Non-Danish post docs and visiting scholars at the University of Copenhagen can now freely dispose of their hard-earned holiday money immediately. <\/p>\n
This is according to the International Staff Mobility Office (ISM). ISM was represented on a committee that originally drafted the new rules. <\/p>\n
PhDs are so far still not included in the change, but \u00bbwe are working to have PhD students being a part of it too,\u00ab says Vivian Tos Lindgaard, head of ISM to the University Post. <\/p>\n
The change, which will come into effect after the summer, exempts international researchers from an eccentric Danish holiday money system: A portion of employees\u2019 monthly salary is withheld until after 1 May the following year.<\/p>\n
International researchers and staff, and indeed all expatriates in Denmark on a short stay, are particularly hard hit in the present system.<\/p>\n
The rules effectively withhold large amounts of pay until the following year, leaving newcomers with no paid holiday the first part of their stay.<\/p>\n
It is about time the rules were changed, says Nele Boelaert, an international scientist that the University Post contacted at the Niels Bohr Institute.<\/p>\n
She started her postdoctoral project in 2010 to search for particles in the CERN experiment. <\/p>\n
\u00bbThe present holiday money system is no good at all,\u00ab she says. The rules give newcomers the incentive to work non-stop, she adds.<\/p>\n
\u00bbApart from a few days, I hardly had any holiday at all last year, as there was no holiday money. I compensated the days I did take by working overtime. But everyone should have a holiday, as everyone needs time to refresh,\u00ab says Nele.<\/p>\n
A delegation from the University of Copenhagen’s ISM office is to meet the director of the Danish Agency for Labour Retention and International Recruitment in May. Hopefully \u00bbit will result in international PhDs also being included in the change,\u00ab says Vivian Tos Lindgaard.<\/p>\n
miy@adm.ku.dk<\/p>\n