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During the paid leave period, the employer must pay the employee a leave indemnity.
This indemnity can be calculated according to two different methods:
- ”Maintenance” method – the salary maintenance method: the indemnity is equal to the amount of remuneration that would have been received during the period of leave if the employee had continued to work;
- The “1/10 method”: the indemnity is equal to one tenth of the total gross remuneration received by the employee during the reference period.
The employer must compare these two methods of calculation and choose the most advantageous amount for the employee.
Sweden has a generous parental leave system. Parents are entitled to 480 days of paid parental leave when a child is born or adopted. This allowance can be used until the child turns 8. The compensation during parental leave is paid by the Swedish Social Insurance Agency (Försäkringskassa), not directly from the employer’s payroll, but employers need to account for these leaves in their payroll systems.
In Sweden, severance pay is not legally mandated, but it is often included in employment contracts or collective agreements. The amount and conditions can vary widely depending on the agreement, industry, and the employee’s tenure.
Most employees in Sweden are paid monthly, but the frequency can vary depending on the employment contract and industry standards.
INPS, as Italy’s national social security agency, is responsible for administering and overseeing various social security programs and benefits. This includes managing contributions from both employers and employees, as well as the distribution of benefits like retirement pensions, disability benefits, and maternity and paternity allowances. You can learn more about Inps on their website: https://www.inps.it/en/en.html
Italy lacks a national statutory minimum wage. Instead, minimum wage levels are set through collective labor agreements negotiated between trade unions and employer associations. These agreements are often highly specific, considering various factors such as industry, location, and job category. If you want more information on the subject please check out our blog:
https://www.internago.com/what-eu-countries-have-the-lowest-salaries/
Mandatory deductions in Italy include:
- Income Tax: This is withheld at source and is progressive, depending on the individual’s income.
- Social Security Contributions: Both employees and employers contribute to Italy’s social security system. These contributions fund various benefits, including retirement pensions, healthcare, and unemployment benefits.
- Health Insurance Contributions: These contributions may be mandatory or voluntary, depending on the specific health insurance scheme chosen by the employee.
The French labor law specifies the cases in which an employer may reimburse fuel costs when an employee uses his or her own vehicle. Such reimbursement by the employer in the form of a “fuel allowance” or “transport allowance”, covering all or part of the fuel costs, is only available to employees :
- whose home or workplace is located outside an urban transport area AND the Ile-de-France region;
- for whom the use of their personal vehicle is essential for journeys between home and work, due to their particular working hours, which do not allow them to use public transport.
⚠ Please note: when the distance from the employee’s home and the use of his or her personal vehicle are due to personal convenience, the employee is not entitled to reimbursement of fuel expenses by the employer.
The terms of reimbursement may be modified by the employer in a way that is more favorable to employees. However, these must be specified in the CBA or the employer’s unilateral decision.
Rules for the employer when setting up transport allowance to cover fuel costs
When an employer sets up a scheme to reimburse fuel costs:
- it must be applied in the same way to all employees who qualify for it;
- the employer must be able to justify the payment of fuel expenses with supporting receipts.
Every year, employees are entitled to 5 weeks of paid leave (CP = congés payés), including 4 weeks that must be taken during the legal vacation period. However, when employees have not taken all of their leave during this period, they can request to benefit from the staggered leave system.
Staggered leave allows employees to be encouraged to take their paid leave outside of the legal vacation period and, in turn, ensures a better rotation of employees.
What is a staggered leave day (jour de fractionnement)?
According to the French Labor Law, staggered leave days are additional leave days granted to employees when they decide to stagger their leave.
In principle, an employee’s main leave, which corresponds to 4 weeks of leave, must be taken between May 1st and October 31st each year. As a result, the employee has 24 working days to take at their discretion during this period.
However, when the main leave is not entirely taken during this period, all employees, regardless of their seniority or type of employment contract, have the option to benefit from staggered leave days, which means obtaining additional leave days.
How to obtain staggered leave days?
Both the employer and the employee can initiate the request for staggered leave. However, when the employer initiates the request, they must obtain the employee’s agreement.
To benefit from staggered paid leave, the employee must:
- Take at least 12 days of leave between May 1st and October 31st.
- Have accrued at least 15 days of paid leave.
- Have an unused balance of at least 3 days of leave.
How to calculate staggered leave days?
The number of additional days is determined based on the remaining days to be taken. Therefore, when an employee has not used all of their main leave during the annual vacation period, they are entitled to:
- 0 additional leave days if the number of unused leave days is less than 3 days.
- 1 additional leave day if the number of unused leave days is between 3 and 5 days.
- 2 additional leave days if the number of unused leave days exceeds 6 days.
Example: An employee with 24 working days of paid leave decides to take 18 days during the legal vacation period, which is between May 1st and October 31st. After this period, the employee has 6 days of paid leave remaining to be taken between November 1st and April 30th of the following year. As a result, this employee can obtain 2 additional leave days.
Please contact us at Internago, for more information.
Short anwswer is yes. In the absence of a collective agreement or convention it is the employer who defines the dates of the paid leave. The employee is not free to determine the dates of his or her leave.
The employee must make a request to the employer the employer. The latter may refuse.
In this case, the paid leave must be taken on another date.
The organization of paid leave is the responsibility of the employer’s power of direction. The employer has the possibility of imposing paid vacations to the employee.
The employee must necessarily take his/her days off during a specific day of leave during a specific period, normally the country’s normal holiday season.
In principle, this period is fixed by a company agreement or, by a default collective bargain agreement.
The legal period adjusting the vacation balances in France is between May 1 to October 31.
Each employee acquires 2.5 working days days of paid leave for each month of actual work done
in the company. The total duration of the leave may not exceed 30 working days per year.
If the number of days of paid leave is not is not a whole number, it is rounded up to the higher number.
For example: an employee having worked 3 months during the year will have 8 days of paid leave (3 x 2.5 = 7.5).
The amount of reimbursement of fuel costs by the employer must be set by the collective agreement, or by an unilateral decision of the employer.
Reimbursement of fuel costs can take the form of payment of a “transport or fuel allowance” or reimbursement of mileage costs by the employer.
The law provides for an exemption from reimbursement of gasoline costs by the employer up to a certain limit.
Transport or fuel allowance
Reimbursement of transport costs by the employer or power costs for electric vehicles (rechargeable hybrids or hydrogen) is exempt from social security contributions up to an annual limit of:
– €400 per employee for fuel costs in 2023;
- €700 per employee for power costs for electric, plug-in hybrid or hydrogen vehicles in 2023.
When the reimbursement of fuel costs by the employer takes the form of a “transport or fuel allowance”, the latter must be able to:
- to justify compliance with the conditions of care by the employee (distance between home and place of work, employee’s working hours);
- to present a photocopy of the registration certificate of the employee’s personal vehicle.
💡 Good to know: no proof of expenditure is required for the employer to benefit from the exemption from social security contributions for the year 2023, when the reimbursement of employees’ gasoline costs does not exceed the amounts established by law.
Sweden has a three-part pension system: the income pension, the premium pension, and the occupational pension. Employees and employers contribute to the income and premium pensions through payroll taxes. The occupational pension is often negotiated between employers and unions, and contributions can vary by sector and agreement.
In Sweden, employees are entitled to sick pay if they cannot work due to illness. The first day is a waiting day without pay. From the second day and onwards, the employer pays sick pay for up to 14 days. After that, the Swedish Social Insurance Agency takes over the compensation, but at a slightly lower rate. There are specific rules and ceilings for the amounts and duration of sick pay.
Social security contributions are calculated as a percentage of the employee’s gross salary. Both employers and employees share these contributions, with employers typically contributing a larger portion. The exact rates vary based on the specific social security programs in place and the employee’s earnings.
When the reimbursement of fuels costs is subject to the payment of a fixed mileage allowance by the employer, the latter is exempt from social security contributions within the limits set by the mileage scales published by the tax administration.
The employer must also be able to produce supporting documents relating to:
- the distance between the employee’s home and place of work;
- the means of transport used by the employee (photocopy of the registration certificate of the personal vehicle);
- the fiscal power of the vehicle;
- the number of journeys made per month.
This is a very common question and we have written a blog about it that you can access below: https://www.internago.com/payroll-in-italy-understanding-the-italian-payslip/
Employees in Sweden are entitled to 25 days of paid vacation annually, though some collective agreements offer more. Vacation pay is usually calculated as a percentage of the employee’s salary, typically 12%. If an employee does not take all their vacation days, they may be entitled to a vacation pay supplement.
Bonuses are treated as taxable income in Sweden, just like regular wages. They are subject to the same income tax rates and social security contributions. Employers must withhold the appropriate taxes and report the bonus amounts in their payroll filings.
In Sweden, severance pay is not legally mandated, but it is often included in employment contracts or collective agreements. The amount and conditions can vary widely depending on the agreement, industry, and the employee’s tenure.
Yes, overtime pay is regulated by the Swedish Working Hours Act and by collective agreements. Typically, there’s an increased rate for overtime hours, but the specifics can vary depending on the employment sector and agreement.
Yes, employees in Sweden can claim deductions for various work-related expenses, such as travel between home and work, union fees, and professional literature. The standard deduction for work travel is based on distance and mode of transportation.
Foreign workers in Sweden may be subject to the same tax and social security regulations as Swedish residents, depending on the length and nature of their stay. There are also special tax regulations, such as the “expert tax,” which gives certain foreign experts a tax reduction for their first three years of work in Sweden.
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