An Overview of Statutory Benefits on the Luxembourg
Luxembourg’s pension system is built on a number of pillars. The public tier state pension, as well as occupational and personal pensions, are included in the system. These funds are under the management of the Caisse Nationale d’Assurance Pension (CNAP).
Luxembourg’s state pension (Pension de Vieillesse / Altersrente) can be claimed by workers in full or in part. The amount they receive is determined by the number of years they have paid into social security by the time they turn 65. This is the age at which people in Luxembourg can begin receiving their state pensions.
Employees in Luxembourg can self-certify illness for two days, but must then seek a medical note for illnesses that last more than three days. For long term sickness, the employer is responsible for the first 77 days, then the social security system covers sick pay.
Working mothers in Luxembourg are entitled to 20 days of paid maternity leave, and employers may offer to increase the amount of leave available either at full or reduced pay. Fathers are entitled to 10 days of full pay before they return to work, but agreements are often made from organisation to organisation.
Parents have an entitlement of a total of six months to care for children under five years old.
Contractual Provisions in Luxembourg
Employment contracts in Luxembourg can be short-term or long-term, permanent or temporary. Every contract must be in writing, and each party must receive a copy of the agreement.
It is not possible to extend a fixed-term contract beyond two years or to renew it more than twice. Employees must be offered a permanent position or dismissed after this period.
The usual probationary period in Luxembourg is between two and six months. In most cases, it is included in the contract of employment and the employee must have the same contract as their peers after passing probation. However, it can only be extended for a maximum of three additional months, which must be agreed to by both employees and employers.
The maximum number of hours that can be worked in a day is eight, making the normal working week 40 hours.
If necessary, this can be increased to 10 hours a day and 48 hours a week, as long as this is agreed .
The workday can go up to 12 hours a day in specific industries. It would then be limited to a weekly work week of 60 hours.
Employees can only be asked to work overtime in special circumstances, such as if revenue will be lost or there is no one else available to do the work. The employee can still decline overtime if they wish.
An employee is only allowed to work an additional two hours per day and a maximum of ten hours per week. If an employee works more than the required number of hours per week, they are entitled to a 40% uplift to their hourly wage.
During a work week, employees are entitled to a minimum of 44 hours of uninterrupted rest time off, usually over the weekend. An additional one day of leave is granted to employees who have worked overtime of more than eight hours in a working week.
Workers in Luxembourg are entitled to 25 days of annual leave (exclusing bank holidays). Employees with a registered disability are offered an additional six days of annual leave on top of this allowance.