Business travel
The term ‘business trip’ or ‘business travel’ is not specifically defined in Austrian labour law. According to income tax provisions, a business trip is the case where under orders of the employer an employee leaves the place of work (e.g. office, place of employment, plant premises, warehouse, etc.) to perform work activities.
Consequently, no general definition exists that would allow the distinction of whether a cross-border business trip
- qualifies as posting or temporary agency work
- and entails legal consequences such as notification requirements, compliance with Austrian minimum wages, etc.
Rather, the specific purpose and the subject of the business trip in the individual case need to be considered.
In general, even with a brief cross-border business trip, activities carried out during the trip can qualify as performing work.
In such cases the entire business trip has to be regarded as the posting or hiring-out of an employee.
The activities listed below do not qualify as performing work, and thus a business trip involving them does not constitute posting or cross-border temporary agency work:
Where no other services are provided in the same context,
- participating in seminars, presentations, conventions, conferences;
- activities as part of international programmes of advanced training and research at universities;
- business meetings;
- obtaining information, training, professional development;
- participation in trade fairs or similar events;
- participation 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, where only little work is performed in Austria when compared with the tour as a whole;
- participating in or organising of international sports competitions.
In addition, civil servants, contractual public employees and other public employees of a foreign country who temporarily work in Austria are exempt from the Austrian provisions regarding minimum pay, notification requirements, the obligation to keep documents available, etc. described on the Posting of workers platform.
For more information about other exemptions: