Written by Cordula Schnuer
Published on 26.07.2022 • Edited on 26.07.2022 at 11:50
A cross-border worker from France has launched a petition with the French national assembly to allow more remote working days Photo: Christophe Lemaire/Maison Moderne
Cross-border workers from France are pushing for authorities on their side of the border to enable employees to work from home two days a week, as a similar petition in Luxembourg has reached more than 13,000 signatures.
Employees commuting into Luxembourg from neighbouring France currently are allowed to work from home 29 days per year without paying income tax in their country of residence under an agreement between both countries.
A petition is now pushing for this number to be increased to two days per week, following in the footsteps of a document open for signature in Luxembourg also demanding two days of remote work.
Petitions in France must receive 100,000 signatures before being debated in the relevant committee in parliament and 500,000 to be discussed in the plenary. Around 112,500 cross-border workers commute into the grand duchy from France, compared to 50,000 from Germany and 49,500 from Belgium.
“I’m well aware that 100,000 signatures are a lot,” the petition author, Valentin Pernot, told Delano’s sister publication Paperjam in an interview. “My aim above all is that working from home remains on the agenda,” he said, adding that more flexibility “is a real demand.”
There is no right to remote working in Luxembourg and labour minister Georges Engel (LSAP) in an interview with Delano this year said it would be difficult to legislate on the topic given constraints for cross-border workers as well as people in jobs who cannot work from home.
Cross-border workers from Belgium can work 34 days from home without risking an additional tax burden. This cap is significantly lower in Germany at just 19 days.
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The Netherlands in July became the first country to make working from home a legal right. Employers must consider work from home requests by staff and provide adequate reasons for refusing them. Previously, employers did not have to explain why staff cannot work from home.
In Luxembourg, management must consult the company’s staff delegation about its work from home policy. For businesses with more than 150 employees, there has to be a formal agreement between both sides.
The French petition at the time of writing had received 909 signatures. This compares to 13,169 signatures for a petition in Luxembourg also demanding two days of remote work for all staff able to work from home, including cross-border workers.
The petition was launched after an exemption lifting caps on remote working for the so-called “frontaliers”, introduced at the start of the pandemic, came to an end.
In addition to the double-taxation issue for cross-border workers, under EU rules employees anywhere in the bloc cannot work more than 20% of their time outside the country where their job is located or risk losing their social security affiliation. This regulation, too, had been suspended during the pandemic.
The Luxembourg petition remains open for signature to anyone aged 15 or over with a local social security number until the end of August. It is set to be debated in parliament given that it has reached more than 4,500 signatures needed to trigger a discussion with lawmakers and members of government.
With national elections on the horizon next year, working conditions could become a hot button issue for party programmes. The labour minister in April said he wants to commission a study to analyse the feasibility to reduce working hours in Luxembourg as part of better work-life balance.
Engel told Delano that this would “absolutely” be a topic in the next elections. “And I know what I will propose to my party.”
(Additional reporting by Nicolas Léonard)