An employee who is dismissed with notice may ask the employer for additional paid leave of a maximum of 6 business days during the notice period, fully paid and divisible, to enable the employee to search for new employment.

Who is concerned

Employees dismissed with notice by their employer and previously employed by a business that is legally established and active in Luxembourg are eligible for job search leave.

Prerequisites

To receive job search leave, dismissed employees resident in Luxembourg must:

• register as a job seeker with the National Employment Agency (Agence pour le développement de l'emploi – ADEM);
• provide their employer with proof that they are indeed expected at a job interview.

In the absence of an agreement between the employer and the employee, registration with the ADEM does not fall under the auspices of job search leave and must be done outside of normal working hours.

How to proceed

Beneficiaries

Job search leave is granted only to employees who are dismissed with notice and work during the notice period.

On the other hand, an employee who is excused from work during the notice period is not eligible for this special leave. However, if the exemption from work does not cover the entire notice period, the employee may request all of the 6 days' leave to search for new employment.

Rules applicable to job search leave

Job search leave is limited to 6 business days over the duration of the notice period. 

This special leave, which is paid by the employer:

• is valid only during the notice period, when the employee is still required to work. It cannot be taken at the end of the notice period in order to extend the duration of the notice period;
• must be divided based on the times at which the employee has arranged interviews. The employee may not take the leave all at once. The leave may be taken by the hour, half day or day.

Organisation of job search leave at the company

In order to avoid disrupting the operation of the business where they still work, employees must first request job search leave before they can arrange a job interview. Employers may, in principle, only turn down job search leave if urgent and pressing business matters require the employee's presence at work.

Employees must then prove to the employer that they have, in fact, attended a job interview, by completing the prefilled form provided on demand by the ADEM and countersigned by the recruiter at the end of the interview. Any other attestation delivered by the recruiter with whom the employee interviewed is valid.

Who to contact