Yes.
The employer may insert a geographic-mobility clause in the employment contract whereby the employee agrees to geographical changes of his place of work.
By signing such a clause, the employee acknowledges that the provision for his place of work is not for him an essential clause of his employment contract.
The advantage of such a clause is to enable the employer, who is in charge of the organisation of his undertaking, to change the place of work of his employee without having to follow the applicable binding procedure in the event of changes unfavourable to the employee affecting an essential clause of the employment contract.
A mobility clause may prove useful where:
- the undertaking has a number of establishments, branches or sites spread over the territory of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, or even abroad;
- by the very nature of their work, employees may be assigned to several different workplaces (for example building projects, sites, building or cleaning operations). Sometimes the case law accepts that the very nature of a post implies that reasonable changes to the place of work may be made.
Nota Bene
It should be noted however that such a geographic-mobility clause only allows a change of the place of work and not a downgrading or a change of the post or of the function of the employee. In fact, in no circumstances can the post or function of the employee be changed to his detriment as a result of the change of the geographic location of his work. The employer is at all times required to respect the function for which the employee was recruited, his status and his skills.
It is clear that no special clause is required to enable an employer to change a worker’s office location within the same establishment of the undertaking.
Finally, a clause may also prohibit any change of workplace, thus making the place of work an essential feature of the employment contract.