Commission proposal on working conditions

The European Commission has adopted on December 20, 2017 a proposal for a new Directive for more transparent and predictable working conditions across the EU. This proposal will complete and modify the current Directive 91/533/EEC. The Commission’s proposal complements and modernises existing obligations to inform each worker of his or her working conditions and creates new minimum standards to ensure that all workers,benefit from more predictability and clarity as regards their working conditions.

More concretely, the Commission aims to reduce the risk of insufficient protection of workers by:
• Aligning the notion of worker to the case-law of the European Court of Justice. Consequently, this Directive would ensure that the same broad categories of workers will be covered.
• Bringing within the scope of the Directive forms of employment that are now often excluded. This includes domestic workers, marginal part-time workers or workers on very short contracts, and extends to new forms of employment, such as on-demand workers, voucher-based workers and platform workers.
• Ensuring that workers are provided with an updated and extended information package directly at the start of employment from day one.
• Creating new minimum rights, such as the right to greater predictability of work for those working mostly with a variable schedule, the possibility to request transition to a more stable form of employment and receive a reply in writing, or the right to mandatory training without deduction from salary.
• Reinforcing the means of enforcement and redress as a last resort to resolve possible disagreements, should dialogue not be sufficient.
The proposed Directive would need to adopted by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union, and be implemented by the Member States, either through legislation or by social partners’ collective agreements.