The re-employment benefit previously enabled people who are made redundant and find new, lower-paid jobs to have their new salaries made up to 90% of their previous earnings for a four-year period.

The changes, which were adopted on Tuesday, mean that the employment fund will pay half of the amount of salary paid by the employer. Furthermore, it will only be granted to employees aged 45 and over who have been victim of a collective redundancy or bankruptcy or who have been part of a retention plan.

“The purpose of the reform is to prevent certain abuses on the part of employers, which consist in systematically hiring a person at a minimum wage while his previous salary was much higher,” Luxembourg’s parliament said in a press statement.

Other changes to the employment code which were adopted on Tuesday increases the working threshold for students from 10 to 15 hours per week outside of school holidays.

The bill also entitles employees who work night shifts to receive their full salary when on sick leave. Employees working from time to time on Sundays will not be entitled to it, however.

In future the government hopes to introduce new measures relating to the rights of employees who resign because of serious misconduct on the part of their employer (sexual harassment, non-payment of wages, etc.), exemptions from certain obligations for jobseekers wishing to run a business, adapting employment measures for young people with disabilities and the creation of a legal framework for labour market studies.