Two of the most important recent EU legal instruments in the field of social Policy have entered into force on 2 August 2022. We are talking about the Transparent And Predictable Working Conditions Directive (2019/1152) and Work-Life Balance Directive (2019/1158) rce. These Juncker-era directives ensure more extensive rights for workers in the EU. Below, we discuss the main principles of these directives and talk about the national implementation.
1. TPWC Directive
This Directive is the follow-up of the Written Statement Directive and thus provides workers with the right to receive timely and more complete information in written about the essential aspects of their work, in principle within a week (or month) as from the start of their contract. However, the Directive goes further than this right to information and provides some new minimum rights for the workers, e.g. a prohibition on probationary periods of longer than 6 months, and in case of mandatory training, the obligation to provide this cost-free to workers. The time spent on training shall count as working time, and if possible, take place during working hours. Further, the use of exclusivity clauses is restricted. This implies that the employer cannot prevent employees from taking up parallel employment with another employer unless it is justified based on an objective ground (such as health and safety, the protection of business confidentiality, the integrity of the public service or the avoidance of conflicts of interests). Next, the Directive obliges a minimum predictability of work. It also establishes complementary measures for on-demand employment.
Member States had until 1 August 2022 to implement the EU Directive into domestic law. The Netherlands, Italy and Austria are some of the member states who have transposed the Directive in time. E.g., in the Netherlands, the “Wet flexibel werken” has been modified and came into force on 1 August 2022. Some jurisdictions, such as Belgium, Spain and Greece have missed the deadline. The Belgian Government has recently submitted a legislative proposal to the Federal Parliament for approval.
2. Work-Life Balance Directive
