A law dated 1 August 2018 created a national representation authority for parents of pupils in basic, secondary and differentiated education in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, whose representatives are elected for a three-year term.
“Parents” means the legal representatives of students.
As a result, the Labour Code has been supplemented by the addition of two “Parental Representation Leave” types to special types of leave.
This national parent representation has the following tasks:
to represent and defend the interests of parents of students and their children enrolled in public or private elementary schools, public or private high schools, the Speech Therapy Centre and the Centres for Differentiated Education or the State Socio-Educational Centre;
to support parents’ representatives in schools and high schools in their dealings with the administrations;
to represent parents with regard to the Minister of National Education, hereinafter referred to as “the Minister”, and with regard to the Government;
to issue, on its own initiative or at the request of the Minister, an opinion on parliamentary bills and proposals and educational projects;
to make proposals concerning life at school and teaching;
to decide on all matters affecting the interests of parents and students.
In addition, it designates:
two representatives on the National Commission for Basic Education;
four representatives on the Higher Council of National Education;
one representative at the orientation forum.
The Minister shall make available the premises and means necessary for the unit’s operation to the national parents’ representative, as well as an administrative secretary.
Who are its members?
The national representation of parents is composed of sector representatives as follows
four representatives of parents of pupils in basic education;
six representatives of the parents of secondary school students;
two representatives of parents of pupils with special educational needs.
How are the national parent representatives appointed?
The national parents’ representatives are elected by sector parents’ representatives.
In each region, the Regional Director of Basic Education shall convene a regional parents’ meeting, comprising the elected parents’ representatives for each basic school in the region. The invitation shall be sent to the Chairperson of the School Committee or, failing that, to the Head of School, at the latest 15 days before the date of the regional parents’ meeting by e-mail or by post. Only those parents’ representatives who have informed the Regional Director of Basic Education of their candidacy at least three days before the meeting shall be eligible. Each regional assembly shall elect two representatives, by secret ballot and by simple majority, each school represented having two votes. Any other educational establishment or any other class legally established in Luxembourg and providing basic education shall elect a representative. The Minister shall convene these establishments and classes for the election of the representative. All the elected representatives shall form the sector representation of parents in basic education.
The parents’ committee of each secondary school shall elect two representatives from among its members by secret ballot and by simple majority. Any other educational establishment or class legally established in Luxembourg and providing secondary education shall elect a representative. The Minister shall convene these establishments and classes to elect the representative. All the elected representatives shall form the sector representation of parents in secondary education.
For each centre for differentiated education and each institution for special education, the director or the person in charge of the management shall convene a meeting of all parents in order to elect two representatives, by secret ballot and by simple majority. Any other educational establishment or class legally established in Luxembourg and providing differentiated education shall elect a representative. The Minister shall convene these establishments and classes to elect the representative. All the elected representatives form the sector representation of parents of pupils with special educational needs.
The Minister shall convene a meeting of each sector representation to elect their national representatives. The invitation shall be sent at the latest fifteen days before the date set for the meeting by e-mail or by post. Only those representatives who have informed the Minister of their candidacy at least three days before the meeting are eligible. The election of the national representatives shall be by secret ballot and by simple majority. In the event of a tie, the representatives shall be elected by drawing of lots.
What is the duration of their term?
The national and sector representatives are elected for a renewable term of three years.
Who can be elected?
To be eligible as a representative of a sector representation, the candidate must be a parent of one or more pupils, currently enrolled in that sector. When a parent representative no longer has a child enrolled in the sector, he/she represents, his/her term as a representative shall end at the end of the current school year. The replacement of sector representatives and national representatives shall be made according to the order of placing of candidates in the most recent elections of representatives. The parents of the same child may not simultaneously be members of the same sector or national representative. A parent cannot be a member of more than one sector representation.
Do these terms give the right to a specific leave?
The answer to this question is yes.
Leave of absence for parents of students who are members of the National School Board
Provision has been made for a leave of absence of two half-days per month for parents who are members of the National School Board, in order to fulfil their term.
Leave of absence for parent members in the national parent representation
A leave of absence of eight days or 64 hours per year has been created for parents who are members of the national parents’ representative to fulfil their term.
For representatives working part-time, the number of hours/days off is calculated according to individual working times.
(Last updated on 4 February 21)
Are they covered by accident insurance while in office?
The law specifies that parent representatives attending a meeting under this law are insured under special accident insurance schemes.
With this leave, beneficiaries can be absent from the workplace with continued pay.
The compensatory allowance is paid by the employer. The State reimburses the employer the amount of the allowance and the employer’s share of social security contributions on the basis of a form available on guichet.lu.
The duration of the leave varies between 5 and 40 hours per week, depending on the number of members of the municipal council and on the function of the elected representatives. (see tables above)
ATTENTION: The political leave entitlement is a maximum annual entitlement.
Pursuant to Article 5, paragraph 2 of the amended Grand-Ducal regulation dated 6 December 1989 concerning the political leave of mayors, aldermen and municipal councillors, only the annual entitlement is taken into account, so that the monthly entitlement may be transferred within a calendar year from one month to another.
An additional nine hours of political leave per week and per local council is granted to the mayors, aldermen and local councillors who have been appointed as representatives in the associations of municipalities of which the municipality is a member.
The distribution of this additional nine hours among the representatives in the syndicates of communes is set by deliberation of the communal council, taking into account, in decreasing order of priority, the national, regional or inter-communal scope of the syndicate concerned.
A certificate bearing the date of issue and indicating the additional number of hours of leave granted must be issued to the elected municipal official concerned.
The right to political leave begins on the first of the month following the date of issue of these certificates and ends on the day the term in the syndicate of municipalities ends.
In any case, members of the municipal council may not benefit from more than 40 hours of political leave per week, including overtime. This limitation also applies when a municipal term is combined with a term as a deputy in the Chamber of Deputies.
For people working part-time, the number of hours of leave is adapted in proportion to the time worked. The elected municipal official may take the leave at his convenience, per working day or part of a working day. However, he or she may not carry over the leave from one year to the next.
Political leave cannot be charged to annual leave with pay.
Is the period of this political leave considered as a period of actual work?
Yes, during the period of leave, the legal and regulatory provisions on social security and employment protection remain applicable to the beneficiaries.
The employer will continue to pay them their full salary, but will be reimbursed for the amount of political leave.
What is the procedure for the employer of the beneficiary employee to obtain reimbursement?
Reimbursement is made once a year.
The employer must apply to the Ministry of the Interior for reimbursement of the political leave hours before 30 September of the year following the absences concerned.
Example: The request for reimbursement or compensation must be made no later than 30 September 2021 for all political leave hours taken between 1 January and 31 December 2020.
This request can be made:
by submitting a declaration electronically via MyGuichet;
by filling in and sending the application form for reimbursement of municipal political leave to the Municipal Finance Department of the Ministry of the Interior.
It should be noted that, for reasons of accessibility to the tool 24/7, speed of processing and better communication between the administration and the applicant, it is recommended that the refund request be made via MyGuichet, using a professional LuxTrust certificate.
The reimbursement, made through the Municipal Expenses Fund, is based on an employee’s gross salary and the employer’s contributions paid to social security bodies and the Employers’ Mutual Insurance Fund during the periods of political leave.
Can an elected representative of a commune in a country other than Luxembourg also benefit from this political leave?
As the legislation stands, the answer to this question is no, as long as no agreement exists between the competent authorities of the countries concerned.
Political Leave for Members of Parliament
What is the purpose of political leave for MPs?
The purpose of political leave is to allow employees who are members of Parliament to exercise their terms or functions.
CAUTION: Political leave may be used only for the performance of duties directly related to the fulfilment of their term, including in particular participation in the work of the Chamber of Deputies or of their political or technical group, and for the preparation of such work. The Bureau of the Chamber shall define the nature of the work to be taken into consideration and shall fix a flat rate for the proportion of political leave devoted to the preparation of the work
The duration of the leave is a maximum of 20 hours per week.
The leave may be taken by day or part of a day, but may not be carried over from one parliamentary session to the next.
Political leave cannot be charged to annual leave with pay.
The political leave of local elected representatives may be combined with the annual political leave to which members of the Chamber of Deputies are entitled, provided that it does not exceed 40 hours per week. In this respect, the local elected representatives concerned must attach to their request for reimbursement or compensation a statement specifying the number of hours compensated by the Chamber of Deputies. This statement can be requested from the accounting department of the Chamber of Deputies.
Is the duration of this political leave considered as a period of actual work?
Yes, during the period of leave, the legal and regulatory provisions on social security and employment protection remain applicable to the beneficiaries.
The employer will continue to pay them their full salary, but will be reimbursed for the amount of political leave.
The political leave of Members of Parliament may be combined with the political leave of burgomasters, aldermen and local councillors, but may not exceed a maximum of 40 hours per week.
What is the procedure for the employer of the beneficiary employee to obtain reimbursement?
The Chamber of Deputies reimburses the employee’s employer an amount corresponding to the gross remuneration plus the employer’s social security contributions for the period during which the staff member was absent from work in order to fulfil his or her term, but not exceeding a maximum hourly rate set at four times the minimum social wage for qualified workers with dependants. The Bureau of the Chamber shall determine the elements to be taken into consideration in establishing the normal remuneration and the conditions and procedures for reimbursement.
The purpose of this leave is to allow staff representatives to participate in training activities organised by trade union organisations or specialised institutions during their working hours and without loss of pay.
In this way, they can improve their economic, social and technical knowledge necessary for their role as staff representatives.
The employer is obliged to grant a certain number of days of training leave to the full members of the employee delegation.
The duration of this leave varies according to the size of the company:
in establishments with a regular workforce of between 15 and 49 employees, the full members of employee delegations are entitled to one week’s training leave each during their term of office;
in establishments with a regular workforce of between 50 and 150 workers, the full members of employee delegations are entitled to two weeks of training leave each during their term of office;
in establishments with more than 150 employees, the members of the employee delegation are each entitled to one week of training leave per year.
Delegates elected for the first time are also entitled to an additional 16 hours of training to be used during their term.
Alternate representatives are entitled to half the training hours granted to effective representatives.
It should be noted that the duration of the leave cannot be deducted from the annual leave with pay, it is considered as a period of work.
The employer and the State share the cost of this leave depending on the size of the company:
in establishments regularly employing between 15 and 49 workers, the related remuneration expenses are borne by the State;
in establishments regularly employing between 50 and 150 workers, the remuneration expenses for one week of training leave are paid by the State and the second week is paid by the employer;
in establishments with more than 150 regular employees, the employer alone bears the costs of the training leave for employee representatives.
Is there a specific leave for health and safety representatives?
Yes, in addition to the training leave provided for staff representatives, health and safety representatives are entitled to a specific leave of 40 hours per term to improve their knowledge in the field of occupational safety and health, the terms of which will be determined by Grand Ducal regulations.
First-time safety and health representatives have an additional ten hours of training leave for the first year of their term in the company in question.
Is there a specific leave for Equal Opportunity Officers?
Yes, Equal Opportunity Officers get two half-days of training leave per year, which cannot be charged to their annual recreation leave. The training leave period is treated as a period of work, with the related remuneration expenses paid by the State for companies whose total number of employees does not exceed 150.
The law requires employers to take all necessary measures for the protection of the safety and health of his employees. These activities include information and training, prevention of occupational risks and the establishment of a systematic organization to prevent occupational risks.
As the employer is often unable to devote the appropriate time to these obligations, the legislative body has provided for the employer to be assisted by an employee specially trained in this area, namely the designated worker.
One of the principle tasks of the designated worker is to take care of the measures related to the protection and prevention of occupational risks in the company.
How long is training leave for designated workers?
Designated workers must undergo appropriate training and periodic refresher training in occupational safety and health.
The Grand-Ducal Regulation dated 9 June 2006 determines procedures for required training of designated workers. This training includes basic training and advanced training, which depends on the size of the company in terms of the number of workers and the nature of the company’s business.
Employees who hold one or more of the following positions are eligible for social mandate leave:
members of a professional chamber;
members of a body of a social security institution;
assessor to the Labour Tribunal;
claims assessor at the Arbitration Board for the social security administration and the High Council of the social security administrations.
The persons concerned may only use the leave for social term to carry out assignments that are directly related to the performance of their term. They must notify their employer each time they are called upon to exercise their term.
What protection is provided to the employees concerned?
Beneficiaries may be absent from their place of work to carry out their terms or functions, while maintaining their normal remuneration and the benefits attached to their professional activity. The exercise of their corporate term may in no case be a cause for termination of their contract.
Social leave shall be considered as actual working time and shall not be charged to annual recreation leave.
The legal provisions on labour law and social security remain applicable.
The social mandate leave includes a maximum of four hours of work for each meeting or for each hearing of the institutions and jurisdictions, with reimbursement to the employer. Beyond the four hours, the employee is simply exempted from work with pay, but the employer gets no reimbursement.
How does the employer obtain reimbursement for social mandate leave?
The professional chamber, social security institution or court where the term is exercised shall reimburse the employer an amount corresponding to the gross salary plus the employer’s contributions paid to the social security institutions during the period in which the employee was absent from work in order to fulfil the term.
ATTENTION: reimbursement is made once a year and is based on a declaration to be submitted to the institution or court concerned by 31 March of the year following the year for which reimbursement is claimed.
Failure to submit the refund declaration by that date shall result in forfeiture of the refund entitlement for the year in question.
The declaration shall be made on a form which each member or assessor receives from the institution or court concerned and which they submit to their employer, who shall complete it and sign the declaration to claim reimbursement.
The accuracy of the information on the form is certified by the signature of the person concerned.