As of 1 July, the Joint Social Security Centre (CCSS) had received 25,298 telework declarations from 1,501 employers, it states on its website. These declarations concern “only” 18,570 employees, because at the start of the declarations, some companies had made several declarations for the same employee. It should be remembered that resident workers are not subject to these formalities when they work in Luxembourg; they are affiliated with the CCSS.

Of the applications processed, 7.61% fell within the scope of the framework agreement, with a monthly average of 36.01% of total working time spent teleworking. Twenty-two European countries, including Luxembourg, France, Belgium and Germany, as well as Ireland and Switzerland, have signed this agreement. This is a prerequisite for its application between two countries, . This represents less than 2,000 cases. In this situation, the employee remains affiliated with the Luxembourg social security scheme because he or she is a resident in another EU member state, only works remotely from that member state and is connected to the IT infrastructure of his or her Luxembourg employer.

But “92.39% of the applications were identified as ‘pluriactivity’ and require a determination of the applicable legislation (DLA) by the member state of residence. In these cases, the average monthly amount of teleworking corresponds to 12.88% of the total working time”, the CCSS also states. They are not covered by the framework agreement, which only takes into account an average total teleworking time between 25% and 50%.

Some examples

In the documents that the CCSS provided to companies to help them make sense of the situation, there were a few examples (including for residents working outside Luxembourg).

--The employee is resident in Belgium. The employer is based in Luxembourg. The employee’s activity is as follows: 33% Belgium, 33% Luxembourg and 33% Netherlands. The employee is affiliated in Belgium.

--The employee lives in France. The employer is based in Luxembourg. The employee’s activity is composed as follows: 20% France, 40% Luxembourg and 40% Germany. The employee is affiliated in Luxembourg.

--The employee lives in Germany. Both employers are based in Luxembourg. The activity with the first employer is made up as follows: 20% Germany, 50% Luxembourg and 30% Netherlands. The second employer’s activity is as follows: 10% Netherlands, 20% France and 70% Luxembourg. The employee must be affiliated in Luxembourg for both activities.

--The employee resides in France. The first employer is based in Luxembourg and the employee works 35 hours/week for this employer. The second employer is based in France and the employee works 5 hours/week for this employer. The employee must be affiliated in Luxembourg for both activities (Luxembourg employer and French employer).

--The employee lives in Luxembourg. The first employer is based in Germany. The second employer is based in France. The employee must be affiliated in Luxembourg for both activities (German employer and French employer).

--The employee lives in Belgium. The first employer is based in Luxembourg. The second employer is based in Germany. The employee must be affiliated in Belgium for both activities (Luxembourg employer and German employer).

Paperjam has learned that some French cross-border commuters have already received a letter from the French social security system asking them to clarify their situation in coordination with their company’s human resources department.

What difference does it make to be affiliated in France, Belgium or Germany rather than in Luxembourg, for example? Apart from the additional administrative paperwork, there are many variations in employee and employer contributions as well as in social, family, unemployment and pension benefits.

The European framework agreement was designed to simplify management for those who telework more after the covid crisis than before. Companies can still declare their employees retrospectively, but only for a period of three months.

This only applies to social security and not to tax matters.