Posting of workers platform

Do exemptions exist from the obligations described on this website for certain kinds of cross-border assignments?

Certain kinds of cross-border work are exempted from Austrian provisions governing minimum pay, notification requirements and the obligation to keep documents available.
Exceptions are either expressly stated in the provisions or can be deduced from their intent and purpose.
Cross-border work activities involving few hours for a brief period

The following types of work assignments, involving a few hours and brief period (no longer than one week), are exempted as long as work is limited to the assignment and does not entail any other types of work that are carried out later on:

  • Business meetings:
    Attendance at internal company meetings held occasionally and on a case-by-case basis – such as internal project and business meetings or regional employee meetings.
    Business meetings must not relate to services provided to third parties. This means that external business meetings do not fall under the exceptions – for example, non-business related meetings with an employer’s contractual partners, or meetings at a construction site to manage, supervise or coordinate construction works as part of performing a construction contract.
  • Participating in seminars, presentations, conventions and conferences
  • Participating in trade fairs and similar events:
    Other activities not falling under the exceptions include completion work, such as setting up or taking down a fair booth or delivering and picking up items used at the booth, where posted workers are assigned only these tasks and do not directly take part in the fair.
  • Participating in cultural events in the areas of music, dance, theatre or small-scale performances and other comparable areas, which take place during an international tour:
    The part of the tour held in Austria must be of secondary importance as regards duration and business significance.
    The workers assigned to the tour must take part in it for the majority of the time (and not only in the Austria-centred part).
    Workers in an artistic and non-artistic capacity also fall under the exception.
  • Participating in or organising of specific international sports competitions:
    This does not include work to prepare and complete the sports competition (setting up and taking down facilities used during the event), or the serving of foods and beverages.

Posting and hiring out of workers within one company group

Exemptions apply to posting and hiring out special skilled workers within a company group for a maximum total of two months per calendar year and for the purpose of:

  • Research and development, training by a specialist in the respective occupational field, planning project activities;
  • Or sharing experience, business consulting, controlling or collaborating with departments of the company group which are responsible for central management and planning for more than one country; or
  • Work involving delivering, commissioning (and related training), maintaining, servicing or repairing machines, plants or IT systems.

Training activities

Training courses lasting only briefly (no longer than a week) can be considered exempted, falling under “participation in seminars and presentations”.

Training courses lasting for longer periods (more than one week) are exempted in these cases:

  • Employers from another country are not obliged to perform any work for the Austrian business, and workers are assigned to Austria to allow them to acquire basic or advanced skills and knowledge by participating in a programme of basic or advanced training;
  • In addition, the activities and products, services and preliminary results of training have only an insignificant bearing on the production process and business outcomes of the business where training takes place;
  • Workers are not involved in the training business for a longer period than is necessary for acquiring the necessary knowledge and skills.

Earnings beyond a defined pay limit

Another exception is the posting or cross-border hiring out of an employee whose gross pay during the previous two remuneration periods before and while working in Austria was demonstrably higher than a defined pay limit.
The limit is 1.2 times the amount of the monthly maximum contribution base, which is EUR 7,272 in 2024.
This amount is annually adjusted for inflation.

Delivery of goods and follow-up work

Delivery of goods by a worker employed by a non-Austrian sales or rental company is exempted, where goods are sold or rented out:

  • to the customer
  • in performance of a sales or rental contract.

For details on deliveries by workers of a transport company, refer to the information under transport and posting.

Work to follow up a delivery of sold/rented goods is not considered subject to notification only if the work:

  • is absolutely necessary for commissioning or using the delivered goods
  • and can be performed by the sales or rental company’s worker in few hours.

Activities lasting more than few hours are not considered to require only a limited amount of time.

Example – delivery of a pre-assembled garage including garage door:
An electromotor to operate the garage door has been pre-installed in the delivery items and fitted with cables. But for safety reasons the electromotor has not yet been connected to the mains supply.

An example of follow-up work not falling under the exemption would be if the pre-assembled garage is unloaded from a truck to a lot, cabling is connected to the electromotor and then a test of proper functioning is performed.

Exception for assembly

In the special case of posting or hiring-out workers to deliver equipment to a business in Austria, under certain conditions employers are not required to comply with Austrian minimum wage requirements and Austrian annual leave regulations.
The exemption from the obligation to meet requirements for minimum remuneration and annual leave entitlement is often referred to as the ‘exception for assembly’ (Montageprivileg).

For details refer to the information under Posting of workers platform – Exception for assembly.

Public sector workers

Austrian provisions governing minimum pay, notification requirements and the obligation to keep documents available apply only to employment relationships with an entity under private law.
The rules thus do not apply to employees working in the public sector (for an entity under public law).

This means that civil servants, contractual public employees and other public employees of a country other than Austria who temporarily work in Austria are exempt from the regulations.

Exceptions include:

  • Public school teachers accompanying students on an outing or ski week
  • Employees having an employment contract based on public law with a state-run university or comparable educational institution based in another country

Working at a university or university of applied sciences (Fachhochschule)

Employees working either within international programmes of basic or continued education or research, or as lecturers at universities, teacher training colleges or universities of applied sciences are exempted.

Working as a mobile employee

Working as a mobile worker in the cross-border transport of goods and persons (transport sector) is exempted when certain prerequisites are met. For details refer to the information under transport and posting.

Cross-border work in virtual space

Normally, posting or hiring out workers requires their physical presence at the place of work.

For more detailed information on the issue of whether working in virtual space falls under Austrian law governing minimum remuneration, notification requirements and the obligation to keep the documents available, refer to the information under remote work.