EU
Civil
servant
Social security coordination for civil servants in EU
Determination of the country you must be insured in
One of the EU social security coordination principles say that a person must be covered by social security in the country where the physical location of employment is (The principle of "lex loci laboris", article 11.3.a of regulation 883/2004).
However for civil servants its different. In the regulation (883/2004) there are specific rules for civil servants:
- Article 11.3.b:
a civil servant shall be subject to the legislation of the Member State to which the administration employing him is subject. - Article 13.4:
A person who is employed as a civil servant by one Member State and who pursues an activity as an employed person and/or as a self-employed person in one or more other Member States shall be subject to the legislation of the Member State to which the administration employing him is subject.
When you pursue activities for the administration of a single Member State only, article 11.3.b will apply regardless of where and for how long you exercise these activities.
Example: If a civil servant employed at a University in France perform his/her work from home in Germany, the person will be covered by social security in France, and not Germany as it would be for a normal contract employee.
If you pursue different activities in several Member States (one of them as a civil servant) at the same time, Article 13.4 apply.
This is an exception to the general rule for persons employed at the same time in more than one Member State.
If you are simultaneously employed in two or more Member States as a civil servant (or a person treated as such), the general rules for persons employed at the same time in more than one Member State apply.
As we see the rules for "civil servants" can give different results than the "normal" rule for contract employees when determine in which country a person is covered by social security.
When are you a civil servant?
According to EU social security legislation, the term ‘civil servant’ includes not only civil servants, but also any person treated as such in the EU Member State where their employer’s administration is based. This means that each country applies its own national legislation to define a civil servant.
The term civil servant is typically defined as one who is employed in the core, permanent governmental administration (on a national, regional and local level).
However, in some EU countries civil service include the wider public service, which means that a person working in for example the military, the police or as a teacher can be a civil servant.
There is big difference in what constitutes a civil servant in the different EU countries. In some countries only jobs on national level can be civil servant, in others it can be jobs in regional or local administration.
It can also be the permanent nature of the job that defines that it is civil servant, or the kind of tasks that must be performed in the job (for example in Denmark).
The European Court of Human Rights has in some cases guided about what should be considered as a civil servant:
- Whether you are employed under public or private labor law (under contract) is not decisive in itself for the status of a civil servant.
- The distinction is more based on the nature of the employee’s duties and responsibilities, and whether the State requires a special bond of trust and loyalty of the civil servant.
- The civil servant act as the depositary of public authority responsible for protecting the general interests of the State or other public authorities.
See Pellegrin v. France, 28541/95, 1999, § 65 and 66.
Can civil servants use the social security coordination rules?
Yes, the material scope of social security coordination in Regulation 1408/71 (later replaced by 883/2004) was extended (with transitional provisions) to special schemes for civil servants in 1998. Since that date, persons subject to special schemes for civil servants also come within the scope of the coordination regulation as employed persons. For the definition of “civil servant”, the coordination regulation refers to the national legislation of the Member State concerned. A “special scheme for civil servants” means any social security scheme which is different from the general scheme applicable to employed persons and to which all or some civil servants are directly subject.
The coodination rules specific about unemployment Insurance in Article 61-65 of Regulation 883/2004 also apply to civil servants. This means aggregation of periods of insurance and employment (Article 61), export of unemployment benefits (Article 64) and unemployment benefits for cross-border workers (Article 65).
- Unemployment insurance in Europe →
Unemployment insurance for civil servants in EU
You might also be interested in:
⇒Unemployment Insurance Schemes in EU
⇒Unemployment Insurance in the Nordic countries
Key points of EU Unemployment Insurance coordination
- Transferring periods of work and insurance between EEA countries As an EU citizen you can transfer acquired rights from Unemployment Insurance when moving between EU/EEA contries. In this way it may be easier to become entitled to unemployment benefit in the country you move to.
In the vast majority of the Member states the aggregation rule become fully applicable as soon as you starts to work in the country. However in Denmark, Belgium and Finland you must work some period there before you can use the aggregation rule.
You need a PD U1 document in the country you leave or if the involved countries use electronically exhange (EESSI) there will be issued a SED U002. The countries who issues the highest number of PD U1 documents are Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands. The countries who receives most PD U1 documents are Lithuania and Italy. - Transferring unemployment benefits Under certain conditions you can go to another EU country to look for work and continue to receive your unemployment benefits from the country where you became unemployed. The period you can export your unemployment benefits varies from 3 to 6 months in the different Member states.
You have to apply for a PD U2 document in the country you leave, or if you haven't done that the institution in the receiving country must request a SED U008 from the competent institution in your last country.
The countries who issues the highest number of PD U2 documents are Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Denmark. Poland is the country who receives by far most PD U2 documents. - Unemployment benefits coverage According to OECD the net replacement of income after 2 months of unemployment, for a single person without children whose previous in-work earnings were 67% of the average wage varies from 33 percent (Ireland) to 91 percent (Belgium). Read more here..
- Having residence in another EU country than where you work? According to EU social security coordination rules you must only be insured against unemployment in one country at a time. As a generel rule this country is where you work.
In Member states who have compulsory insurance, you will automatically be covered when you start working there.
However you may be insured by your country of residence if you are posted to a EU/EEA country or work in two or more EU/EEA countries at a time. In these situations you can not your self decide where to have unemployment Insurance, but you (or your employer) must apply for a PD A1 document which states in which country you are covered by social security, including Unemployment Insurance. Special rule also apply for cross-border workers ("frontier workers"). - Third-country Nationals working in EU/EEANON-EEA citizens are covered by Unemployment Insurance in the EU countries who have compulsory Unemployment Insurance. In countries with voluntary Unemployment Insurance (Denmark, Sweden and Finland) third-country nationals can become member of an Unemployment Insurance Fund.
In the most countries Third-country nationals can also use the EU Coordination rules when moving within EU/EEA (however not in Denmark, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland).
Third-country nationals in short-tem working relations often faces problems with actually get Unemployment benefits, even though they have contributed to the system. This is due to the fact that one normally need a residence permit which allow one to take any job, and also because of a qualifying period in most countries between 6-12 months.