A “posted worker” is an employee who is sent by his employer to carry out a service in another EU Member State on a temporary basis, in the context of a contract of services, an intra-group posting or a hiring out through a temporary agency.
The EU law defines a set of mandatory rules regarding the terms and conditions of employment to be applied to posted workers
- to guarantee that these rights and working conditions are protected throughout the EU
- to ensure a level-playing field and avoid “social dumping” where foreign service providers can undercut local service providers because their labour standards are lower.
These rules establish that, even though workers posted to another Member State are still employed by the sending company and subject to the law of that Member State, they are entitled to a set of core rights in force in the host Member State.
Link to the Posting of Workers Directive:
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX:31996L0071
Revision of the Posting of Workers Directive
On the 8 of March 2016, the European Commission proposed a revision of the rules on posting of workers within the EU to ensure they remain fit for purpose. The Commission proposal was adopted on 28 June 2018.
The main changes introduced by the revised Directive are as follows:
- application to posted workers of all the mandatory elements of remuneration (instead of the “minimum rates of pay”);
- application to posted workers of the rules of the receiving Member State on workers’ accommodation and allowances or reimbursement of expenses during the posting assignment;
- for long-term postings (longer than 12 or 18 months), application of an extended set of terms and conditions of employment of the receiving Member State;
The Directive must be transposed into national laws by 30 July 2020 and cannot be applied before that date.
For the road transport sector, the rules of the revised Directive apply only from the date of application of the sector-specific rules proposed by the Commission (the so-called “lex specialis”) and under discussion between the European Parliament and the Council. Until that date, the rules of the 1996 Posting of Workers Directive remain applicable to the sector.
Link to the existing Posting of Workers Directive:
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX:31996L0071