Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Foreign language trainingInformation & consultationHolidays and holiday payPay & benefitsLuxembourg

Employment law in Luxembourg: “linguistic leave” to learn Luxembourgish?

by Fiona Cuming 22 Jun 2016
by Fiona Cuming 22 Jun 2016 Philharmonie Luxembourg on Kirchberg plateau, where employees can take "cultural leave". Photo: Christian Mueller / Shutterstock
Philharmonie Luxembourg on Kirchberg plateau, where employees can take "cultural leave". Photo: Christian Mueller / Shutterstock

Luxembourg offers its employees some of the more interesting and diverse leave opportunities in Europe. Employees are able to take paid leave to carry out various types of voluntary, cultural, sporting and training activities.

In a preview of XpertHR’s guide to Luxembourg, Fiona Cuming provides eight highlights of employment law in this small, but important, country.

Luxembourg may be pint-sized, but it hits above its weight in the global economy. It has a robust banking sector and is the home of the European Investment Bank. It is the base for many internet start-ups and the regional headquarters of Skype and Amazon. And, of course, the permanent seat of the European Court of Justice.

International guides

France
Belgium
Germany
Denmark
Finland
Italy
Czech Republic

1. Linguistic leave

French, German and Luxembourgish are all official languages of Luxembourg. Employees with at least six months’ service with their employer are able to take linguistic leave to attend language courses, up to a maximum of 200 hours during their career.

2. Sporting leave

Employees who are elite sportspeople, or essential sport support staff, are allowed to take paid sporting leave to train for, and attend, major sporting competitions. Generally, this amounts to around 12 days per year.

3. Cultural leave

Employees who are creative artists or involved in a cultural organisation have a right to receive paid leave to take part in approved cultural and artistic events. Employees can take 20 days’ leave in any two-year period, and a maximum of 60 days throughout their career.

4. Holidays

Employees are entitled to 25 working days of holiday per year. Disabled employees, and employees who have suffered occupational injuries, receive an additional six days each year, with that period paid by the public authorities.

In theory, employees must take their entire holiday entitlement in one single block. However, in practice, they can take their holiday in shorter periods if their employer is agreeable, or is required to meet the employer’s operational needs.

5. Hours of work

Generally, employees’ normal working time must not exceed eight hours per day and 40 hours per week. Collective agreements may provide for working time below these limits.

6. Pay

Employees’ pay is automatically increased in line with inflation, under a statutory system of pay indexation. Under this system, known as the sliding scale, whenever the official consumer prices index increases by 2.5%, the gross total pay of all employees must be increased by the same percentage.

7. Informing and consulting

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Employers are obliged to inform and consult employee representatives on a range of matters. All businesses with 15 or more employees are required to set up an employee delegation made up of delegates elected by the employees.

8. Foreign nationals

Foreign nationals from the EU member states, the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland are not subject to any special rules. However, if EEA or Swiss employees intend to stay in Luxembourg for more than three months, they must declare their arrival and obtain a registration certificate from the local authorities in the area they are living.

Fiona Cuming

previous post
Leave and absence: managing attendance fairly (webinar)
next post
How to get occupational health management referrals right

You may also like

MPs demand Home Office tightens visas to protect...

4 Jul 2025

NHS 10-year Health Plan sets out vision for...

3 Jul 2025

Living wage pushes up spring pay settlements

2 Jul 2025

Why bosses must set pay independently

2 Jul 2025

Government moves swiftly on immigration reform

1 Jul 2025

Reforming paternity leave could benefit UK by £13bn...

30 Jun 2025

Bank of England says NIC rise is dampening...

27 Jun 2025

Graduate pay versus the living wage: an HR...

25 Jun 2025

Number of new nurses from abroad falls by...

18 Jun 2025

Poundland closures mean over 1,000 jobs at risk

18 Jun 2025

  • Empowering working parents and productivity during the summer holidays SPONSORED | Businesses play a...Read more
  • AI is here. Your workforce should be ready. SPONSORED | From content creation...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+