Country fileATEURVerified 2026-09-20
AT
Employer of Record in Austria: what one employee really costs
Austria, Europe. One software engineer at $70,000 gross per year, priced through 12 providers with a published fee, on the ECB reference rates of 18 Sept 2026. Change the salary and headcount below.
- Employer on-cost
- +30.0%
- statutory charges on top of gross
- All-in per month
- $7,782 – $8,282
- salary + charges + published fee, cheapest to dearest listed provider
- Onboarding through an EOR
- 3 days
- per Deel - Hire employees in Austria ('your next hire could start in as little as 3 days')
Hiring one software engineer in Austria at $70,000 gross a year costs about $1,749 a month in statutory employer charges (+30.0%), plus an EOR fee of $199 to $699 per month depending on the provider: $7,782 to $8,282 all-in, before deposits, FX margins and add-ons. Prices checked 2–24 Sept 2026.
Disclosure Some provider links on this page are affiliate links: if you become a customer after clicking, the provider may pay us a referral fee. It never changes the price you pay, and it never changes the numbers on this page, which come from official sources and are dated. How we are paid
Cost engine · preset to Austria
Price your own hire, line by line.
employee inatgross / year
≈ EUR 61,082 gross / year · EUR at ECB reference rate, 18 Sept 2026
| Per employee | Rate | Per month |
|---|---|---|
| Gross salary | $5,833 | |
| Pension insurance (Pensionsversicherung), employer share | 12.55% | $732 |
| Health insurance (Krankenversicherung), employer share | 3.78% | $221 |
| Unemployment insurance (Arbeitslosenversicherung), employer share | 2.95% | $172 |
| Accident insurance (Unfallversicherung), employer only | 1.10% | $64 |
| Housing subsidy levy (Wohnbauförderungsbeitrag), Vienna rate | 0.75% | $44 |
| Insolvency pay guarantee surcharge (IESG-Zuschlag), employer only | 0.10% | $6 |
| Severance provision fund (Betriebliche Vorsorge, BV-Kasse), employer only | 1.53% | $89 |
| Family burden equalisation levy (Dienstgeberbeitrag zum FLAF) | 3.70% | $216 |
| Municipal payroll tax (Kommunalsteuer), 3% to the municipality | 3% | $175 |
| Chamber surcharge (Zuschlag zum Dienstgeberbeitrag, DZ), Vienna rate | 0.36% | $21 |
| Vienna employer levy (Dienstgeberabgabe, the underground-railway tax) | flat | $10 |
| Employer on-cost | +30.0% | $1,749 |
| Cost of employment, before EOR fee | $7,583 |
RemoFirstLowest total
$7,782/ month · 1 employee
- Fee / mo
- from $199
- Per year
- $93,381
- Fee share
- 2.6%
Checked 2 Sept 2026
Get a RemoFirst quotePapaya Global
$8,082/ month · 1 employee
- Fee / mo
- from $499
- Per year
- $96,981
- Fee share
- 6.2%
Checked 2 Sept 2026
Get a Papaya quoteDeel
$8,182/ month · 1 employee
- Fee / mo
- from $599
- Per year
- $98,181
- Fee share
- 7.3%
Checked 2 Sept 2026
Get a Deel quoteEmployer charges from official sources; provider fees are list prices on the dates shown; deposits, FX margins and add-ons are not included. Not legal or tax advice. Methodology
14 providers, one scenario, all-in totals.
| Provider | EOR fee / employee / mo | All-in / mo, 1 hire | Deposit | Countries | Checked | Quote |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RemoFirst EOR in 185+ countries from $199 per employee per month, no annual contract. | from $199 | $7,782 | Not stated on the pricing page | 185+ | 2 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from RemoFirst· $7,782/mo |
| Rivermate EOR in 180+ countries from $319 to $639 per employee per month. | from $319 | $7,902 | Not stated on the pricing page | 180+ | 2 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Rivermate· $7,902/mo |
| Pebl Velocity Global, renamed Pebl in 2026. Prints $399 per employee per month. | from $399 | $7,982 | Not stated on the pricing page | 185+ | 22 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Pebl· $7,982/mo |
| Playroll EOR in 180+ countries from $399 per employee per month; deposit of one month's salary. | from $399 | $7,982 | Fully refundable security deposit equivalent to one month's salary when onboarding an employee (pricing page). | 180+ | 2 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Playroll· $7,982/mo |
| Multiplier EOR from $459 (annual) or $499 (monthly) per employee, plus mandated add-ons. | from $499 $459 billed annually | $8,082 | Refundable security deposit required per employee by the EOR terms (effective 1 June 2026), sized by Multiplier; not on the pricing page. | 150+ | 24 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Multiplier· $8,082/mo |
| Papaya Global EOR starting from $499 per employee per month, quote-based, 160+ countries. | from $499 | $8,082 | Not stated for EOR on the pricing page (the contractor block states 'No deposit required'). | 160+ | 2 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Papaya Global· $8,082/mo |
| Borderless AI EOR at $579 per employee per month, no deposit or pre-funding, 170+ countries. | $579 | $8,162 | No deposit: 'No upfront deposits or pre-funding required' (pricing page). | 170+ | 24 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Borderless AI· $8,162/mo |
| Atlas HXM EOR from $599 through its own entities, plus an Agent of Record at $199. | from $599 | $8,182 | Not stated on the pricing page | 160+ | 21 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Atlas HXM· $8,182/mo |
| Deel EOR in 130+ countries, starting at $599 per employee per month. | from $599 | $8,182 | Not stated on the pricing page | 130+ | 2 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Deel· $8,182/mo |
| G-P EOR in 180+ countries from $599, with no minimum contract length. | from $599 | $8,182 | Not stated on the pricing page | 180+ | 24 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from G-P· $8,182/mo |
| Oyster EOR in 120+ countries at USD 699 per employee per month; refundable deposit. | $699 | $8,282 | Refundable deposit required for EOR team members 'to initiate the engagement and to ensure on-time payments' (pricing FAQ). | 120+ | 24 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Oyster· $8,282/mo |
| Remote EOR in 90+ countries at $699 per employee per month, no deposit. | $699 | $8,282 | No deposit: 'We collect reserve payments in rare, high risk circumstances' (pricing FAQ). | 90+ | 2 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Remote· $8,282/mo |
| Rippling EOR bundled with the Rippling platform; custom quote only. | Quote only | — | Not stated on the pricing page | — | 24 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Rippling |
| Safeguard Global EOR sold alongside entity setup and payroll; no price published. | Quote only | — | Not stated | 187+ | 21 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Safeguard Global |
Same salary and statutory charges in every row; only the fee segment changes.
What Austria adds on top of the salary, and where each rate comes from.
Rates apply to the base named in each line; capped lines stop growing above the ceiling. Engine assumptions: Place of employment is Vienna (three Austrian employer charges are set by the province, not by the federation) = 1; Hire is a white-collar employee (Angestellte), not a manual worker (Arbeiter) = 1.
| Line | Employer rate | Base & ceiling | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pension insurance (Pensionsversicherung), employer shareEvery employee above the marginal-earnings threshold of EUR 551.10 a month; charged on pay up to the monthly ceiling of EUR 6,930, which is EUR 83,160 a year | 12.55% | Gross salary , capped at EUR 83,160 / yr The largest single line in Austria and the one that makes the country expensive. 22.80% in total under section 51 ASVG, split 10.25% employee and 12.55% employer - the employer carries the bigger half, where the German and Swiss pension lines on this site are both split down the middle. The ceiling is what saves a senior hire: the umbrella body of the Austrian social insurance institutions sets the monthly maximum contribution base at EUR 6,930 for 2026 under section 45(1) and section 108(3) ASVG, so above about EUR 83,160 of annual pay this charge stops growing. | Dachverband der österreichischen Sozialversicherungsträger2026-09-20 |
| Health insurance (Krankenversicherung), employer shareEvery employee above the marginal-earnings threshold; same EUR 6,930 monthly ceiling as pension | 3.78% | Gross salary , capped at EUR 83,160 / yr 7.65% in total under section 51 ASVG, 3.87% employee and 3.78% employer. The rate table gives one figure for all Angestellte rather than a schedule by carrier, so unlike Germany - where the employer's half moves with each fund's supplementary rate - there is nothing to compare between providers on this line. | Dachverband der österreichischen Sozialversicherungsträger2026-09-20 |
| Unemployment insurance (Arbeitslosenversicherung), employer shareEvery employee above the marginal-earnings threshold; same EUR 6,930 monthly ceiling as pension | 2.95% | Gross salary , capped at EUR 83,160 / yr 5.90% in total, split evenly 2.95% and 2.95%. The employer half never moves. The employee half does: section 2a AMPFG reduces it to 0% below EUR 2,225 a month, 1% to EUR 2,427 and 2% to EUR 2,630, which is why some payroll summaries print a range here. That relief is on the employee side only and changes nothing for the buyer. | Dachverband der österreichischen Sozialversicherungsträger2026-09-20 |
| Accident insurance (Unfallversicherung), employer onlyEmployer-only charge at a single national rate, with no industry risk classes; the levy falls away entirely from the month after the employee turns 60 | 1.10% | Gross salary , capped at EUR 83,160 / yr 1.10% paid by the employer alone under section 51 ASVG, with nothing from the employee. Austria is the simple case here: unlike Switzerland, Germany or China there is no risk class and no insurer to shop for, so an office role and a building site pay the same rate. One exemption is worth knowing before you compare quotes: the economic chamber's 2026 payroll table states that the accident contribution ceases once the employee has completed their sixtieth year ('Der UV-Beitrag entfällt ab Vollendung des 60. Lebensjahres', wko.at/entlohnung/beitragswesen-dienstnehmer-2026, read 20 September 2026), so a hire over 60 carries 1.10 points less. | Dachverband der österreichischen Sozialversicherungsträger2026-09-20 |
| Housing subsidy levy (Wohnbauförderungsbeitrag), Vienna rateEmployees above the marginal-earnings threshold whose place of employment is in the province of Vienna; 0.50% employer in the other eight provinces. Not charged on the 13th and 14th month | 0.75% | Gross salary , capped at EUR 83,160 / yr The newest Austrian employer cost, and the one no competitor page has caught up with. The City of Vienna states it plainly: 'Ab 1. Jänner 2026 beträgt die Höhe des Wohnbauförderungsbeitrages für den*die Dienstgeber*in und für den*die Beschäftigte*n jeweils 0,75 Prozent der Bemessungsgrundlage, insgesamt also 1,5 Prozent' - up from 0.50% each, where it had stood since January 2018. The national social insurance rate table carries the same exception in a footnote to its 1.00% national line: 'Der Wohnbauförderungsbeitrag für Wien beträgt ab 01.01.2026 1,5 %'. The health insurance carrier has published the new payroll codes for it. Outside Vienna the employer half is still 0.50%, so this one line is 0.25 points of the roughly 0.5-point Vienna premium. The economic chamber's 2026 payroll table adds that neither this levy nor the chamber of labour dues are charged on the 13th and 14th month ('Kein WBF und AK von Sonderzahlungen', wko.at/entlohnung/beitragswesen-dienstnehmer-2026, read 20 September 2026). | Stadt Wien2026-09-20 |
| Insolvency pay guarantee surcharge (IESG-Zuschlag), employer onlyEmployer-only charge on the same base and ceiling as the four insurances | 0.10% | Gross salary , capped at EUR 83,160 / yr 0.10% paid by the employer alone, funding the state guarantee that pays wages when an employer goes insolvent. It is tiny, but it is one of the lines that makes a raw sum of the four headline insurances come out short of what an Austrian payroll actually costs. | Dachverband der österreichischen Sozialversicherungsträger2026-09-20 |
| Severance provision fund (Betriebliche Vorsorge, BV-Kasse), employer onlyEvery employment relationship beginning after 31 December 2002 that lasts longer than one month; the first month is always contribution-free, and there is no ceiling | 1.53% | Gross salary Austria's answer to severance pay, and the reason Austrian termination is cheap where Brazilian or Italian termination is not. Section 6(1) BMSVG obliges the employer to pay 'einen laufenden Beitrag in Höhe von 1,53 vH des monatlichen Entgelts sowie allfälliger Sonderzahlungen' into a severance fund of the employee's scheme, from the start of the relationship, 'sofern das Arbeitsverhältnis länger als einen Monat dauert. Der erste Monat ist jedenfalls beitragsfrei.' The money belongs to the employee and follows them between jobs, so no provision has to be built for a future payout. Two practical points: it sits outside the social insurance ceiling, so it keeps costing 1.53% however senior the hire, and in a first part-year it is charged on eleven months rather than twelve. | RIS2026-09-20 |
| Family burden equalisation levy (Dienstgeberbeitrag zum FLAF)Every employer with a permanent establishment in Austria, on the whole payroll including the 13th and 14th month, with no ceiling | 3.70% | Gross salary A payroll tax rather than a social insurance contribution, which is exactly why it goes missing from cost pages that only read the insurance rate table. The chamber of commerce states the current rate in one sentence: 'Ab dem Jahr 2025 beträgt der Dienstgeberbeitrag 3,7 % der Beitragsgrundlage.' It was 3.9% until the end of 2024, and that stale figure is still in circulation - Deel's Austria page printed 3.90% when this was checked on 20 September 2026, which overstates the levy by 0.2 points of salary. No ceiling applies, so on a senior hire this line keeps growing after the insurances have stopped. | WKO2026-09-20 |
| Municipal payroll tax (Kommunalsteuer), 3% to the municipalityEvery employer, on the sum of wages paid at each Austrian permanent establishment, with no ceiling; a monthly base of EUR 1,460 or less is reduced by EUR 1,095 | 3% | Gross salary Three points of salary that almost no English-language Austria guide prints, because it is a municipal tax and never appears in the social insurance schedule. Section 9 of the Kommunalsteuergesetz 1993 is one sentence: 'Die Steuer beträgt 3% der Bemessungsgrundlage.' The rate is federal law and identical in every municipality - what varies is who collects it, the municipality where the establishment sits. There is no ceiling, so it is the second line, after the family levy, that keeps rising once the insurance ceiling has been reached. | RIS2026-09-20 |
| Chamber surcharge (Zuschlag zum Dienstgeberbeitrag, DZ), Vienna rateEmployers that are members of the economic chamber, at the rate of the province where the establishment is registered; 0.36% in Vienna for 2026, 0.31% in Upper Austria to 0.40% in Burgenland | 0.36% | Gross salary The second of the three province-dependent lines. The chamber explains the mechanism itself: 'Der DZ-Satz setzt sich aus einem für alle Bundesländer gültigen Bundeskammeranteil von 0,12% und einem von jeder Landeskammer festgesetzten Anteil zusammen', and publishes the resulting 2026 table - Burgenland 0.40%, Carinthia 0.37%, Lower Austria 0.33%, Upper Austria 0.31%, Salzburg 0.35%, Styria 0.34%, Tyrol 0.39%, Vorarlberg 0.33%, Vienna 0.36%. A company with establishments in several provinces applies each province's rate to the staff registered there, which is why a provider operating nationally cannot quote you a single Austrian percentage honestly. | WKO2026-09-20 |
| Vienna employer levy (Dienstgeberabgabe, the underground-railway tax)Each employment relationship in Vienna, EUR 2 per started week, about EUR 104 a year; not charged for employees over 55 or for contracts of at most ten hours a week | EUR 104 / yr | Fixed amount per employee A flat head tax rather than a percentage, which is why it disappears from every cost page built on rates alone. The City of Vienna states it in one line: 'Die Dienstgeberabgabe beträgt 2 Euro pro Dienstverhältnis und angefangener Woche.' It exists only in Vienna, it is nicknamed the underground-railway tax because the proceeds were earmarked for building the U-Bahn, and it has stood at EUR 2 since 1 June 2012. At EUR 104 a year it is about 0.17% of the example salary on this page - trivial next to the pension line, and the clearest illustration of why an Austrian employer cost cannot be reduced to one national percentage. Because it is a fixed amount, it weighs more on a junior hire than a senior one. | Stadt Wien2026-09-20 |
| 13th and 14th month (Urlaubsgeld and Weihnachtsgeld) - collective agreement, not law not in total | — | The biggest number on this page is the one carried at zero, and the reason is that no Austrian statute imposes it. What imposes it is the Kollektivvertrag of the sector the hire falls under, and nearly every Austrian collective agreement has one, so in practice an offer without a 13th and 14th month is not competitive and often not compliant with the applicable agreement. Budget it. Two extra months of pay is 16.67% of annual gross on top of the ledger above, and those months carry their own charges: the social insurance authority applies the same employer rates minus the housing levy and chamber dues, which is 20.48% - the figure Deel independently prints for Austria as 'Social insurance based on 13th and 14th salaries' - plus the severance fund, the family levy, the chamber surcharge and the municipal tax. Special payments have their own annual ceiling of EUR 13,860, separate from the monthly one. All in, a full 13th and 14th month adds roughly 21 points of annual gross. Ask which Kollektivvertrag your provider will register the hire under before you agree a salary, because the same answer also fixes the minimum pay and the notice scale. | Dachverband der österreichischen Sozialversicherungsträger2026-09-20 |
| Disability employment levy (Ausgleichstaxe) - assessed on the employer, not the payslip not in total | — | A real Austrian employer cost that cannot honestly be written as a percentage of one salary, so it is named here and left out of the total. Employers with 25 or more staff must employ one registered disabled person for every 25 employees, and pay a monthly levy for each position they do not fill. The ministerial order for 2026 sets it at 'monatlich 344 Euro' for employers with 25 to 99 staff, EUR 485 for 100 to 399 and EUR 512 for 400 or more. Every EOR provider is in the largest bracket, so if it fills none of its quota the levy works out at EUR 512 divided by 25, about EUR 20 a month per employee - which is what a provider passes on: Deel lists a 'Disability Levy - 20.19 EUR/month' on its Austria page. A provider that does meet its quota owes nothing. It is a question for the quote, not a rate. | RIS2026-09-20 |
| Social and training fund levy (SWF) - owed by a staff-leasing employer under the AÜG not in total | — | 0.35% of the general social-insurance base up to the maximum contribution base of EUR 6,930 a month, with the same rate on the 13th and 14th salaries. Section 22d(1) of the staff-leasing act (Arbeitskräfteüberlassungsgesetz, AÜG) has set it at 0.35% since the second quarter of 2017 and has not been amended since April 2019, so that is the 2026 rate. It is owed by the hirer-out (Überlasser), whether based in Austria or abroad (section 22d(2)), for every employee it employs in order to place with a third party. Section 3 defines that placement as making workers available to perform work for someone else, and the user as whoever deploys them on its own business tasks - which is how an employer of record works: the provider employs, the client directs the work. On the text, the test is that placement, not the licence or the entity: an Austrian subsidiary that places your hire with you is itself a hirer-out. The line stays outside the total for one reason written into the same section: under section 22d(9) the levy rests where section 10(1) makes the client's own binding workplace rules apply to the placed employee, and that turns on the collective agreement the provider applies and on the pay rules at your establishment, which providers do not publish. At the US$70,000 example it would add about US$245 a year. Ask the provider whether it pays the SWF on your hire. | RIS2026-09-24 |
| Chamber of labour dues (Arbeiterkammerumlage) - employee side only not in total | — | Carried at zero because it is not an employer cost, and named because it is regularly misfiled as one. The rate table shows 0.50% in the employee column and a dash in the employer column: the employer withholds it and remits it, but it comes out of the employee's pay. It funds the Arbeiterkammer, the statutory body that every Austrian private-sector employee belongs to, and it is not charged on the 13th and 14th month. If a quote shows it on the employer side, the quote is wrong. | Dachverband der österreichischen Sozialversicherungsträger2026-09-20 |
| Employer on-cost at $70,000 | +30.0% | $20,993 a year, $1,749 a month |
EOR or your own entity
Fees scale with headcount. An entity does not.
Austria is the case where the entity route buys you very little and costs you a permanent job. The statutory employer charges are the same whoever employs the person - there is no size threshold that a small subsidiary escapes, unlike Belgium - so the provider fee is close to the whole of the difference. What you would be taking on instead is the administration: registering with the health insurance carrier that collects all four insurances, registering the establishment with the municipality for the 3% payroll tax and with the economic chamber for the surcharge, and, most of all, identifying and tracking the Kollektivvertrag that governs the role. That last one is not paperwork. The collective agreement sets the minimum pay, the 13th and 14th month, the notice scale and the leave supplements, it is renegotiated annually, and getting it wrong is a back-pay claim rather than a fine. For one or two hires that is exactly what a provider absorbs. From about five local employees the fixed fees usually tip the other way - but budget for someone who owns the collective agreement question from the day the entity opens.
Fees grow with every hire; the charges line is owed under an entity too.
| Headcount | RemoFirst fees / yr | Borderless AI fees / yr | Statutory charges / yr |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,388 | $6,948 | $20,993 |
| 3 | $7,164 | $20,844 | $62,980 |
| 5 | $11,940 | $34,740 | $104,966 |
| 10 | $23,880 | $69,480 | $209,932 |
| 20 | $47,760 | $138,960 | $419,864 |
Statutory charges are owed either way; the provider fee is the only line an entity removes, against the cost of incorporating and running local payroll.
Employment terms that move the cost
- Paid leave
- 25 days
- Public holidays
- 13
- 13th month
- Not mandatory
- Probation
- up to 1 month
- Notice
- Six weeks from the employer, rising to two months after two completed years of service, three after five, four after fifteen and five after twenty-five (Angestelltengesetz § 20(2)). Unless the contract says otherwise the notice must expire at the end of a calendar quarter, which in practice lengthens it; the parties may agree instead that it ends on the fifteenth or the last day of a month. An employee resigning gives one month to the end of a calendar month.
- Reviewed
- 2026-09-20
Get a quote for Austria.
The lowest published total here, next to the two providers searched for most often (the rule). Totals for 1 hire at $70,000. Ask each provider about deposits, FX margins and mandatory add-ons for Austria: those are the lines that move.
Get a RemoFirst quote· $7,782/mo Get a Papaya quote· $8,082/mo Get a Deel quote· $8,182/mo
Disclosure Some provider links are affiliate links; they never change the numbers on this page. Details
Questions people ask before booking a demo
- How much does an employer of record cost in Austria?
- For a Vienna hire, statutory employer charges come to 30.0% of gross salary: 21.2% of social insurance and related levies up to the EUR 6,930 monthly ceiling, 1.53% into the severance fund, 3.7% family burden levy, 3% municipal payroll tax, 0.36% chamber surcharge and the EUR 2 a week Vienna employer levy. On a US$70,000 salary that is roughly US$1,750 a month on top of salary. Published EOR fees then run from about $199 to $699 per employee per month, so the all-in cost lands near $7,800 to $8,300 a month depending on the provider.
- Is the 13th and 14th month mandatory in Austria?
- Not by law, but in practice almost. No Austrian statute imposes them; the obligation comes from the collective agreement of the sector, and nearly every Austrian collective agreement has one. That matters to a budget more than any rate on this page: two extra months is 16.67% of annual gross, and those months carry about 20.5% of social insurance plus the severance fund, family levy and municipal tax, so a full 13th and 14th month adds roughly 21 points. The figures above exclude them, so add them before comparing Austria with a country that has none.
- Why is Vienna more expensive than the rest of Austria?
- Three employer charges are set by the province rather than the federation. From 1 January 2026 the housing subsidy levy in Vienna is 0.75% employer against 0.50% elsewhere; the chamber surcharge is 0.36% in Vienna against 0.31% in Upper Austria and 0.40% in Burgenland; and the Vienna employer levy of EUR 2 per employee per week exists nowhere else. Together that is about half a point of salary between the most and the least expensive province. Ask your provider which province the hire is registered in, not just which country.
- Does the Austrian employer cost keep rising with salary?
- Partly. The four insurances plus the insolvency and housing levies stop at a monthly base of EUR 6,930, about EUR 83,160 a year, so above that they are frozen in absolute terms. But the severance fund at 1.53%, the family levy at 3.7%, the chamber surcharge and the 3% municipal tax have no ceiling at all and keep growing. The effect is a curve that flattens without ever going flat: roughly 30% at the example salary, falling towards the low twenties on a very senior package. Set the salary above the ceiling in the calculator to see it.
- How much paid leave and how many public holidays does an Austrian employee get?
- Section 2 of the Urlaubsgesetz gives 30 working days of paid leave a year, which is five weeks, rising to 36 working days after 25 years of service. On top of that the Arbeitsruhegesetz lists 13 public holidays, from New Year's Day and Epiphany through to St Stephen's Day on 26 December. Together that is among the most generous statutory time off in Europe, and unlike the 13th month it is law rather than collective agreement.