What evidence of registration for social insurance can employers provide?

Registration for social insurance in the posting country

Posted workers or temporary agency workers remain insured in accordance with the social insurance regulations of the posting country when the conditions listed below are met:

• The employee is posted or hired out for a period not expected to exceed 24 months at most and
• the posted or hired-out employee does not replace a worker whose posting period has expired (no successive postings).

If these conditions are met, the competent social insurance institution in the posting country will issue an A1 certificate (confirmation of existing insurance for the posted or temporary agency workers in the posting country).
Austrian social insurance regulations are applicable where the conditions outlined above are not met.

Providing the social insurance number(s) when providing notice of posting or hiring-out of workers

Before the posted or hired-out workers begin working in Austria, the employer is required to notify the Austrian Central Co-Ordinating Agency Charged with Investigating Illegal Employment (Zentrale Koordinationsstelle für die Kontrolle der illegalen Beschäftigung, ZKO), providing relevant details.
More detailed information is available under the menu item Notification requirements.
Among the details required to be provided with the notice are the social insurance numbers of the posted or temporary agency workers.
Failure to provide notice is punishable under administrative law (fine of up to EUR 10,000).

Keeping the documents showing social insurance registration available at the place of work or at another place previously disclosed in the notice

Documents providing evidence of social insurance registration are required to be kept available at the place of work in Austria.

Normally the A1 certificate is required to be kept available.

In the event that at the time of the inspection the employer or the temporary work agency is able to provide written proof in German of the inability to have the A1 document issued prior to the posting or the hiring-out: The application for issue of the A1 certificate document along with confirmation by the competent social insurance institution that the posted or hired-out worker is covered by the social insurance scheme of the posting country during the period of posting or temporary agency work – in German or a translation in each case.

The obligation to keep the documents available applies to

• the employer in the case of posting;
• the user undertaking in Austria when workers are hired out temporarily on a cross-border basis.

This requirement can be met by keeping available the documents concerning social insurance registration:

• either directly at the place of work, in the case of posting especially with a contact person at the place of work
• or in the case of posting with a contact person outside of the place of work (employee of the posting employer or professional legal representative)
• or with a chartered accountant, lawyer or notary public (professional legal representative) established in Austria
• or at a branch in Austria
• or at an Austrian subsidiary or parent company of the same company group.

The documents concerning social insurance registration are only allowed to be kept available at a place outside of the place of work if this was previously disclosed when giving notice of the posting or temporary agency work.

When posting or hiring out mobile workers in the transport sector, the documents concerning social insurance registration are required to be kept available in the vehicle.

Violation of the obligation to keep social insurance documents available is punishable under administrative law (fine of up to EUR 10,000).