Whatever is their status of residence (resident or inhabitant of the border zone), a national from an European country or not, every employee working in Luxembourg, including detached or border employees, is subjected to the current labor code in Luxembourg, that is to the Luxembourg laws ruling the professional world.
Useful information about the profesional world in Luxembourg
Legal duration of work
The legal duration of work is of 8 hours per day and 40 hours per week. The law allows overtime for up to 2 hours a day and up to 8 hours a week.
The maximal working duration cannot exceed 10 hours a day, neither 48 hours a week.
Fixed or flexible schedules
Working time can be managed according to different systems.
The working time in fixed schedule is notified in the employment contract or in the internal regulations of the company. Any exceeding of these daily or weekly hours will be considered as overtime.
The work in mobile schedule is managed by the parties in accordance with the legal limits and according to the needs of service.
A working plan organization (POT) can be set up for a reference period ranging from 1 to 4 months maximum. Exceedances must be considered as overtime or extra time off.
Every employee is legally entitled to an annual paid time off of 25 working days, to which are added 10 legal holidays: the New Year, Easter Monday, the 1st of May, the Ascension Day, Whit Mondays, the National Day (on the 23rd of June), the Assumption, All Saints’ Day (the 1st of November), Christmas and the day after (on the 25th and 26th of December).
Each year, collective agreements in the building and civil engineering sectors require collective holidays for its employees. These leaves last 15 working days in the summer period and 10 working days in the winter period. This measure concerns approximately 18,000 people working in the building sector.
Concretely, August looks like a “Summerlach” or summer hole with all construction sites stopped, either public or private, except derogations granted by the Inspectorate of Work and Minies in cases of work in schools, or in factories during production shutdowns or on demand if the ITM considers the work as urgent.
Do you want to build your house? You are entitled to housing subsidies.
The various types of employment contracts
There are several types of employment contracts, of which the most important are the permanent contract and the fixed-term contract.
The permanent contract
The permanent contract (CDI in French) is an undated employment contract which can be broken by the 2 parties with a minimum period of notice. The employer who breaks the contract has to justify his decision while the employee can resign without any justification.
The fixed-term contract
The fixed-term contract (CDD in French) is an employment contract signed between the parties for a precise duration and for a precise, transient task. The maximal duration of a fixed-term contract is of 2 years and can be renewed twice.
The remuneration of the salaried employee
The employer and his employee can decide freely on the salary to which the employee will be paid. This one is calculated according to the mission or to the post, the qualifications of the employee and to his skills.
The salary cannot however be lower than the minimum salary (SSM). This one amounts at present to €1,998.59 gross a month for an employee with no professional qualification. A qualified employee will benefit from 120% of this amount, that is €2,398.30, for a full-time work. The 17 to 18-year-old minors are paid on a basis of 80% of the SSM, the 15-17 year-old on a basis of 75%.
Various deductions are subtracted from the gross salary, including pension and sickness insurance to obtain the net salary that will be paid to the employee
Identical status for the refugees and the Luxembourg residents
The question of the hiring of the refugees was studied by Adem on May 11th, 2017 on the occasion of the Diversity Day. The people benefitting from the international protection, and also called “refugees” are more and more numerous on the Luxembourg territory. Certain profiles interest the Luxembourg companies, in particular in case of lack of workforce in certain domains.
The Luxembourg law gives the refugees the same employment law as for the Luxembourg residents: they do not need a working authorisation.
Spoken languages within the framework of work
Luxembourgish, French and German are the three official languages in Luxembourg. However, considering the strong proportion of foreigners and foreign companies, English is very much spoken in numerous sectors of the professional life.
In certain jobs, such as personal cares or nursing auxiliaries among others, mastering Luxembourgish will turn out inescapable. Speaking Luxembourgish is very appreciated by the population of Luxembourg origin, among others in stores and the services field.
Importance of networking
Luxembourg is a small country, often likened to a big village considering its number of inhabitants. Personal network is very important within the framework of professional relations. Do not hesitate to turn to the numerous associations favouring networking!