Homeoffice (HO)
ENTITLEMENT TO APPLY FOR HO:
Since 01.10.2022, the works agreement on home office applies to all employees of the academic university staff (WUP) and the general university staff (AUP) who are not covered by the collective agreement, as well as to former contract employees and civil servants.
EXCEPTION:
1. Persons who, on the basis of the collective agreement, have no or only limited local ties:
- University professors,
- associate professors and
- assistant professors
2. as well as:
- university professors pursuant to § 165 Abs 2 Beamtendienstgesetz and
- associate university professors under § 172 Abs 3 Beamtendienstgesetz
3. and:
- lecturers and
- apprentices.
EXPLANATION:
According to the definition in § 2h (1) AVRAG, work in HO is deemed to exist if an employee performs work at home. The HO workplace is, however, limited to certain limited locations.
Specifically, the workplace in the HO may only be at the main residence or at a secondary residence or in the home of a close relative or a partner. In addition the HO workplace must be located within Austria for tax, social security and labour law reasons.
As the above-mentioned location restrictions are prescribed by law, there is no accident insurance cover if HO is exercised at another location. So the HO workplaces must therefore be restricted to the locations listed in the 2nd paragraph!
TYPES OF HO-ACTIVITIES:
According to 2.2 (b) BV-HO, only those activities can be performed in the HO which permit this on the basis of the requirements and the task. These are in particular such activities,
- which can be carried out regularly, independently and on one's own responsibility,
- for which a control of results is possible and
- which can be carried out without interfering with the operational process and
- on the basis of work-related efficiency.
ADJUSTMENT OF SERVICE AGREEMENT:
In order to be able to establish HO in accordance with § 2h (2) AVRAG, a contractual written agreement between the employees and the University of Vienna as the employer is required in any case, as the shifting of the place of performance of work is regularly a fundamental deviation from the previous agreement under employment contract law and thus requires an amendment of the existing employment contract. Accordingly, HO can only be agreed upon by the parties to the service contract (employees and employer) and cannot be ordered unilaterally by the University of Vienna as employer; the agreement of a unilateral reservation of instructions by the University of Vienna as to whether HO is to be exercised at all would contradict this principle that work in HO is to be determined by mutual agreement as a matter of principle. Correspondingly, the employees also have no legal claim to HO. HO should be determined and designed voluntarily and in agreement between the employees and the University of Vienna.
EXTENT - HO-WORKING DAYS/MONTH:
The extent of the possible HO-working days is based on the agreed number of working days (WD) per week (keyword: working time specification). A maximum of ten HO-WD per month can be flexibly agreed:
- 5 WD/week = 10 HO-WD/month
- 4 WD/week = 8 HO-WD/month
- 3 WD/week = 6 HO-WD/month
- 2 WD/week = 4 HO-WD/month
- 1 WD/week = 2 HO-WD/month
CONTACT TIME:
Within the framework of the HO agreement, a contact time appropriate to the work context must be agreed individually with the direct supervisor. Within this contact time, the DNs must be reachable at the HO workplace in any case.
PROCEDURE
- Compliance with deadlines.
- Independent, complete HO application and HO-planning as well as forwarding of the HO application for approval in the HR-FI workflow by the employees (AUP/WUP).
- Approval of the HO application or the HO planning of permanent staff by the dean or, in the case of project staff, by the project management.
DEADLINES
- The basic application for HO must be agreed with the direct supervisor in advance in any case, otherwise it is a breach of official duty.
- HO requests, HO planning and HO changes must always be agreed ten days before the end of the month for the following month.
- Short-term agreements are possible by common consent.
- In the event of an objection by the supervisor five AT before the end of the month, the requested HO days shall NOT be deemed to have been agreed!
- Short-term call-up to the workplace by the direct superior for an important reason must be made by 1 p.m. at the latest on the agreed working day preceding the agreed HO-AT.