Upcoming changes to the Austrian Civil Code (ABGB) and the Austrian Employment Contracts Act (AVRAG)

The government draft bill dated 9 July 2025, 187 BlgNR 28. GP, proposes amendments to the ABGB and AVRAG. These amendments concern 

• the harmonisation of notice periods for workers in the ABGB and 

• the collection of contributions to the collective agreement training fund for security and cleaning staff in the AVRAG. 

Currently (as of July 2025), this is still a proposal, with the amendments scheduled to come into force at the beginning of 2026. 

1.    Changes to the conditions of termination for workers (Section 1159 ABGB)

1.1.    Initial situation

Currently, Section 1159 (2) and (4) ABGB (employer and employee termination for workers) contain exceptions for industries in which seasonal operations predominate. In these industries, collective agreements may stipulate different rules for notice periods and dates instead of the statutory provisions. 

However, the wording of these exceptions made them hard to interpret. For example, it wasn't always clear when a business was considered seasonal. For this reason, and in order to bring the termination conditions for workers back into line with those for employees (since 2018, workers and employees have been treated equally, but this does not apply to seasonal workers), it is proposed that the exceptions be deleted. 

A temporary exception is also to be included in a new Section 1159(3a) of the ABGB. 

1.2. Temporary exemption provision (Section 1159 (3a) ABGB)

In future, provisions deviating from the law on notice periods and termination dates may only be agreed by collective agreement if they meet certain conditions:

• The exceptions must have come into force within a limited period from 1 January 2018 to 1 February 2025. 

• The provision must have been newly established within this period; maintaining a provision that existed before 1 January 2018 is not sufficient. 

• For collective agreements concluded after 1 February 2025, it will no longer be possible to deviate from the ABGB termination conditions.

Deviations from the law agreed in collective agreements that were already in force before 1 January 2018 will lose their validity when the current proposal comes into force. The statutory provisions will then apply again to the workers concerned. 

2. Changes to the AVRAG (Sections 18b and 18c AVRAG)

The collective agreement for security guards in the security industry and the collective agreement for workers in monument, facade and building cleaning each contain a social and training fund. The previous collection of contributions to the funds was costly and complicated. In order to make this process more efficient and simpler, the government bill proposes that contributions be collected by the relevant social insurance institution from 2026 onwards. These are to be collected together with social insurance contributions and forwarded to the social and further training funds. To this end, Section 18b AVRAG is to be amended and a new Section 18c AVRAG is to be inserted (Section 18b previously contained COVID-19 exemption provisions). 

The proposal also provides that the social insurance institutions may retain 0.5% of the contributions collected as compensation for the expenses they have incurred (Section 18b (2) AVRAG). 

To ensure the smooth collection of contributions, data exchange between the umbrella organisation of social insurance institutions and the two social and further training funds is also planned (Section 18c AVRAG). The data exchange is intended to enable the verification of claims and the provision of information to those entitled to benefits.