Posted workers

Your employer can send you to work temporarily in another EU country (In this case, the 28 EU member states+Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland.). During this period, you will acquire the status of a posted worker and will benefit from some of the same working conditions and rights as workers in your host country until your posting finishes.

A posting can last as long as it is necessary to complete a specific task. When your posting has finished, you should return to the EU country where you were posted from.

Working conditions

You will fall under the conditions and terms of employment of your host country if they are more advantageous than those of your home country. These conditions and terms of employment relate to:

• minimum rates of pay: your wage may not be less than the local minimum wage or the wage set by universally binding collective agreements in your sector of employment if these are in force in the host country
• maximum work periods
• minimum rest periods
• health and safety at work
• conditions on hiring workers through agencies providing temporary staff
• employment conditions for pregnant women, women who have recently given birth and young people (under the age of 18)
• equal treatment for men and women and other rules to prevent discrimination.

Your employer may also pay your travel costs, boarding, and lodging in the EU country where you are posted if this is foreseen in your home country's legislation. These allowances have to be paid in addition to the minimum rate of pay.

Other rights

While posted to another EU country:

• you won't need a work permit - unless you are posted from Croatia to Austria, where restrictions apply in certain sectors
• you won't need to have your professional qualifications recognised; however, you may need to make a written declaration for some professions: find out more about the recognition of professional qualifications
• you won't have to deal with pension bodies from different countries when you retire as the social security institutions in the country(s) where you have been posted will not be involved
• you will need to register your residence with the authorities if your posting is longer than 3 months
• you don't accumulate rights to unemployment benefits in your host country
• you don't accumulate rights to permanent residence in your host country.

Income tax

If you work in your host country for less than six months, you shouldn't be liable for income tax there. However, there are no EU-wide rules that set out which country can tax your income during a posting. This may be set out in national laws or tax agreements between EU countries.

Social security cover while abroad

As a posted worker, to continue to be covered by the social security system in your home country, you or your employer have to request a PD A1 form from the social security institution in your home country. As your PD A1 form is valid for only 24 months, if your posting to another EU country lasts longer, you can either:

• switch to the social security system of the country where you are posted or
• apply for the extension of the validity of your social security form posting period to remain covered in your home country.

A social security cover extension is granted if a mutual agreement between the authorities in the countries involved in your posting is reached and it is in your interest. Find out more about your social security cover while on a posting to another EU country.

Before your posting

Your employer may also need to send an advance notification to the authorities in your host country with the following details:

• your workplace
• the duration of your posting
• contact details, and
• any other relevant information.

National websites on posting

Check the national website of your host country to find out the terms and conditions of work for posted workers, as well as contact information of the local authorities.

Source: europa.eu