for a calculator, you need to confirm the legal framework that governs your worker's hours. In Denmark, most construction workers are covered by the collective agreement between Dansk Byggeri and 3F Byggegruppen, known as the Bygge- og anlægsoverenskomsten. This agreement sets the standard working week, overtime thresholds, and premium rates. If your Polish worker was posted through a Polish agency, the EU Posting of Workers Directive and its 2018 enforcement amendment apply on top of Danish rules, meaning the worker is entitled to at least the same pay conditions, including overtime, as a locally hired Danish worker doing the same job.

Workers who are directly employed by a Danish company are covered by the same overenskomst from day one. If you are unsure which agreement covers your site, the Danish Ministry of Employment (bm.dk) publishes guidance on posted workers and applicable collective agreements. Getting your RUT registration right is a prerequisite here, because it formally establishes the posting relationship and the applicable rules.

Step 2: Identify the Normal Working Hours Threshold

Under the standard construction overenskomst, the normal working week is 37 hours. Hours worked beyond this threshold in a given week trigger overtime premiums. The EU Working Time Directive, implemented in Denmark through the Danish Working Time Act (Arbejdstidsloven), also caps average weekly working time at 48 hours over a reference period, but the overenskomst rules on premiums kick in much earlier, at the 37-hour mark.

For shift workers or workers on compressed schedules, the threshold may be calculated differently over a reference period agreed in the contract. Always check the specific contract and the applicable overenskomst before assuming a simple weekly calculation applies.

Step 3: Apply the Correct Overtime Premium Rates

This is where the numbers matter most. The Bygge- og anlægsoverenskomsten distinguishes between different bands of overtime, each attracting a different premium. As a general illustration, and you must verify the current rates in the live overenskomst text, since rates are updated in each bargaining round, overtime is typically paid at a percentage supplement on top of the normal hourly rate. The first band of overtime hours in a day or week attracts a lower premium, while late-night work, weekend work, and work on public holidays attract higher premiums.

To make this concrete, consider a hypothetical example: a Polish carpenter working for a Danish subcontractor earns a base hourly rate of 200 DKK. In a given week he works 42 hours. The first 37 hours are paid at the normal rate. The remaining 5 hours are overtime. If the applicable overenskomst premium for those hours is, say, 50% on top of the base rate, the overtime hourly rate becomes 300 DKK. His total gross pay for that week would therefore be (37 x 200) + (5 x 300) = 7,400 + 1,500 = 8,900 DKK. This is a simplified illustration; your actual calculation must use the current overenskomst rates and any locally agreed supplements.

Step 4: Record Hours Accurately Before You Calculate

No calculation is reliable without accurate time records. Danish law and the EU Working Time Directive require employers to record working time in a way that allows verification. Following the Court of Justice of the EU ruling in the CCOO v Deutsche Bank case, member states are expected to ensure employers maintain objective and accessible time-tracking systems. On a busy construction site, this typically means digital time-registration tools or signed daily timesheets. If Arbejdstilsynet arrives for an inspection, inspectors will ask to see these records. A guide to what inspectors look for is covered in detail in our article on Arbejdstilsynet inspections on a Danish site in 2026.

For Polish workers posted from Poland, the employing agency back in Poland also has obligations under Polish labour law (Kodeks Pracy) to maintain records of working time. The Polish Labour Inspectorate (PIP) can request these records, and ZUS (the Polish social insurance institution) uses them to verify social contribution bases. Keeping consistent records that satisfy both Danish and Polish requirements is not just good practice, it is a legal obligation on both sides of the border.

Step 5: Calculate Gross Pay and Check Against Minimum Rates

Once you have the hours and the applicable premium rates, the calculation itself is straightforward: normal hours multiplied by the base rate, plus overtime hours multiplied by the premium rate, summed together. However, you must then cross-check the resulting figure against the minimum hourly rate set in the overenskomst for the relevant trade and skill level. If your base rate is already above the overenskomst minimum, the premium still applies on top of your actual rate, not just on top of the minimum. This is a common mistake that leads to underpayment claims.

For workers paid on a piecework basis (akkord), which is common in Danish construction, overtime calculation works differently and is governed by specific provisions in the overenskomst. If your workers are on akkord, seek advice from your employers' association or a Danish labour law specialist before applying a simple hourly premium model.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

One of the most frequent errors is applying Polish overtime rules instead of Danish ones. Under Polish Kodeks Pracy, overtime thresholds and premium rates differ from Danish collective agreements. A posted worker in Denmark is entitled to Danish conditions, not Polish ones, for the duration of the posting. Another common mistake is forgetting to include supplements for specific hours, work starting before a certain time in the morning or finishing after a certain time in the evening often carries additional premiums under the overenskomst, on top of the basic overtime rate.

Managers on sites with mixed teams sometimes find it difficult to have direct conversations about pay discrepancies or overtime disputes with workers from different backgrounds. The practical advice in our piece on difficult conversations with workers on a Danish site can help you approach these situations constructively before they escalate into formal complaints.

Actionable Advice for 2026

Start by obtaining the current text of the applicable overenskomst and identifying the exact overtime thresholds and premium rates for your trade. Set up a time-registration system that records daily start and finish times for every worker, including breaks. Before each payroll run, reconcile the recorded hours against the 37-hour weekly threshold and apply premiums band by band. Keep a written record of the calculation so that both the worker and any inspector can follow the logic. If you operate as a Polish posting agency, ensure your records satisfy both PIP requirements under Polish law and Danish documentation standards. When in doubt about which overenskomst applies, contact the relevant Danish employers' association or consult the Arbejdstilsynet website at at.dk for guidance on posted worker rights and working time rules.

Overtime calculation is not complicated once the framework is clear, but the framework has several layers. Taking the time to understand each layer before the payroll dispute arises is always cheaper than resolving it afterwards.