Directive (EU) 2019/1152 on transparent and predictable working conditions provides more extensive and updated rights for all workers in the EU. It seeks to address in particular, the issue of insufficient protection for workers in more precarious jobs, while limiting the burden on employers and maintaining their flexibility to adapt to a changing labour market.
Directive (EU) 2019/1152 replaces Council Directive 91/533/EEC of 14 October 1991 on an employer’s obligation to inform employees of the conditions applicable to their contract or employment relationship, called the Written Statement Directive. The replacement directive still relates to an employer’s obligation to inform employees of the conditions applicable to the employment relationship. It outlines a compulsory list of the minimum information every employer must provide to their employees within the first two months of the employment relationship. The list includes aspects such as the identities of the parties, the place of work, the category of the work, the expected duration of the employment relationship, the initial basic salary and the length of the employee’s normal working day or week.
In the light of the growing flexibility of the labour market, which has resulted in a greater number of atypical forms of employment contract, the European Commission concluded that there was a need to evaluate this legislation. Based on Article 157 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the Commission launched a consultation of the European social partners on the issue. As the social partners expressed no intention to initiate a dialogue, the Commission issued a proposal for a new directive on transparent and predictable working conditions in the EU on 21 December 2017. The proposal aims to contribute to the implementation of several principles set out in the 2017 European Pillar of Social Rights.
The directive requires employers to provide workers with information on some essential aspects of their employment relationship between their first and seventh day on the job, instead of the two-month period allowed under Council Directive 91/533/EEC. It applies to every paid employee with a contract or employment relationship. The criterion for establishing worker status is now based on the definition of the worker as a ‘natural person who for a certain period of time performs services for and under the direction of another person in return for remuneration’. This definition, based on Court of Justice of the EU case law, does not cover self-employed workers. Anyone who works more than three hours per week over a four-week period (i.e. more than 12 hours per month) is covered by the directive.
In addition to the information already required under this directive, in circumstances where work schedules are totally or largely unpredictable, the employer must also inform workers, before they start work, of the reference hours and days during which they may be required to work, their minimum notice period and the number of guaranteed remunerated hours.
The directive establishes several other minimum rights, such as the right to:
In addition, the directive regulates exclusivity clauses. The directive was due to be implemented in Member States from 2 August 2022.
Atypical contracts ; contract of employment ; employee ; employment relationship ; European Pillar of Social Rights ; flexibility ; free movement of workers ; occupational mobility ; zero-hours contracts
Eurofound (2022), Transparent and predictable working conditions, European Industrial Relations Dictionary, Dublin
https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/en/european-industrial-relations-dictionary/transparent-and-predictable-working-conditions