AUSTRIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Johannes Edthaler and Christina Hödlmayr, Edthaler Leitner-Bommer Schmieder & Partner Rechtsanwälte GmbH
• any classification in a general scheme; • intended use/activity of the employee with the respective employer and brief description of the work to be performed, • initial remuneration (basic remuneration and other remuneration) and due date of remuneration – remuneration for overtime if applicable and method of payment of remuneration; • extent of annual leave; • agreed normal daily or weekly working hours of the employee, unless the employment relation - ship is one to which the Caretaker Act applies, and, if applicable, information on the conditions for changing shift schedules; • designation of any standards of collective legal organisation applicable to the employment con - tract (collective agreement, articles of association, minimum wage scale, fixed apprentice compensa - tion, and works agreement) and reference to the room in the company where these are available for inspection; • name and address of the employee’s social insur - ance institution and occupational pension fund; • duration and conditions of an agreed probationary period; and • if applicable, the entitlement to further training provided by the employer. Either a service note must therefore be issued or an employment contract containing this information. In principle, an employment contract only has to con - tain the statutory minimum content of a service note. In the context of concluding an employment contract, in practice, additional provisions (beyond the statu - tory minimum content) are usually made regarding the employment relationship (eg, fixed term, competition clause, and expiry provision). 1.3 Working Hours General Working Hours Per Day/Week The statutory normal working time is eight hours per day and 40 hours per week (excluding rest breaks). Many collective agreements provide for a reduced normal working week (eg, 38.5 hours per week). If the normal daily or weekly working hours are exceeded, the employee in principle works overtime.
An extension of normal working hours is possible within the framework of various flexible working time models. Models of flexible working time are, for exam - ple, the calculation of working time or flexible work - ing time. In the case of a four-day week, the normal daily working time may be extended to ten hours. The details of flexible working time models can be found in various collective agreements. Extra Work In collective agreements that standardise a nor - mal working week of less than 40 hours, the period between the normal working time according to the collective agreement and the statutory normal work - ing time is referred to as extra work ( Mehrarbeit ). The collective agreements determine whether this time is remunerated with a supplement or without. Overtime Overtime ( Überstunden ) is generally defined as work - ing hours that exceed the normal daily or weekly work - ing hours. They are permitted in the case of increased work demand – however, the employee has a right of refusal. Pursuant to the Working Time Act ( Arbeitszeitgesetz ), employees working overtime are entitled to: • a supplement of 50%; or • compensation in the form of compensatory time (one overtime hour corresponds to 1.5 hours of compensatory time). The employer and the employee can agree on how overtime is to be compensated (money, time off in lieu or a combination of both). The maximum daily working time is 12 hours per day and the maximum weekly working time is 60 hours – but permanently no more than 48 hours per week on a 17-week average. The applicable collective agree - ment may allow for an extension of the calculation period. Part-Time Employees For part-time employees, extra work comprises hours that go beyond their agreed-upon weekly schedule but have not reached the threshold of overtime. The
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