The 11-hour rest rule between shifts in Denmark

As a general rule, an adult employee in Denmark must have at least 11 consecutive hours of rest in every 24-hour period. The check uses a rolling 24-hour window, not only the time between two calendar days.

This guide is for employers and people who prepare staff schedules in Denmark. It is based on Executive Order no. 606 of 29 June 2026, which took effect on 1 July 2026, and current Danish Working Environment Authority guidance.

This guide provides general information, not legal advice. The applicable rules depend on the work, the employee group and any collective agreements. Always check the specific collective agreement and obtain professional advice before relying on a derogation.

What does the 11-hour rule require?

Section 3 of the Executive Order requires at least 11 consecutive hours of rest within every 24-hour period. The Danish Working Environment Authority explains the check by choosing a point during working time, looking back 24 hours and confirming that the period contains 11 consecutive hours of rest.

For an ordinary staff schedule:

• If a shift ends at 23:00, a new shift at 10:00 the next day can provide exactly 11 hours of rest.
• If the shift ends at 23:00, a new shift at 07:00 provides only 8 hours. The employee's consent does not automatically make that arrangement lawful.
• A moved shift must be checked again. A compliant published schedule can develop a breach when a shift is extended or moved.

These examples show only the time calculation. Breaks, on-call duty, travel time and other working periods can change the legal assessment.

Who is covered?

The Executive Order generally covers people aged 18 or over who work for an employer. Separate rules apply to workers under 18. Work covered by road-transport driving and rest-time rules is also outside this Executive Order.

Some employees with genuine autonomy over all of their working time may be exempt. This is a narrow assessment. A management or salaried-employee title is not enough on its own; relevant questions include whether the employee's working time as a whole is measured or predetermined and whether the employee can genuinely determine it.

When can the rest period be derogated from?

Eleven hours is the main rule. The Executive Order contains limited exceptions, but they are not a general permission to schedule shorter rest.

Unforeseen disruption

The rule may be derogated from to the necessary extent after natural events, accidents, machinery breakdowns or similar unforeseen events disrupt normal operations. The derogation must be documented in writing. Danish Working Environment Authority guidance treats this exception narrowly and says ordinary employee sickness is not normally force majeure.

Defined work situations

In certain cases, the rest period may be reduced to 8 hours. Section 8 lists, among other things, a change of shifts in a genuine shift-work operation, limited periods for annual accounts or sales, and work in warehouses and shops during the last 14 days before Christmas Eve. Each option has its own conditions and limits.

Changing shifts, being busy or struggling to cover an opening shift does not in itself create an exception.

Permission and particular work patterns

For certain forms of work, the Danish Working Environment Authority can permit a derogation when the work cannot be postponed or a particular work pattern makes it necessary. The appendix to the Executive Order limits the work that can qualify. Tourism, for example, appears in the appendix under foreseeable surges in activity, but inclusion in the appendix is not an automatic permission for shorter rest.

What is compensatory rest?

When a lawful derogation shortens daily rest, the employee must generally receive equivalent compensatory rest. The Danish Working Environment Authority states that the rest must follow immediately after the work that created the entitlement, rather than being placed at a later convenient time.

If a lawful exception reduces rest from 11 to 8 hours, 3 hours of rest are missing. The exact placement and calculation must follow the rule or agreement on which the derogation relies. If equivalent rest cannot exceptionally be provided, the Executive Order requires appropriate protection. That should not become a routine scheduling method.

Legislation, collective agreements and contracts are separate layers

Start by identifying where a rule comes from:

Source	What does it mean for the schedule?
Legislation and the Executive Order	Set the main rule and the lawful boundaries for derogations. Individual consent does not by itself make a non-compliant shift lawful.
Collective agreement	May contain working-time rules and agreed derogations. The Executive Order gives employer and employee organisations defined agreement options, and agreements must be in writing.
Employment contract and local agreement	May define an employee's shifts and more favourable terms, but do not provide a free choice to ignore the main rule. A local derogation needs the agreement framework described in the Executive Order.

Reading the employment contract alone is therefore not enough. Find the applicable collective agreement, any framework or local agreements, and the precise provision on which a derogation relies.

Three scheduling examples

A closing shift followed by a morning shift

An employee works until 23:30 and is scheduled again at 09:00. There are 9 hours and 30 minutes between the shifts. The schedule does not meet the main rule. The manager must move the shift or be able to document a specific lawful basis for the derogation and the following compensation.

A colleague calls in sick

Another employee offers to take the opening shift after working a late closing shift. Volunteering does not by itself resolve the rest requirement, and ordinary sickness is not normally force majeure. Check the rest before assigning the shift.

A shift swap after publication

Two employees request a shift swap. It may look neutral in the weekly overview but leave one employee with too little rest before the following day's shift. Approve the swap only after checking the adjacent shifts for both employees.

A practical check before publishing the schedule

1. Bring together planned shifts, approved absence and known availability.
2. Check every transition between shifts in rolling 24-hour periods.
3. Review workers under 18 and work subject to special rules separately.
4. Flag every shift with less than 11 hours of rest for manual assessment.
5. Document the precise legal or agreed basis if a derogation is used.
6. Plan and record the compensatory rest immediately.
7. Repeat the check when a published shift is changed or swapped.

Monoplan's employee scheduling can keep availability, approved absence and shifts together and show working-time warnings while the schedule is being built. The manager still assesses the warnings and remains responsible for the specific schedule.

See the overview of working-time rules for Danish staff schedules when checking breaks, weekly working time and weekly rest alongside daily rest.

Sources and source check

The sources were checked on 25.08.2026:

• Executive Order on rest periods and weekly rest, no. 606 of 29 June 2026, particularly sections 1–8, 12, 19–27 and 34, plus appendix 1.
• The current Danish Working Environment Act, particularly sections 50–51.
• Danish Working Environment Authority guidance on daily rest, updated September 2024.
• Danish Working Environment Authority questions and answers on working time and rest, particularly compensatory rest.

Executive Order no. 606 took effect on 01.07.2026 and repealed Executive Order no. 324 of 23.05.2002. The source check therefore uses the 2026 version.