Mitschrift

Employment contracts, service slips and payment

What kind of employment contracts exist? What must be written in a service slip? And how are wages, salary and other payments regulated? This StartWien video provides answers to these questions!

Forms of employment contracts

An employment contract can be made verbally, in writing, or by a "conclusive act" - for example, when you actually start a working activity. My tip: When offered employment, insist on a written contract and research the company to make sure it’s reputable and legit. There are fixed-term and open-ended employment contracts. Special forms are service contracts and freelance contracts. With service contracts (Werkverträgen), you work independently and perform a work for contractual partners, e.g. If you create a website as a programmer. You work when, where and how you want, but you have to deliver the result and insure yourself. A freelance contract (Freier Dienstvertrag) is a mixture of a service contract and an employment contract. You commit yourself to provide a service to the company without working in the company, e.g. to maintain the finished website on an ongoing basis. You are socially insured and can be represented. If you are permanently employed, an employment or service relationship is created. An employment contract regulates the most important rights and obligations of you and your employer.

It is legally obligatory that you receive at least a service slip (Dienstzettel).

What does the service slip say?

The service slip must be issued upon starting work and summarizes the employment contract. It must contain:

Name and address - of you and your company

start and duration of work - whether temporary or permanent

Description of the work activity

place of work

notice periods and termination dates

payment: basic salary, 13th and 14th salaries, bonuses

Date of salary transfer

Number of vacation days per year

Daily and weekly normal working hours

Collective agreement of your branch

The employment slip must bear a company signature such as a company stamp and the signature of the management. Attention: The company must register you with the health insurance fund and give you a confirmation of social insurance before you start working! Marginal employees (gerinigfügig Beschäftigte) are only insured against accidents. If you work part-time or full-time, you are also insured against illness and unemployment, as well as for your pension. Always insist that you receive two documents in writing as soon as you start work: the service slip and the confirmation of registration with the health insurance fund!

Gross and net compensation

The amount of your salary depends, among other things, on your qualifications and on the labor and collective agreement. For manual workers, this is referred to as "wages" (Lohn), and for salaried employees as "salary" (Gehalt). Bonuses and overtime can also be added to the basic salary, as can "vacation pay" and "Christmas bonus". These special payments are usually transferred in June and November. They are tax-privileged and are also called 13th and 14th salary. Attention: Special payments are not guaranteed by law. You only receive them if the employment or collective agreement provides for them. The sum of all payments is called compensation (Entgelt). The compensation must be stipulated in the employment contract. Your company automatically deducts income tax and social security contributions from your gross salary and transfers them to the tax office and the health insurance fund. You then receive the net remuneration transferred to your account. My tip: Make an employer's assessment (Arbeitnehmerveranlagung) at the tax office every year! Your income tax will be recalculated, and you will usually receive a credit from the tax office.