1Workers’ rights: work-life balance, and transparent and predictable working conditions
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Committee’s assessment |
Legally and politically important |
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Not cleared from scrutiny; further information requested; scrutiny waiver granted ahead of adoption |
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Document details |
(a) Proposal for a Directive on work-life balance for parents and carers and repealing Council Directive 2010/18/EU; (b) Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on transparent and predictable working conditions |
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Legal base |
(a) Article 153(1)(i) and 153(2)(b) TFEU, ordinary legislative procedure, QMV; (b) Article 153(1)(b) and 153(2)(b) TFEU, ordinary legislative procedure, QMV |
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Department |
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy |
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Document Numbers |
(a) (38689), 8633/17 + ADDs 1–3, COM(17) 253; (b) (39396), 16018/17 + ADDs 1–2, COM(17) 797 |
Summary and Committee’s conclusions
1.1The two proposals under scrutiny form part of the Commission’s most recent efforts to modernise EU employment law. Alongside the proposal for establishing a European Labour Authority (which is currently held under scrutiny by the Committee), they represent the first serious concerted effort by Member States to tackle—by way of binding European legislation—the challenges to family-and professional-life wrought by the rise of atypical forms of employment.
1.2Documents (a) and (b) were last considered on 1 May 2019 by the Committee and scrutiny waivers were granted in order for the Government to support adoption at Council. Waivers were granted on the basis that the Committee was satisfied that the Government had fully explained its position(s) on the proposals and had adequately addressed the Committee’s questions and requests for further information.
1.3By way of background, as per its final form ahead of adoption, document (a) (on work-life balance) would introduce rights to: 10 working-days of paternity leave (compensated at a level equivalent to at least sick pay); a payment or allowance for a minimum of two months parental leave per parent, per child, compensated at a level to be determined by Member States; and a minimum of five days carers’ leave (the details of which are to be defined by Member States).
1.4Likewise for document (b) (on transparent and predictable working conditions), the proposal would, primarily, serve to update the Written Statements Directive (which requires new employees to be informed in writing about their conditions of employment).1 It does, however, also seek to introduce new substantive employment rights. In no particular order, these include: setting a flexible definition of a ‘worker’; providing an ‘enhanced’ written statement of employment terms; limiting probationary periods to 6 months; protecting a worker’s right to undertake parallel employment; providing a minimum level of work predictability; ensuring that mandatory training is provided free of charge; and extending the right to request a contract variation to all workers falling under the purview of the Directive.
1.5The Minister with charge over both proposals, Kelly Tolhurst MP, wrote to the Committee on 23 May 2019 requesting a scrutiny waiver in order for the Government to support adoption at Council in June.2 The Committee previously granted a scrutiny waiver for both files for a Council meeting in May, however, neither were put for adoption. The Minister does not anticipate any changes to the agreed text of either Directive before adoption and, as per the Committees assessment of 1 May, the Government’s support for the proposals remains unchanged.
1.6We thank the Minister for her letter of 23 May 2019. We grant the requested waiver on the grounds that the final text of the proposals remain unchanged—versus the Committee’s last consideration of both files on 1 May 2019—and that the Government is clear in its intention to support adoption.
1.7It is worthwhile noting that the Committee previously assessed both proposals in light of the Government’s plans to report to Parliament on changes to EU law covering workers’ rights after the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. Owing to current delays to the introduction of the ‘Withdrawal Agreement Bill’—which the Minister previously informed the Committee would be used to give effect to this commitment—and the uncertain domestic legal and political context against which the proposals will be adopted, we retain both files under scrutiny.
1.8We request a full report on the outcome of the Council meeting at which the proposals are put for adoption detailing how the Government voted and any changes to the text of the Directives versus the compromise agreements reached between the Romanian Presidency and European Parliament.
Full details of the documents
(a) Proposal for a Directive on work-life balance for parents and carers and repealing Council Directive 2010/18/EU: (38689), 8633/17 + ADDs 1–3, COM(17) 253; (b) Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on transparent and predictable working conditions: (39396), 16018/17 + ADDs 1–2, COM(17) 797.
Previous Committee Reports
(a) Forty-sixth Report HC 301–xlv (2017–19) chapter 2 (28 November 2018); Thirty-first Report HC 301–xxx (2017–19) chapter 2 (19 June 2018); Twelfth Report HC 301–xii (2017–19) chapter 3 (31 January 2018); Third Report HC 301–iii (2017–19) chapter 1 (29 November 2017); Fifty-seventh Report HC 301–lvi (2017–19) chapter 1 (6 March 2019); and Sixty-forth Report HC 301–lxii (2017–19) chapter 1 (1 May 2019); (b) Twelfth Report HC 301–xii (2017–19), chapter 5 (31 January 2018); Thirty-first Report HC 301–xxx (2017–19), chapter 2 (13 June 2018); Fifty-seventh Report HC 301–lvi (2017–19), chapter 2 (6 March 2019); Sixtieth Report HC 301–lviii (2017–19) chapter 1 (20 March 2019); and Sixty-forth Report HC 301–lxii (2017–19) chapter 1 (1 May 2019)
1 Council Directive of 14 October 1991 on an employer’s obligation to inform employees of the conditions applicable to the contract or employment relationship (91/533/EEC).
2 Letter from Kelly Tolhurst MP to Sir William Cash MP, 23 May 2019.
Published: 11 June 2019