Leave for reasons of force majeure
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Leave for reasons of force majeure is a special 1-day leave granted to you, as an employee, over a 12-month employment period for reasons of force majeure.
Where applicable, and at the request of the employer to the Ministry of Labour, the State will pay 50 % of the cost of this leave.
Who is concerned?
Any person with an employment contract governed by the Luxembourg Labour Code may be entitled to this special leave.
You are entitled to it as soon as you are employed by a company. You therefore do not need to comply with the 3-month waiting period that is in place in the context of statutory annual leave.
This special leave is only to be granted for reasons of force majeure in relation to urgent family reasons, such as illness or accident, which makes the employee's immediate presence indispensable.
How to proceed
Employee's application for leave
If you believe to be entitled to leave for reasons of force majeure, you are obliged to notify your employer or a representative of your employer, personally or through an intermediary, orally or in writing, no later than the day of your absence.
Employer's refund application
50 % of the salaries paid by the employer during this leave are paid by the State.
To be entitled to this, the employer must send a request for reimbursement (see 'Online services and forms') to the Ministry of Labour via MyGuichet.lu within 6 months of the date on which the leave is taken, or of the last day of leave if the employee takes the leave split over several consecutive days (by the hour, for example).
This is a procedure with authentication that requires:
- a LuxTrust product (Token, Smartcard or Signing Stick); or
- an electronic identity card (eID).
In the application, you must provide:
- information about the company:
- name, identification number and address of the company;
- contact person;
- bank details;
- information on registration with an occupational health service;
- information about the employee:
- surname and first name;
- national identification number and profession;
- address;
- the nature of the force majeure for urgent family reasons in the event of illness or accident that makes the employee's immediate presence indispensable;
- information relating to the day / hours of leave;
- the number of work hours per week.
Submitting an incomplete application interrupts the 6-month deadline, but delays the processing of the application.
The elements taken into account to calculate the amount to be reimbursed are the basic salary, declared by the employer to the Joint Social Security Centre, plus the social security contributions payable by the employer relating to the period of leave for reasons of force majeure.
The basic salary used to calculate the reimbursement is capped at five times the social minimum wage for unskilled workers. If the employee works part-time or for multiple employers, the limit is adjusted in proportion to the number of work hours.
Supporting documents
As an employer, you must enclose the following supporting documents with your application:
- the employee's certificate of affiliation with the Joint Social Security Centre (Centre commun de la sécurité sociale – CCSS);
- any pay slips relating to the period of leave for reasons of force majeure and the month preceding the leave for reasons of force majeure.
Duration of leave for reasons of force majeure
A maximum of 1 day's leave for reasons of force majeure may be taken in any 12-month period of employment by the employee.
The period of employment constitutes a reference period during which the employee is entitled to 8 hours of special leave if working full-time.
In the event of part-time employment, or if the employee has multiple employers, these hours of leave are prorated.
The reference period starts on the day the employee takes the leave for the first time; at the end of the 12-month employment period, 2 different situations may arise:
- either the employee has used up their 8 hours of special leave for reasons of force majeure;
- or they have not used all of these hours.
In either case, the number of hours are reset to zero and a new period of employment, generating a new leave, is triggered as soon as the next request for this special leave is made.
Example: A full-time employee takes 4 hours of special leave on 18 September 2023 and takes the remaining 4 hours on 18 March 2024.
In this case, the entitlement to a further 8 hours' leave for reasons of force majeure linked to urgent family reasons in the event of illness or accident will begin on 18 September 2024 at the earliest.
If, on the other hand, the same employee has only taken 4 hours of special leave during the period from 18 September 2023 to 17 September 2024, they will lose the remaining hours and will be entitled to a further 8 hours of special leave from 18 September 2024.
In other words, employees cannot accumulate the hours they have not taken; they automatically lose them as soon as a they become entitled to a new 8-hour leave for reasons of force majeure linked to urgent family reasons in the event of illness or accident.
In either case the next 12-month period of employment does not begin until the next time the leave is taken.
In the event of periods of inactivity, the reference period is suspended and extended for a period equal to that of the inactivity.
Example: An employee who takes 4 hours of special leave on 18 September 2023 and who is unoccupied during the months of December 2023 to January 2024 and returns to full-time work from February 2024, may take the remaining 4 hours until 17 November 2024.
The entitlement to a further 8 hours' leave for reasons of force majeure linked to urgent family reasons in the event of illness or accident will begin on 18 November 2024 at the earliest.
The new 12-month employment reference period is triggered the moment the next special leave is taken, which need not necessarily be the first day following the end of the previous reference period.
Special cases
Applications that are not submitted via MyGuichet.lu will only be accepted if you can provide evidence that you do not have access to this means of transmission.
If applicable, applications should be sent to the Ministry of Labour on plain paper and accompanied by the supporting documents listed above. These documents must include information about the company and the employee.
Online services and forms
Who to contact
Department for Leave for personal reasons
-
Ministry of Labour Department for Leave for personal reasons
- Address:
- 26, rue Sainte-Zithe L-2939 Luxembourg Luxembourg
- Phone:
- (+352) 247-86130
- Email address:
- conges.extraordinaires@mt.etat.lu
- Website:
- https://mteess.gouvernement.lu
Related procedures and links
Procedures
Links
Legal references
- Code du travail, Livre II, Titre III, Chapitre III
-
Loi du 15 août 2023
portant modification : 1° du Code du travail ; 2° de la loi modifiée du 16 avril 1979 fixant le statut général des fonctionnaires de l’État ; 3° de la loi modifiée du 24 décembre 1985 fixant le statut général des fonctionnaires communaux, en vue de la transposition de la directive (UE) 2019/1158 du Parlement européen et du Conseil du 20 juin 2019 concernant l’équilibre entre vie professionnelle et vie privée des parents et des aidants et abrogeant la directive 2010/18/UE du Conseil
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