Extraordinary Leave: Moving, Emergency and Caregiver in Luxembourg

1. Summary table

2. Moving leave

Conditions

The employee is entitled to 2 days of extraordinary leave when moving house, subject to the following conditions:

• it is a personal move by the employee: a professional relocation imposed by the employer does not give rise to this leave;
• the right can only be exercised once per 3-year period of continuous employment with the same employer.

Taking the leave

The 2 days must be taken in direct connection with the move. It is advisable to notify the employer as soon as the moving date is known in order to organise the absence smoothly.

3. Urgent family emergency leave

Definition

This leave of 1 day per 12 months covers unforeseeable emergency situations: a sudden illness or accident affecting a close relative that makes the employee's immediate presence indispensable.

The concept of force majeure requires:

• an unforeseeable event (sudden illness or accident);
• a situation that makes the employee's presence immediately necessary;
• the reasonable impossibility of deferring the absence to the next day.

Persons concerned

The emergency must involve a member of the employee's family or a dependent. A mere inconvenience or organisational difficulty is not sufficient to constitute force majeure.

4. Caregiver leave

Purpose

Caregiver leave allows an employee to be absent for 5 days per 12-month period to provide personal care or assistance to a close relative with a serious medical condition.

Eligible beneficiaries of care

The person being cared for must be:

• a family member: son, daughter, mother, father, spouse or partner;
• or a person living in the same household as the employee.

Medical condition

The serious medical condition must be certified by a doctor. Without a supporting medical certificate, caregiver leave cannot be granted.

5. Common rules and nuances

The three leaves presented here all fall under Article L.233-16 of the Labour Code, but their underlying logic differs. Moving leave is a classic extraordinary leave. Emergency leave and caregiver leave, by contrast, stem from the transposition of the European directive on work-life balance (Directive 2019/1158): their regime follows its own logic that does not fully overlap with the rules governing traditional extraordinary leave.

Timing: event-linked or needs-based

For moving leave and emergency leave, the days must be taken at the time the event or emergency situation arises — these leaves cannot be deferred to a later date.

For caregiver leave, the 5 days may be taken in a split manner, based on the care needs of the person concerned, on presentation of the required medical certificate. The logic is not one of an instantaneous event but of ongoing medical need.

Technical carry-over when a day falls on a non-working day

For moving leave, if a day falls on a Sunday, a public holiday, a contractually non-working day or a compensatory rest day, it is carried over to the next working day. This rule is well-established for classic extraordinary leave; its application to emergency leave and caregiver leave is not expressly confirmed, given their different nature.

Interruption of annual leave

If the triggering event occurs during the employee's ordinary annual leave, the annual leave is suspended for the duration of the extraordinary leave. The interrupted annual leave days are credited back and can be rescheduled. This rule clearly applies to moving leave; its practical application to emergency and caregiver leave should be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

No combination with sick leave

If the employee is on sick leave when the event occurs, extraordinary leave is not due for that period.

No seniority condition

All three leaves are available from day one of employment, with no waiting period.

6. Employee protection

Article L.233-16 provides specific protection for any employee who requests or takes one of these extraordinary leaves:

• the employer must maintain the position (or a similar position with equivalent salary) during the leave;
• it is prohibited to dismiss the employee or convene a pre-dismissal meeting because of the exercise of this right;
• the duration of extraordinary leave is taken into account for calculating seniority;
• any unfavourable measure linked to the taking of this leave exposes the employer to the cancellation of that measure and the consequences provided by law.