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Labour and social regulation

Labour and social regulation covers the legal framework and fundamental social rights that regulates industrial relations, employment and social policies across Europe. It includes national, EU and international legislation.  Union labour law has a direct or indirect impact on the normative and functional frameworks of individual and collective labour law systems of the Member States in a relationship of mutual interference and interaction.  Increasingly Union labour laws are also shaped by agreements that the parties voluntarily enter into and by soft law mechanisms.  The reform or modernising of labour law is currently high on the agenda in several Member States.

Topic

Recent updates

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After #MeToo: Changes in sexual harassment policy at work

The #MeToo movement, which began in 2017 with allegations of sexual harassment and assault in the entertainment industry, has brought significant attention to sexual harassment, particularly as it affects working...

Article
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Work–life balance: Policy developments

In recent years, work–life balance has become a central theme in labour policies across Europe. While EU Member States have adopted different approaches, the common aim is to promote a...

Article

Eurofound research

Eurofound has monitored legislative developments in industrial relations, working conditions and restructuring in Europe over time and from a comparative perspective across the Member States. The Agency’s work in this area seeks to assist decision-makers to better understand the legal framework for creating policy. It has also put resources in place to assist audiences in understanding the sometimes complex and difficult terminology used.

EU context

This topic covers the legal framework that regulates industrial relations and employment across Europe, including EU legislation and the fundamental labour standards that need to be taken into account.

Legislation is crucial in shaping how Europeans work and live. It is the basis for ensuring better working conditions, equitable labour relations, and equal opportunities for all citizens.

Publications results (82)

Over the last decade, information and communication technologies have changed the way employees work and communicate with each other. While the digitalisation of work offers many benefits, widespread access to digital devices in working life has created new forms of antisocial behaviour.

25 September 2024

This report explores EU Member States’ legislation around the right to disconnect and assesses the impact of company policies in this area on employees’ hours of connection, working time, work–life balance, health and well-being, and overall workplace satisfaction.

30 November 2023

Le terme «travail hybride» a été popularisé avec la forte augmentation du télétravail pendant la pandémie de COVID-19, lorsque les entreprises et les salariés ont commencé à discuter des moyens d’organiser le travail après la crise. Le terme a été de plus en plus utilisé pour désigner les situations

25 May 2023

Le présent rapport expose les recherches d’Eurofound sur le télétravail pendant la pandémie de COVID-19 en 2020 et 2021. Il examine les changements dans l’incidence du télétravail, les conditions de travail des salariés travaillant à domicile et les modifications de la réglementation portant sur les

08 December 2022

Ce rapport est réalisé dans le cadre du projet pilote triennal (2021-2023) intitulé «Le rôle du salaire minimum dans la mise en place de la garantie universelle des travailleurs», confié à Eurofound par la Commission européenne. Il porte sur le module 3 du projet, qui examine les salaires minimaux

30 November 2022

Le présent rapport vise à cartographier et à analyser la législation et les conventions collectives relatives au télétravail dans les 27 États membres et en Norvège. Il met en exergue les principales différences et similitudes entre les pays en ce qui concerne la législation relative au télétravail

01 September 2022

Après un cycle prudent de fixation des salaires minimaux pour 2021, les taux nominaux ont considérablement augmenté en 2022, à mesure que les conséquences négatives de la pandémie se sont dissipées et que la situation des économies et des marchés du travail s’est améliorée. Dans ce contexte, parmi

15 June 2022

Digitisation and automation technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), can affect working conditions in a variety of ways and their use in the workplace raises a host of new ethical concerns. Recently, the policy debate surrounding these concerns has become more prominent and has increasi

30 May 2022

This publication consists of individual country reports on working life during 2021 for 28 countries – the 27 EU Member States and Norway. The country reports summarise evidence on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on working life based on national research and survey results during 2021. They

19 May 2022

Le présent rapport résume la manière dont les taux de salaire minimal de 2021 ont été fixés en 2020, année marquée par la pandémie de COVID-19. Il passe en revue les difficultés rencontrées par les décideurs nationaux et leur réaction face aux répercussions économiques et sociales de la pandémie au

10 June 2021

Online resources results (798)

After #MeToo: Changes in sexual harassment policy at work

The #MeToo movement, which began in 2017 with allegations of sexual harassment and assault in the entertainment industry, has brought significant attention to sexual harassment, particularly as it affects working women. The #MeToo movement has sparked a broader discussion about the prevalence of

Work–life balance: Policy developments

In recent years, work–life balance has become a central theme in labour policies across Europe. While EU Member States have adopted different approaches, the common aim is to promote a more inclusive working environment. A major driving force behind these policies was the Work–Life Balance Directive

Employee monitoring: A moving target for regulation

This article explores the emerging risks from advanced monitoring technologies and how national jurisdictions are adapting to the challenges of digitally enabled workplace monitoring.

Towards adequate minimum wages: Fairness and a decent standard of living

The adequacy of minimum wages established by the EU Minimum Wage Directive shall be assessed on two dimensions: fairness and the provision of a decent standard of living. It is up to the Member States to decide on their approaches to assessing the adequacy of minimum wage levels.

Regulatory responses to algorithmic management in the EU

Since 2013, Eurofound's ERM database on restructuring-related legislation has been documenting regulatory developments in the Member States of the European Union and Norway. The most recent update to the database captures new legislation concerning the use of algorithmic management in the employment

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Collective bargaining and social dialogue – Back to normal in 2021?

Two years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, social dialogue continues to make a significant contribution to helping economies recover. Managing the crisis led many governments to rely on tripartite social dialogue to develop the policies that would mitigate the negative impact of the

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Back to work after COVID-19: Testing, vaccines and green certificates

In the second pandemic year 2021, access to one’s place of work was increasingly dependent on providing proof of either having been tested, vaccinated or recovered from COVID-19 in several countries. Specific professional groups – such as essential workers and workers in critical infrastructure –

Labour market regulation, effectiveness of legal rights and obligations, and safety and health at work 9 March 2021 Presentation by Barbara Gerstenberger, Head of unit - Working life, Eurofound

9 mars 2021

Connecting and disconnecting and work-life balance 9 March 2021 Presentation by Tina Weber, Research manager - Employment unit, Eurofound

9 mars 2021
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Member States are dawdling on gender pay transparency

The gender pay gap in gross hourly earnings in the EU was 14.8% in 2018. To help combat discriminatory pay practices by employers, the European Commission recommended in 2014 the introduction of pay transparency measures in all Member States. But more than half still have not implemented any such


Blogs results (12)
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The platform economy is one of those moving targets, which, despite receiving increasing media and policy attention, has proven difficult to regulate. Given the heterogeneity of employment relationships, business models, types of platform work and cross-border issues, this is not surprising. Yet, in

27 septembre 2022
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With the arrival of the month of May, the 2022 European Semester Spring Package is anticipated soon. After a transformative year in 2021, which saw the launch of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) under NextGenerationEU, the European Semester cycle has resumed its role as the reference frame

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Whether it is couch surfing, baby-sitting, pizza delivery or getting Ikea furniture assembled by somebody who can do it better, platforms can mediate all kinds of voluntary or professional services. Platform work is at the heart of the ‘sharing economy’. But while this may sound like a new form of

31 mars 2022
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With its proposed directive on gender pay transparency, the European Commission has significantly bolstered the set of tools for delivering its objectives compared to those presented in its 2014 Recommendation. The proposed portfolio of measures addresses many shortcomings of the instruments that na

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The massive and rapid adoption of telework in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 lockdowns exposed gaps in the legislation governing telework arrangements across the EU Member States. In some cases, there was no regulation in place; in others, it was too restrictive. Governments scrambled to put tempo

31 mai 2021
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Whatever the benefits of telework – and there are many, including more flexible working time, increased productivity and less commuting – there are drawbacks, as many of the one-third of Europeans who were exclusively working from home during the pandemic will attest. Primary among these is the ‘alw

3 décembre 2020
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Following a sluggish response by many Member States to introduce or modify gender pay transparency measures, as it recommended in 2014, the European Commission intends to table a proposal for EU-level legislation on pay transparency later in 2020. In this context, a new Eurofound study investigated

6 novembre 2020
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Although EU law guarantees equal treatment for all among its founding principles, discrimination in the EU is not a thing of the past. Across Europe, 2% of workers report experiencing discrimination at work linked to each of the following: race, ethnic background, colour and nationality.

25 juin 2020
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On 2 April, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a new fund of up to €100 billion to support EU Member States to introduce short-time working or similar schemes, including for the self-employed, in an effort to safeguard jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Known as SURE (Suppo

5 mai 2020
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Up to the start of 2020, recent EU economic and labour market trends were often discussed in terms of the periods before and after the Great Recession. It now appears likely that, in the short- to medium-term, the repercussions of that economic crisis will be dwarfed by the unfolding impact of the C

21 avril 2020

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