Equal
treatment

The Law of
November 7 2017, which came into force on January 1 2018, partially transposed
EU Directive 2014/54/EU on measures facilitating the exercise of rights
conferred on workers in the context of freedom of movement for workers into
Luxembourg law.

As such,
Article L251-1 of the Labour Code was amended to incorporate 'nationality' as a
criterion for direct or indirect discrimination prohibited by law. Similar
provisions were also incorporated into the general regulations for both
national civil servants and municipal civil servants. However, an exception to
the principle of non-discrimination based on nationality was included in
Article L252-2 of the Labour Code regarding the conditions for the arrival,
residency and employment of nationals from third-party countries (ie, countries
that are not EU member states, parties to the Agreement on the European
Economic Area or the Switzerland) and stateless persons, in keeping with the
applicable statutory provisions relating to the free movement of people and
immigration stipulated by the Modified Law of August 29 2008.

Further, the
law tasked the Centre for Equal Treatment (CET) with conducting and
commissioning independent inquiries into and analyses of:

• unjustified restrictions and obstacles to the right to free movement;
• nationality-based discrimination against workers from the European Union
  and their family members.

The law also
stipulates that the CET is now directly connected to the Chamber of Deputies.

Minimum pay

The
Ministerial Regulation of November 30 2017 updated the minimum pay levels for
highly qualified workers, as required by Article 45 of the Modified Law of
August 29 2008 on the free movement of people and immigration.

According to
the regulation, STATEC set the average gross annual salary designed to
determine the minimum pay for a highly qualified worker at €49,332 as of 2015.

Thus, in
accordance with the applicable statutory and regulatory provisions, the minimum
pay level for a highly qualified worker is €49,332 x 1.5 (ie, €73,998) as of
December 11 2017 – the date on which the regulation was published in the Memorial.

For jobs in
professions belonging to Groups 1 and 2 of the International Standard
Classification of Occupations – for which the government has identified a
particular need to employ workers from third-party countries – the minimum pay
threshold is €49,332 x 1.2 (ie, €59,198.40) as of December 11 2017.