AFU guidance swaps registration test for posting test

AFU's guidance pages on virk.dk now state a posted-worker test where they previously required employer registration in an EU/EEA country.VirkVirk A posted employee qualifies where the foreign employer has posted (udstationeret) the employee, who has their usual place of work (sædvanlige arbejdssted) in another EU or EEA country, to Denmark.Virk The union page's coverage conditions, the Danish-company page's hvervgiver trigger and the foreign-employer page's introduction all carry the new wordingVirkVirkVirk; all three pages' update stamps moved from 19.05.2026 to 05.10.2026.

The new wording tracks the act's own coverage: the fund covers wage claims established by labour-law proceedings where the employee is posted to Denmark from another EU or EEA country in connection with the provision of a service.

One list on the foreign-employer page still carries the old wording: its five coverage conditions for wage payment still require the foreign employer to be registered as a company in an EU/EEA countryVirk, while the same page's introduction now states the posting test. Readers of that page therefore see the new posting test in the introduction and the old registration test in the coverage list.

The foreign-employer page additionally no longer carries the sentence stating that AFU does not cover employees posted from a foreign employer in Switzerland.Virk That exclusion stood directly beneath the five coverage conditions in the previous versionVirk and is gone from the new version, while the other two pages never carried it.

The remaining coverage conditions are unchanged on the union and foreign-employer pages: the work must be covered by a collective agreement, the wage must have been established through proceedings in Arbejdsretten, the employee or union must have tried in vain to collect from the foreign employer after those proceedings, and the missing wage must not be time-barred, which as a starting point happens after 5 years. All five conditions must be met before AFU pays out.

For Danish companies acting as hvervgiver — a Danish company that has agreed with a foreign company to perform work in Denmark — the trigger for a possible extra contribution now uses the same posting testVirk. A Danish principal faces the extra levy where the foreign employer posted an employee whose usual workplace is in another EU or EEA country to Denmark, liability for the missing wage was settled by judgment or decision, and AFU has determined the company is the Danish hvervgiver for that employer. The extra contribution is as a starting point 25 percent of the total wage paid out by AFU, rising to 40 percent where AFU paid wages to that employer's staff within the previous 36 months and to 50 percent where AFU has paid out more than twice. AFU first bills the foreign employer, then the Danish hvervgiver if the employer still does not pay.

Unions reporting unpaid wages on behalf of a posted employee file with AFU within 4 months of the claim being established by judgment or settlement in Arbejdsretten, or of the decision being endorsed by Arbejdsretten. AFU may exceptionally hear a later report where special circumstances exist. Where a reported wage claim cannot be covered within the awarded amount and AFU has begun paying out under that decision, AFU refuses to cover the claim even if the report arrived within the deadline.

Legal basis: lov om Arbejdsmarkedets Fond for Udstationerede, which establishes the fund to secure posted employees' wage claims, provides for fund coverage of claims established by labour-law proceedings for employees posted to Denmark from another EU or EEA country in connection with service provision, and for ordinary and extraordinary employer contributions.