Covid tests for business trips abroad: new provisions in Luxembourg

Luxembourg has introduced free Covid-19 testing for businesses who need to send employees abroad for urgent business reasons. This article provides details. In a press release dated 23 July 2020, the General Directorate responsible for small and medium-sized businesses (the ‘Direction générale des classes moyennes’) recommended that Luxembourg companies whose employees need to travel abroad for urgent professional reasons should provide their travelling employees with…

Luxembourg: Unfair competition and duty of loyalty

On 15 June 2017, the Court of Appeal ruled on distinction between the obligation of an employee bound by a non-compete clause in his/her employment contract, and the duty of loyalty inherent in any employment contract. The facts relate to an “educator assistant manager” employed in a nursery since 2011, who had also been elected as the deputy staff representative. In February 2015, her employer…

Luxembourg: New obligations on record of working time

The legislator has recently changed article L. 211-29 of the Labour Code regarding keeping a special record of working time. The new article now stipulates the obligation for any employer to add to “a special record or file the start time, end time and hours worked each day”, as well as the usual information required, namely: any extensions to normal working hours, hours worked on…

Luxembourg: Draft Grand-Ducal regulations on staff delegation

On 8 March 2017, the Council of Government (hereinafter “the Council”) agreed with three draft Grand-Ducal regulations on the appointment and functioning of the staff delegation. The first draft of the grand-ducal regulation endorsed by the Council aims at modernising electoral operations for the appointment of staff delegates. In particular, it provides for the possibility of using an electronic voting system for this election. The…

Luxembourg: Overtime vs Senior executive

On 15 December 2016, the Court of Appeal ruled on the classification of senior executive and the right to claim overtime pay. An employee employed as a mechanic in 1991 was assigned to the sales department of the employer’s garage as a salesperson in 2001, before being promoted to head of sales in March 2012. Then, through a new addendum to his employment contract in…

Luxembourg: Fiscal reform with impact on employment law

As part of the fiscal reforms due to come into force on 1 January 2017, the Tax Administration (Administration des Contributions Directes) published a newsletter on 19 December 2016 about the tax value of payments in kind in the form of meal vouchers. Changes The Administration des Contributions Directes reminded first that the value of payments in kind is currently set at 2.80 Euros for…

Luxembourg: Minimum social wage

On 14 October 2016, the Council of Government adopted the bill modifying article L. 222-9 of the Labour Code. The bill stipulated a 1.4% increase to the minimum social wage as of 1 January 2017, thus adjusting the minimum social salary rates according to the change to the average wage during 2014 and 2015. « Centre pour l’égalité de traitement » (Equality Centre) During its meeting on…

Luxembourg: New data protection law

The National Commission for Data Protection (Commission nationale pour la protection des données, CNPD) presented its annual report for 2015 during a press conference in Esch/Belval. New rules from 2018 The new data protection regulation will come into force on 25 May 2018. It is designed to give citizens more control over their personal information, make businesses more accountable while also reducing their administrative duties…

New working time legislation in Luxembourg

Bill n°7016 concerning the organisation of working time and relating to the amendment of the Labourg Code was submitted to the Chamber of Deputies on 21 July 2016. The main objectives of the reform are to provide more flexibility for companies, to preserve the health and safety of employees and to revaluate the negotiation in the framework of a collective bargaining agreement (CBA). In this…

Luxembourg: change to legal severance pay

According to article L. 124-7 (1) of the Labour Code, an employee bound by a permanent employment contract who has worked for the same employer for at least five years and who is dismissed without notice can claim legal severance pay, unless he/she can exercise his/her right to a normal old-age pension. In a judgement issued on 19 April 2016, case no. C-441/14, Dansk Industri…