NATIONAL LABOUR MARKET POLICIES
Basic Information Reports
2.1.Sources of Law in their Ranking Order
Constitutional law
There are currently no basic social rights - the right to work, for example - laid down in the Austrian Constitution.
The following constitutionally guaranteed liberal fundamental rights and rights of freedom are of relevance in the domain of labour law: freedom of association and freedom of assembly (Art. 12 StGG, Art. 11 European Commission for Human Rights), the principle of equality (Art. 7 B-VG), freedom of establishment (Art. 6 StGG), freedom of occupation (Art. 18 StGG) and the prohibition of forced labour (Art. 4 European Commission for Human Rights).
Laws
Labour legislation in Austria is marked by a wealth of special laws which have precedence over the universal labour regulations contained in the General Civil Code (Allgemeines Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch - ABGB) where they apply.
Labour law regulations for particular occupations include, for example, the law on salaried employees, the law on actors and actresses, the law on journalists, the law on farm employees, the law on home help and domestic employees, and the law on housekeepers.
There are also laws which regulate a specific issue for a large number of employees, for example the Leave Act (cf. 2.1).
As a rule, regulations under labour law are binding and in most cases they are unilaterally binding, i.e. deviations are only possible in favour of the employee.
Absolutely mandatory stipulations which prohibit flexibility in favour of any party can be found especially in the laws pertaining to labour relations at the workplace and health and safety at work.
Statutory law which is wholly modifiable is rare and ranks after employment contracts in the hierarchy of legal sources.
Ordinances
Ordinances are general standards which are established by administrative authorities on the basis of the law. They usually serve to enforce laws and have most relevance in the area of employee protection (cf. 2.2).
As for laws, ordinances may be either binding or flexible.
Collective agreements
Collective agreements are agreements reached in writing between organised bodies of employees and employers with collective bargaining authority; such agreements involve matters which can be regulated by collective agreement (cf. 3.2 for details).
The principle of preferential treatment for the employee is regularly applied in the hierarchy of legal sources. Special agreements laid down by lower-ranking sources - if these are not precluded by the collective agreement - only apply as long as they favour the employee or concern matters which are not regulated by the collective agreement.
Internal agreements
Internal agreements are ranked directly below collective agreements. They function as an instrument for codetermination in enterprises and - unlike the collective agreement - have no general regulatory power in the definition of working conditions (cf. 3.2).
Individual contracts
An employment contract only has legal validity in those areas which are not subject to superordinate mandatory standards. Unlike the comparatively (unilaterally) binding conditions above, the only deviating regulations which are permissible in individual contracts are those which are more favourable to the employee (principle of preferential treatment).
Judicial decisions
While court rulings cannot give rise to new law and are thus not a source of law in the true sense, in reality they have great legal significance.
The Land and district courts are authorised as "labour and social courts" to rule with original jurisdiction on labour law issues. The "Labour and Social Court of Vienna" was established specifically for this purpose. Judgements by the labour and social courts (original jurisdiction) on labour law and social law issues can be appealed before the competent local Higher Land Court (appellate jurisdiction).
Professional judges adjudicate together with expert lay judges. The latter are elected by the representative bodies for the employers and employees by occupational group.
In order that actions before the labour and social courts proceed efficiently, unbureaucratically and economically, the law on labour and social courts deviates significantly from the basic regulations contained in the Code of Civil Procedure (e.g. the judge has a special directory function and parties to the case may also be represented by plenipotentiaries from the representative bodies).
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