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6 Dec 2024

Denmark: Itinera "suspends" subcontractor Tekno Fire in response to allegations of wage theft

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A Danish documentary released in December 2024 documented wage fraud among construction workers deployed to public construction works projects in Denmark. The documentary finds evidence of workers employed by Albanian subcontractor Tekno Fire being asked to pay back a portion of their wages to the company, despite being entitled to the full salary under Danish law, where they are deployed. In some instances, workers paid back "thousands" of kroner each month.

The Danish employment minister stated such practices are illegal. The main contractor for the projects, Italian company Itinera, reportedly suspended its business relationship with Tekno Fire in response to the allegations.

The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited Tekno Fire to respond to the allegations of wage theft, and invited Itinera to respond both to allegations of wage theft in its supply chain and to confirm how it ensure the business relationship was suspended in line with responsible procurement principles, including what steps it had taken to ensure workers received owed wages and were remedied for the abuse.

Itinera was also invited to respond to allegations of wage theft among subcontracted workers in its supply chain, to confirm how it ensures the business relationship with Tekno Fire was suspended in line with responsible procurement principles, including what steps it had taken to ensure workers received owed wages and were remedied for the abuse and to disclose any human rights due diligence it undertakes prior to entering into contracts with subcontractors and when monitoring working conditions for subcontracted workers.

Itinera responded and Tekno Fire did not. Both response and non-response can be found below.

Company Responses

Itinera SpA View Response
Tekno Fire

No Response

Timeline