Termination with shortened notice under the 120-day rule

On November 25, 2025, the Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling on the 120-day rule, determining whether employers could validly terminate employees with shortened notice on the 120th day.    

The case involved an employee who had worked for the company since January 13, 2020. The employment contract explicitly referred to the 120-day rule, meaning that, under certain conditions, the employer could terminate the employee with shortened notice if she had been sick for 120 days within a 12-month period.  

June 7, 2023, marked the employee's 120th sick day within the previous 12 months. On that same day, at 13:42, she received a notification on her PostNord app that her employer had prepared a shipment for her. Later, at 16:41, she received another notification that the letter had been delivered to a post office. The shipment was delivered to the employee on June 9, 2023, her 122nd day of illness. The letter contained a written notice in which the employer terminated the employment relationship with one month's notice, effective July 31, 2023, in reference to the 120-day rule.  

The Supreme Court's reasoning and result

Initially, the Supreme Court found that there are two main conditions for applying the 120-day rule of the Danish Salaried Employees Act. First, the wording of the provision indicates that a termination with shortened notice requires the salaried employee to have received sick pay for 120 days. Second, the termination must take place immediately after the 120 days of sick leave expire.

According to the Supreme Court, when a salaried employee has received salary for 120 days of illness on the 120th day of illness, a notice of termination can be given after the end of working hours on that day. In this case, the employee's normal working hours were from 08:30 to 15:00. The notice sent at 16:41 on June 7, 2023, was therefore given after the end of working hours on the 120th sick day. The Supreme Court did not consider it significant that the employer registered the shipment with PostNord at 13:42.

Furthermore, it was undisputed that the termination occurred immediately after the 120 days of sick leave expired, as the shipment was delivered to the employee on June 9, 2023, at 10:46 a.m., while the employee was still sick. 

Based on these facts, the Supreme Court found that the conditions for terminating the employee with shortened notice were met. 

Littler notes

The Supreme Court emphasizes that the 120-day rule only applies when an employee has received sick pay for 120 days. This occurs at the end of the employee's normal workday on the 120th day of illness. Therefore, if sent after the end of the employee's normal working hours, the notice may be given on the same day.