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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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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...

Article
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The term ‘hybrid work’ was popularised with the upsurge of telework during the COVID-19 pandemic, when companies and employees started to discuss ways of organising work after the crisis. The...

25 Bealtaine 2023
Publication
Research report

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 (81)

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

The term ‘hybrid work’ was popularised with the upsurge of telework during the COVID-19 pandemic, when companies and employees started to discuss ways of organising work after the crisis. The term has been increasingly used to refer to situations in which (teleworkable) work is carried out from two

25 May 2023

This report presents Eurofound’s research on telework during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. It explores changes in the incidence of telework, working conditions experienced by employees working from home and changes to regulations addressing issues related to this working arrangement.

08 December 2022

This report is carried out in the context of the three-year pilot project (2021–2023), ‘Role of the minimum wage in establishing the Universal Labour Guarantee’, mandated to Eurofound by the European Commission. Its focus is module 3 of the project, investigating minimum wages and other forms of pay

30 November 2022

This report sets out to map and analyse legislation and collective bargaining on telework in the 27 Member States and Norway. It highlights the main cross-country differences and similarities regarding telework legislation and recent changes to these regulations. It also examines the current situati

01 September 2022

After a cautious round of minimum wage setting for 2021, nominal rates rose significantly for 2022 as the negative consequences of the pandemic eased and economies and labour markets improved. In this context, 20 of the 21 EU Member States with statutory minimum wages raised their rates.

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

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

This report summarises how minimum wage rates for 2021 were set during 2020 – the year marked by the COVID-19 pandemic. It reviews the difficulties faced by national decision-makers and how they reacted to the challenges of the economic and social fall-out of the pandemic when making decisions regar

10 June 2021

This report examines policy developments in EU Member States aimed at supporting the inclusion of people with disabilities in the open labour market, with a particular focus on the three stages of entering into employment, staying in the job and returning to work after an absence. It explores the

19 April 2021

Online resources results (794)

United Kingdom: Government launches consultation on worker representatives on company boards

Prime Minister Theresa May first pledged to put worker representatives on the boards of UK companies in July 2016, shortly after taking office. This article outlines the evolution of the proposal, up to the launch on 29 November of the formal process of consultation on corporate governance, and

Bulgaria: CITUB analyses violations of labour rights in 2015

Trade union confederation CITUB has drawn up proposals for amendments to Bulgaria’s Labour Code based on its survey of common code violations. The survey found that almost half of all violations involve the calculation of total working time, which is often used by employers as an opportunity to hide

Sweden: Debate on whether solidarity action should be restricted

A long-running debate about solidarity in industrial action by workers supporting another group, even though their own union is not involved in the dispute, has flared up. There are fears that the turbulence of the 2016 bargaining round will be repeated in 2017 and employers are seeking stricter

Germany: Compromise struck on new temporary agency work legislation

A revised bill on temporary agency work and service work, set to be passed by the German Federal Government in early March 2016, was finally passed by Parliament in October and awaits approval by the Federal Council. It contains limitations on the use of temporary agency work, but also provides room

Malta: Airline pilots right to strike disputed

A court injunction preventing Air Malta’s pilots from striking was overturned on appeal in July 2016. The pilots had threatened action over a lack of information on the company’s restructuring plans. A civil court upheld the company’s claim that the action would jeopardise the company, but the

Lithuania: Latest working life developments – Q3 2016

The adoption of laws related to the new social model, the possible consequences of Brexit for the Lithuanian economy and collective bargaining in the education sector are the main topics of interest in this article. This country update reports on the latest developments in working life in Lithuania

Romania: Latest working life developments - Q3 2016

Protests and strikes, the transposition of European directives on labour relations, a wage policy to encourage some workers and attempts to improve some public sector salaries are the main topics of interest in this article. This country update reports on the latest developments in working life in

Norway: Latest working life developments – Q3 2016

A series of strikes related to the biennial renegotiation of national collective agreements, an increase in temporary employment and the changing use of occupational health services are the main topics of interest in this article. This country update reports on the latest developments in working

Croatia: Latest working life developments – Q3 2016

The general election result, industrial relations developments, equality in the workplace, what makes a good employer, trade union education and moves to improve social dialogue are the main topics of interest in this article. This country update reports on the latest developments in working life in

EU Level: Latest working life developments – Q3 2016

Issues related to work–life balance, the launch of the public consultation on social rules in road transport and some developments in social dialogue are the main topics of interest in this article. This country update reports on the latest developments in working life in the European Union in the


Blogs results (12)
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The European Platform Tackling Undeclared Work last year documented the case of a Dutch temporary work agency that hired workers of various nationalities to work for a construction company in Belgium. The wages were suspiciously low, and the Belgian Labour Inspectorate believed that EU law

17 Iúil 2019
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The European Union (EU) has strong legislation in place that protects workers from being exploited and also enables businesses to engage in fair competition. Workers are mobile and can move freely within the EU single market across borders – without being dependent upon traffickers. Yet, the latest

3 Bealtaine 2016

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