Update on the latest important bills and proposed laws:

Changes to the right to leave for family reasons

Family leave for grandparents

A proposed law plans to extend leave for family reasons to include grandparents  (Proposed law no. 7436 extending leave for family reasons to include grandparents and modifying the Labour Law. The Proposed law was submitted on 25 April 2019).

Changes to conditions for family leave for sickness of an older child

The Labour Code currently provides that employees responsible for a child aged between 13 until their 18th birthday can only claim leave for family reasons for a sick child if the child has been hospitalised. A new Bill plans to add an exception to this requirement for hospitalisation if the child, from the age of 13:

• receives a special supplementary allowance (‘allocation spéciale supplémentaire’) under article 274 of the Social Security Code; or
• is suffering from an exceptionally serious illness or impairment, as defined in the Grand Ducal regulation specified in article L. 234-52 of the Labour Code, and confirmed by the child’s doctor.

In these two scenarios, a parent who is an employee would be able to claim these days’ leave for family reasons, even if their child was not hospitalised.

In addition, the Bill allows both parents to take leave for family reasons at the same time in both the cases described above.

(Bill no. 7489 modifying articles L. 234-51, L. 234-52, L. 551-2 and L. 552-1 of the Labour Code. The Bill was submitted on 10 October 2019.)

Extending parental leave and making it more flexible

A proposed law plans on the one hand to make the provisions relating to parental leave more flexible, and on the other, to extend the granting of parental leave to include grandparents.

The main purpose of the proposed law is to set a maximum period that each parent can take as parental leave, specifically, six months if they are employed full time or twelve months if they work part time or a number of days on a pro rata basis based on the actual time worked if less than half the normal maximum working time.

The main other new points are as follows:

• Parental leave can be taken until the child in question reaches the age of 12.
• The right to parental leave will no longer be lost when taken consecutively with maternity or adoption leave.
• The first parental leave no longer has to be taken following the maternity leave or adoption leave but can be taken at any time before the child’s 12th birthday.
• One of the parents will be able to transfer all or part of any parental leave not taken to the other parent or to a grandparent as the case may be.

(Proposed law 7434 making parental leave more flexible and extending parental leave to include grandparents and modifying

the Labour Code; the Social Security Code; the modified law of 16 April 1979 establishing the general status of government officials and 4. the modified law of 24 December 1985 establishing the general status of local officials.

The Proposed law was submitted on 25 April 2019.)

Workplace internships for school pupils and students

A bill plans to introduce a new chapter to the Labour Code on internships for school pupils and students. The main new provisions are set out below.

Internships organised by an educational establishment in Luxembourg or abroad

The duration of these internships will be limited to a maximum of nine months in a 12-month period, unless the establishment or training course specifically stipulates a longer duration. The internship can be broken up into several shorter periods.

Remuneration will be optional, unless the educational establishment or a legal, regulatory or contractual provision specifically stipulates it.

Practical internships to gain professional experience

These internship cannot exceed 12 months in a 24-month period, with no more than six months with the same employer.

No remuneration will be payable for practical internships lasting no longer than one month.

Minimal remuneration will be payable for:

• internships lasting for more than one month and less than three months: at least one third of the minimum social wage for unqualified employees;
• internships lasting longer than three months: at least half the minimum social wage for unqualified employees.

Joint provisions

The number of internships in place in the same company cannot exceed 10% of the workforce, and will in any case be limited to 50 interns per company. The internship supervisor must keep a register of internships, which can be accessed at any time by the staff representatives, and by the Luxembourg work inspectorate (‘Inspection du Travail et des Mines’, or ITM) by request.

The use of internships to replace absent employees or to deal with temporary increases in workload is explicitly prohibited.

(Bill no. 7265:

1. introducing internships for pupils and students;
2. modifying the Labour Code.

The Bill was submitted on 19 March 2018.)