Buddy's European vacation

28 July 2008

According to research an estimated 2 million Brits are expected to go abroad this summer despite the economy. Holidays in Europe are still among the favourite destinations. This vacation hot spot also has a lot to offer workers all year round, in the form of EU law. For this reason, we sent Buddy on a slightly different sight seeing tour. Find out about the main attractions and the souvenirs making their way back to the UK.

Day 1 – Arrive in Belgium
As Buddy takes a keen interest in employment law his first stop was a guided tour of the Berlaymont building in Brussels. This is the home of the European Commission and he wanted to know all about its role in the legislative process. The Commission, under the overall direction of the European Council, is the only institution with the power to propose EU legislation. New legislation can take the form of a directive or come into force by way of regulations. A directive sets out the minimum EU standards that member states must meet through the implementation of domestic legislation. Member states normally have two or three years from the date the directive is passed to enact their own laws, and can adopt different rules provided the overall objective is met. Regulations on the other hand are automatically binding on member states, without them having to enact domestic legislation, unless the member state has previously agreed to opt out.

Day 2 – Two day trip to France
Next stop on the tour is Strasbourg to take in the delights of the Cathedral of Notre Dame and the European Parliament. The European Parliament is the only directly elected EU institution. The election for Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) is held every five years and every EU citizen who is registered as a voter is entitled to vote. The number of MEPs each country has reflects its population. The present parliament, elected in June 2004, has 785 MEPs. 78 of who are British. Any legislation proposed by the Commission is passed to the European Parliament for debate and to vote on. It has the power to accept, reject or put forward amendments to the proposals.

The second day in France was spent relaxing. Like most holiday makers, Buddy took some reading along - the draft Temporary Workers Directive was his idea of a good book! For those who haven’t read it, the key provisions of the Directive are:

To give temporary agency workers the right to at least the same basic working and employment conditions during their assignment as those that would apply if they had been recruited directly
The right will apply from the first day of the assignment, but member states may apply a qualifying period agreed by social partners. The Government, the TUC and the CBI have previously agreed that the UK will specify a qualifying period of 12 weeks.
The basic terms and conditions are specified as those relating to working hours, overtime, rest breaks, holiday and pay. However, there is provision for member states to vary these arrangements provided temporary agency workers are still given adequate protection.
There is a specific exemption in respect of pay for temporary agency workers who have a permanent contract with the temporary agency and who continue to be paid between assignments.
The end user will be required to provide temporary agency workers with access to amenities and facilities (for example, access to the canteen) on the same basis as their own workers, unless the difference in treatment can be objectively justified
Temporary agency workers must be told of vacancies in the end user’s organisation to give them the opportunity to find permanent employment.

The proposed directive will be debated by the European Parliament towards the end of this year and may be amended before being formally adopted by the Council of Ministers. Buddy heads back to Brussels, eager to learn more about this next chapter.

Day 4 – Back to Brussels
Buddy attends an open day at the Justus Lipsius building, headquarters for the Council of the European Union. This institution is made up of government ministers from all the member states, hence it is commonly referred to as the Council of Ministers. The Council exercises the legislative power in co-decision with the European Parliament. Both the European Parliament and the Council must approve any legislation in order for it to be passed. The Council may accept or reject the European Parliament's amendments and may put forward their own. Approval of a proposal by the Council is the last stage in the EU legislative process.

Day 5 - Excursion to Luxemburg
The final trip on the tour is Luxemburg to the European Court of Justice (ECJ). The ECJ is responsible for ensuring that EU legislation is uniformly interpreted and applied in all the member states. It is the highest court in the EU. It consists of one judge per member state and is assisted by 8 advocate-generals whose role is to make reasoned submissions on the cases brought before the court. One of the functions of the ECJ is to make preliminary rulings. This is advice given to a national court in answer to questions raised concerning the interpretation or validity of a provision of EU law. We have witnessed this recently in Coleman v Attridge Law, where the ECJ ruled that the Equal Treatment Directive was intended to cover discrimination by association.

Day 6 – Shopping expedition
Buddy spends the final day scouring the market stalls and researching what more Europe has to offer. Amongst the souvenirs, Buddy picks up a copy of draft Amendment of the Working Time Directive, which will provide that inactive on-call time is no longer considered working time and place further restrictions on the right of workers to opt-out of the 48-hour week. He also finds a copy of the renewed social agenda adopted by the European Commission. The agenda contains a number of initiatives in the employment law field, including a proposal for a revised directive on European Works Councils and a Working Document on the implementation of the European Framework Agreement on teleworking.

Day 7 – Depart for the UK
After a busy week Buddy heads back to the UK with a greater understanding of EU law and what is on the horizon. Buddy will follow these developments with interest and any updates on their progress will be reported here.

Where will Buddy’s next vacation into overseas employment law take him? Send your suggestions on a postcard to www.employmentbuddy.com.