Hiring cross-border commuters

If you employ a worker who lives in one EU country but works in another, they are considered cross-border commuters (also called cross-border workers or frontier workers), even if they travel to work in another country only once per week.

Which laws apply

Cross-border commuters are subject to the labour laws and social security rights of the country in which their workplace is located. However, they must follow the residence rules and tax regime (for most taxes) of the country in which they live.

In addition, they are protected under EU rules against discrimination based on nationality. This means that in the country of their workplace, they must be treated equally in terms of access to employment, remuneration, working conditions and dismissal and all other social and tax advantages with the workers who are nationals of that country.

Paying the salary of a cross-border commuter

You might want your employee to open a bank account in the country where your business is based to avoid having to pay international bank transfer fees. However, if the credit transfer is in euro, you are obliged to accept all payment accounts located within any EU country.

You can pay your worker’s salary in euro into any bank account in the EU using their IBAN numbers, and the credit transfer fee will be no higher than the fee that is charged for national transfers.

Get access to national information below.