Austria: Recruitment and selection

Original and updating author: Silva Palzer, Eversheds Sutherland (Austria)
Updating author: Sandra Singhofer, Eversheds Sutherland (Austria)

See the legal services provided by the author of International > Austria, including any discounts/offers for subscribers.

Summary

• Discrimination is prohibited in recruitment and selection on grounds including sex, ethnic origin, religion or belief, age, sexual orientation and disability. (See Discrimination)
• Job advertisements (both external and internal) must not be discriminatory on the grounds of sex or the other statutory protected grounds, and must provide certain information on the remuneration payable for the position. (See Advertising vacancies)
• Employers' selection decisions, and the procedures and techniques used, are subject to little specific statutory regulation, except a prohibition of discrimination on the statutory grounds and a number of rules in areas such as questions that job applicants are not required to answer truthfully. (See Selection)
• A binding employment contract is made when an employer offers a job and an applicant accepts the offer. (See Job offers)
• Children under the age of 15 are generally prohibited from working (with some exceptions), while the employment of adolescents aged 15,16 and 17 is subject to various restrictions and protections. (See Young people and children)
• There are various rules and restrictions on the employment of foreign nationals, except nationals of the European Economic Area and Switzerland. (See Foreign nationals)
• Employers with 25 or more employees are obliged to employ at least one person with a disability certified by a state medical officer for every 25 employees that they employ, or instead pay an equalisation duty. (See People with disabilities)