Pallini, Massimo

The fraudulent contracting of work is an important issue in many European countries today. EU and national policymakers have turned their attention to violations of the basic protection provided by employment law and collective bargaining that are linked to the fraudulent use of certain employment or commercial contracts. This report looks at these practices across the EU and examines measures initiated by national authorities, including labour inspectorates and the social partners, to identify, prevent and combat such practices.

This report examines the extent of the phenomenon of the posting of workers, the roles played both by European and national-level legislation in determining the employment and working conditions of posted workers and the roles played by legislation and collective bargaining – and how these two domains interplay. The report is in part an update of earlier work carried out in 2003 by Eurofound into the issue – not least, updating the findings with data from the new Member States, which had not joined the Union at that time. Importantly, the research looks at the possible implications of a number of high-profile decisions taken by the European Court of Justice in cases of posting of workers, which highlighted the at times tense relationship between the twin EU goals of economic freedom and social cohesion.