Without any doubt the Cargolux staff played an important role in achieving the unmatched financial result for the year 2020, which turned out to be the record year for Cargolux resulting in a record profit. Consequently, and as agreed in the Collective Work Agreement (CWA) the employees covered by the CWA are entitled to a profit share payment.
Following different opinions on how the profit share gross amount to be paid out to each employee should be calculated, Unions and Cargolux Management met in order to clarify how this calculation should be done. In this meeting the social partners agreed on the methodology of the profit-sharing calculation, solving their diverging opinion in the interest of the employees.
On 28 May 2021 an amendment to the CWA was concluded, which clarifies that the employer’s contributions to the social security system are paid by the company and not by the employees. Additionally, the amendment clarifies that the exchange rate to calculate the portion of the Profit-sharing an employee obtains in Euro, is the reporting date spot rate as disclosed in the company’s audited annual financial statements. This calculation is necessary as the company’s accounts are calculated in US Dollar while the individual profit share amount paid out is in Euro.
The amendment to the CWA will replace Art. 13.4.2 of the CWA signed on 05 August 2019, providing the employees covered by the CWA with the needed certainty how the profit share due for 2020 is calculated. Additionally, this amendment will provide the same clarity for any possible profit share payments which may become applicable for the years 2021 and 2022.
Art. 13.4.2 of the CWA defines the Qualifying Profit Before Tax (QPBT) as the consolidated profit before tax, excluding all capital gains/losses on sale of assets, and all items or losses of an extraordinary nature (i.e. not in the ordinary course of the business), but including profits or losses arising from forex exchange movements and “market to market” movements of the Company’s hedge portfolio, as disclosed in the company’s audited annual financial statements. This statement is available on the RCS webpage. Due to the Amendment of the CWA after the finalization of the 2020 accounts for the 2020 calculation, the employer’s social security contributions applicable to the profit-sharing need to be deducted separately from the QPBT, which is not yet indicated in the audited annual financial statement for 2020 but should be approximately 1,3% less than what is presently stated.
The number of employees is expressed in full time equivalent (FTE) considering the total number of worldwide employees on the company’s payroll with exception of exempt employees and managerial staff. Part time employees will be taken into account on a pro-rata basis. Resulting in 1854 FTE for calculation of the profit share to be paid to each employee.
As already explained above, to calculate the profit share amount to be paid out in Euro, the reporting date spot rate as disclosed in the company’s audited annual financial statements is used.
The profit share due is then calculated using the formula in Art. 13.4.1 of the CWA. Please note that for the calculation the full amounts in US Dollar including cents have been used while the amounts shown in financial statement only indicate thousands of US Dollar omitting hundreds and cents.
