Posted Workers Consultation

Overview

Posted workers are individuals who are employed in one European Member State but sent by their employer to work temporarily in another Member State before returning home.

The 1996 Posted Workers Directive (96/71/EC) provides a framework so that both businesses and workers can take full advantage of the opportunities offered by the single market. The Directive supports the freedom to provide services across the EU and provides both fair competition for businesses and respect for the rights of the workers.

It entitles posted workers to statutory employment rights in the country they are posted to. These are:

• maximum work periods and minimum rest periods;
• minimum paid annual holidays;
• minimum rates of pay, including overtime rates;
• the conditions for hiring out workers, in particular the supply of workers by temporary employment firms;
• health, safety and hygiene at work;
• protective measures with regard to the terms and conditions of employment of pregnant women or women who have recently given birth;
• children and young people; and
• equality of treatment between men and women and other non-discrimination provisions.

The 2014 Enforcement Directive (2014/67/EU) builds on mutual co-operation information and enforcement requirements in the 1996 Directive and must be transposed by June 2016. It also introduces a requirement for subcontracting liability in the construction sector.