When you must give time off for a job interview
Article 41 of the Employment Contracts Act gives the employee the right, during the notice period, to be absent from work with pay to look for a new job. In the last 26 weeks of the notice period, they may be absent at most 2 times a week, together no more than one working day a week. In the weeks before, they may be absent half a day a week.
Exceptions
If the employee receives outplacement support, the broader right applies throughout the notice period. A part-time employee has the right in proportion to their working time. Outside a notice period, Article 41 gives no right to job-seeking leave; time off is then a matter of agreement, unless your collective agreement or work rules provide otherwise.
What is the risk?
The absence is paid. If you withhold pay for those hours, that pay remains due, and not paying it on the due date is a level 3 offence under Article 162 of the Social Criminal Code: an administrative fine of € 1,000 to € 10,000, per employee concerned.
What to do
Agree with the employee how they announce the absences, record them as job-seeking leave and pay them as normal working time.
Is a notice period running and do you want to know what you must pay?
Read next
Sources
Every amount and deadline on this page was checked against these official sources, last consulted on .