A Danish butcher Jens Petersen which has a shop on Kultorvet in Denmark has been fined DKK 190,000 for having employed a foreign employee for more than 15 hours. I am so happy that employers who hire foreign employees instead of Danes for jobs in Denmark are fined when they don’t follow the rules.
Fact is that we have a lot of Danes who could do this work because the unemployment rate is big right now. But then there is the question of payment and foreigners are more likely to settle with a bowl of rice to get work experience.
Beside the cheater Jens Petersen a number of Danish firms have been caught using illegal employment or forcing foreign students to work more than 15 hours per week as they are allowed on their student VISA. They are:
- Palace Hotel, central square, Copenhagen (Fine DKK 150,000)
- Copenhagen Marriott hotel (Fine DKK 220,000)
- Hotel Crowne Plaza, Copenhagen
- Copenhagen Towers
- Meyer Kantiner A/S (Fine DKK 220,000)
- Restaurant Kiin Kiin (Fine DKK 130,000)
- Restaurant Bror (Fine DKK 10,000)
- Tivoli, Copenhagen (Fine DKK 60,000)
- Burger King, Vesterbrogade, Copenhagen (Fine DKK 50,000)
- Kentucky Fried Chicken, Amagerbrogade, Copenhagen (Fine DKK 50,000)
- L’Education Nationale (Fine DKK 140,000)
- Sticks’n’Sushi (Fine DKK 60,000)
- Post Danmark (Fine DKK 80,000)
- Coop Danmark (Fine DKK 210,000)
- Plejecenter Egebo (Fine DKK 50,000)
- Halifax Burger (Fine DKK 20,000)
- Politician Flemming Jay (Fine DKK 120,000)
- Ballerup Kommune (Fine DKK 50,000)
- Dansk Supermarked (Fine DKK 450,000)
- ISS (Fine DKK 210,000)
- Forenede Service A/S (Fine DKK 190,000)
Some of the restrurants are in the Michelin Guide. How can the guide defend this from an ethical viewpoint?
And this list is for the Copenhagen area only and covers the period of 2013.
But in the case with Jens Petersen there is another problem. Danish cuisine is important for Denmark. Tourists travel here to taste our food. If they learn how to cook our food abroad why travel to one of the most expensive and over-taxed countries in the world? They would not come here and we would lose income.
That is why criminals like Jens Petersen needs to be stopped. For the sake of Denmark! For the sake of innocent children and their right to earn a living when they become adults.
Sources:
- Kendt slagter får bøde for udenlandsk ansat (TV2 Nyhederne)
- Kendis-kok får kæmpe bøde for ulovlig arbejdskraft (TV2 Nyhederne)
- Michelin-restaurant får mega-bøde for lovbrud (TV2 Nyhederne)