Companies that second employees abroad have to comply with various rules and conditions. Neglecting them is certainly not worth it. It is therefore always advisable to consult experts. If you second employees to Austria for construction work, you should definitely not underestimate the payments to the BUAK (Urlaubskasse für Bauarbeiter) holiday fund.
Austria strictly protects its labour market and social system. One of the measures is the holiday and severance fund – BUAK. Its aim is, among other things, to guarantee all employees of construction companies that they will have properly paid holidays.
Holiday allowances in Austria
If you plan to second employees to Austria for construction work under the BUAG law, you must, among other obligations, register with the holiday fund.
Once you have registered, you must report the days worked by the seconded employee monthly via the electronic portal and also pay your monthly holiday allowance contributions. Contributions are calculated from the employee’s gross salary according to the applicable collective agreements and tariffs for the construction industry in Austria. However, these may vary by region or staff specialisation.
If your employee is entitled to holiday and decides to take it while on secondment in Austria, it is possible to apply to BUAK for reimbursement of the compensation for salary. The fund then pays it directly to the employee.
Ignored BUAK can cost you unnecessarily dear
What if you do not report to BUAK or do not pay the contributions? In such case, the fund can automatically calculate the amount of contributions for your company based on the data from the so-called ZKO reports. This often results in a higher levy than would correspond to the actual days worked. It may happen that you will be ordered to pay holiday allowances even for days that the employee did not work in Austria. It will cost your company more.
Consult the experts and avoid problems
In the event that you do not pay the holiday allowances despite calls to pay them, BUAK can file a claim with the relevant labour and social court in Austria and enforce the claim through the courts.
The amount owed is, of course, increased by penalties and other charges. In practice, we have seen cases where companies have not responded to BUAK’s calls despite having carried out construction work in Austria. Subsequently, the fund filed a lawsuit against them and an unpleasant legal tug-of-war began.
When seconding employees for construction work in Austria, we therefore recommend that you take an active interest in BUAK and do not neglect any obligations. Experts from ProfiDeCon will be happy to advise you on how to save time, money and avoid unnecessary complications.