Denmark: removal of the 30-year limit between exposure to dangerous substances and the signs of occupational diseases for compensation requests

“We worked for the removal of this unfair limit to the compensation of occupational diseases.  We succeeded, solely because of the massive pressure we, LO and other union put on the government.”  Dansk Metal secretary Peter Poulsen thus rejoiced with the approval of the reform of the Limitation Act (forældelsesloven) adopted at the Parliament’s 3rd reading on May 5th.  This Act, enforced in 2008, introduced a 30-year limit to the time between exposure and symptoms of the disease to request compensation for occupational diseases.  Consequently, employees getting sick more than 30 years after the end of exposure to the dangerous substances at work were no longer allowed to request damages from the Fund of Insurance against Occupational Diseases at Work (Arbejdsmarkedets Erhvervssygdomssikring) or from their former employer, responsible for said exposure.  Since this law passed, Dansk Metal told the then Minister of Labor, Claus Hjort Frederiksen, about the seriousness of the impact on Danish people who were exposed to dangerous substances in the 1960s and 1970s, notably mentioning the cases of workers who had mesothelioma several decades after they were exposed to asbestos at work.  Following major union pressure (see our dispatch No.  080554), the public debate highly criticized this limit.  The new law, which removes this absolute limit for occupational diseases defined in the Act on Insurance against Industrial Accidents and Occupational Diseases (arbejdsskadesikringsloven), also applies to requests prior to its enforcement once it is published in the Official Journal (Lovtidende).