The new version of the employment reform emphasises the responsibility of injured seafarers for the process of their own cases. UFDS is ready to help.
According to the Danish Agency for Labour Market and Recruitment (STAR), the Danish employment effort is facing the greatest simplification and de-bureaucratization ever in the form of the updated employment reform. The first phase of the reform came into force on 1 February 2026, while some changes took effect from 1 July this year.
The reform will affect Danish shipping companies as employers, and to a large extent also seafarers as employees. Health professional consultant and social worker at the Accident Insurance Association for Danish Shipping, Britt Saaby, provides an overview.
»As an injured seafarer, you need to focus on driving the process forward. This means that you have a conversation with your employer within four weeks, and are aware that you can consult your own doctor and have a statement of opportunity prepared concerning what tasks you can carry out while injured,« she explains and continues:
»You should also be aware of using any health insurance if there is uncertainty about your diagnosis. And you must receive the right, relevant treatment, just as you must have an interview at the job center within eight weeks of the first day of sick leave. And you shouldn’t promise to get well within 22 weeks, because you might not be.«
In continuation of this, Britt Saaby points to the possibility of using the fast-track scheme at the municipalities, which is available to both employers and employees, and also obliges the job center to take up a case quickly.
»You shouldn’t promise to get well within 22 weeks, because you might not be,« Britt Saaby says.
Ready for dialogue
In shipping, it is generally difficult in practice to return to work gradually. As a seafarer, you can therefore explore the possibilities of a partial report of recovery and an agreement with the employer on participation in certain tasks, while opting out of others.
It may also be possible to redeploy – temporarily or permanently – to tasks on land, allowing for better possibilities in varying the length of work and physical strain according to the seafarer's physical condition. And there is generally a great desire for this from the seafarers' side, Britt Saaby points out.
»The shipping industry is characterized by a group of employees who are enormously motivated and proud of their work and are willing to go to great lengths to maintain their positions. Therefore, I would also like to emphasize from UFDS' side that we are always ready to help and to reach out to both shipping companies and seafarers, and to enter into a dialogue about the best possible course,« she says.
