Since the end of December and the beginning of January, the amendments to the 2015 Employment Law Amendment Act have been in force in Austria (see Newsletter 01/2016 & article from 11.01.2016). The following article primarily deals with the topic of “all-in contracts”.

Since 01.01.2016, employers have had to disclose the amount of the basic salary for all-in agreements. This is intended to make all-in agreements more transparent. If the basic salary is not stated in terms of amount, the law stipulates that an actual basic salary, including overpayments customary in the industry and location, applies, which is due to comparable employees of comparable employers at the place of work.

But what is meant by “customary in the industry, customary in the locality and comparable”? What if there is only one business in a locality? It is also conceivable that there are comparable businesses, but how do you obtain the data in the event of a dispute?

The current provisions for “all-in contracts” will be very difficult to interpret without supreme court rulings or expert opinions. Employers should note, however, that there are sometimes major differences between court expert opinions and private expert opinions.

The obligation to state the amount of the basic salary only applies to contracts concluded after 01.01.2016, but what happens if an “old” all-in agreement is amended by a supplementary agreement? Where the boundary lies between a mere modification of the existing contract and when a new all-in agreement is to be assumed will become clear in the coming months.