CONVINUS Global Mobility Alert - Week 11.2024

BEST PRACTICE
NEW TELEWORKING REGULATION FOR
CROSS-BORDER COMMUTERS
FRIEDERIKE RUCH, CONVINUS
Since the Covid 19 pandemic, companies have been increasingly confronted with the challenge of
fulfilling employees' requests and demands for more home office days.
In recent years, companies have tended to grant cross-border workers a maximum of one day per
week from home, particularly for social security reasons. During the pandemic and the transitional
arrangements until 30 June 2023, home office work could be granted flexibly.
With the new teleworking regulation, which came into force on 1 July 2023, there was great hope
that as a company there would be no restrictions on the granting days for working from home. The
regulation stipulates that up to 49.9 % of working hours may be worked from home without any
change in social security status.
This teleworking regulation only applies to EU or EFTA nationals residing in Austria, Belgium,
Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway,
Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Netherlands, Slovenia, Slovakia
However, the regulation also contains a few other aspects that somewhat cloud the "joy" of this
new teleworking regulation. These include the fact that the following points are detrimental or may
hurt the granting of the 49.9 % home office days in the country of residence:
Other regular gainful employment in the country of residence: This can be employment with
another employer, regular customer visits regular work in a company of the employer in the
country of residence, or self-employed secondary employment.
Carrying out an additional activity in another EU or EFTA member state: This can be, for
example, regularly visiting the subsidiary.
Additional employment with an employer in another EU or EFTA member state
If one of the above points applies, the original 25 % rule applies, i.e. the employee may be employed
for a maximum of 24.9 % in the country of residence to avoid "slipping" into the social security
system in the country of residence.
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