Austria: social partners tasked with making proposals to amend legislation on remote working

Remote working, or telework, is poorly regulated in Austria. As a result the government is keen to adjust existing legislation in light of recent developments. In a speech on Friday 28 August, Sebastian Kurz, chancellor of Austria, asked the social partners to work on clarifying the “many legal issues” resulting from the weakness of the current legislation, including ways to facilitate the development of general telework policies by companies, guaranteeing the right to breaks, compensating remote workers for certain costs incurred and adapting the rules on accidents at work. “Companies must continue to be free to decide who works from which location, but the regulations and framework conditions must be clear to everyone,” the chancellor said, seemingly ruling out the creation of a right to work remotely for employees. Employee representatives have already said that they will be very vigilant on the subject of working time and rest periods. At the beginning of the summer, Austria’s labour ministry set up a group of experts to look further into the subject. Consultations with social partners are due to start in September.