When you are employed as a teacher or a researcher at one of the Danish universities, your employment and your salary are regulated by the Akademikerne/AC collective agreement (the collective agreement between the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations and the state, referred to below as the “AC collective agreement”) and by the job structure.
The most important rules and agreements which together constitute the framework for your salary and your general terms of employment are the collective agreement of state-employed academics or the AC collective agreement and the job structure.
The collective agreement entered into by DM and the state, determines, among others, your basic salary, your working hours, your pension rights and the terms of any dismissal.
The job structure, which is specified by an executive order, determines the job categories in which you may be employed, e.g. assistant professor, associate professor or professor, the requirements attached to the different job categories and how to qualify for these.
Special rules apply if you are employed as a teaching assistant according to the circular on payment for teaching on an hourly basis and on moderator fees of the Danish Ministry of Finance (Danish) or as an external lecturer, in which case the basis of employment is the circular on the agreement concerning external lecturers at universities et al. (Danish)
The AC collective agreement is therefore not used in connection with employment on an hourly basis.
Salary and allowances
If you are employed as a scientific assistant, assistant professor, postdoctoral fellow, associate professor, researcher, senior researcher, senior adviser, study assistant, student lecturer or professor MSO, your basic salary is determined by the scaled salary in the AC collective agreement. In addition to your basic salary, you are entitled to a centrally agreed allowance which is determined by the type of position in which you are employed. Through your union representative, you may negotiate additional individual allowances based on your qualifications and job functions.
If you are employed as a professor, the terms of the AC collective agreement also apply to you, except that your salary is determined at pay grade 37 or 38 of the civil servant salary scale. Professors may also negotiate additional individual allowances and generally negotiate on an individual basis; however, they may choose to leave negotiations to the local union representative or DM.
If you are employed as a PhD fellow, the salary scales of the AC collective agreement also apply to you and a central allowance has been agreed.
The AC collective agreement does not apply to hourly-paid teaching assistants nor to external lecturers.
See basic salary and fixed allowances in your area of employment
See grades 37 and 38 of the Finance Ministry salary schedule, pdf in Danish
Pension
When you are employed, you will generally receive a pension determined by collective agreement, which your employer contributes to the pension scheme AkademikerPension. The pension contribution constitutes a fixed percentage of your salary and is regulated by collective bargaining and agreements.
Your fixed allowances and your individual allowances also qualify as pensionable remuneration.
Job structure and job categories
For universities a significant part of the framework for your employment is laid down in a job structure that applies to all scientific staff employed at Danish universities.
The job structures primarily regulate the job categories in which you can be employed but also determines the rules for e.g. the duration of an appointment and appraisal procedures.
Moreover, a centrally agreed salary supplement is associated with each job category.
The job structures also serve the purpose of setting out the framework for the career path you may chose once you are employed as a scientific employee at a university, e.g. from assistant professor to associate professor and possibly professor.
Hours of work
Your average weekly hours of work are 37 hours as per the AC collective agreement.
An exemption is determined for the universities which means that additional hours worked are only deemed to be extra work if the additional hours’ work is imposed upon you and if both the normal workload and the additional workload required are measurable. Since, the employer takes the view that research - and partly also preparatory work for teaching - is not measurable, it is very difficult to have additional work approved.
If you have any doubts about your rights in connection with additional work, always contact your union representative or DM on telephone number 38 15 66 00 or at dm@dm.dk.
