Employers rights and obligations

EU anti-discrimination law establishes a consistent set of rights and obligations across all
EU countries, including procedures to help victims of discrimination.
Your rights
All EU citizens are entitled to:
legal protection against direct and indirect discrimination on the grounds of race or ethnic origin in
education, social security, health care and access to goods and services;
equal treatment in employment and training irrespective of racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief,
sexual orientation, disability or age;
take action to combat discrimination on the above grounds;
receive help from a national organisation promoting equal treatment and assisting victims of racial
discrimination;
make a complaint through a judicial or administrative (conciliation) procedure, and expect appropriate
penalties for those who discriminate.
Detailed information and advice are available from the stop discrimination campaign website on the
grounds of: racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, sexual orientation and age (young or older people).
Your obligations
As an EU employer you must:
implement the principle of equal treatment irrespective of racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability,
age or sexual orientation with a view to taking appropriate measures to accommodate the needs of disabled
people, including appropriate measures to enable a person with a disability to have access to
employment and training unless doing so imposes a disproportionate burden;
provide equal access to employment, selection criteria and recruitment conditions, vocational guidance
and training, including practical work experience and membership of organisations;
base job classification systems for determining pay on the same criteria regardless of racial or ethnic origin,
religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation.
Racial equality
Directive against discrimination on grounds of race and ethnic origin:
Protection against discrimination on grounds of racial or ethnic origin in employment and training,
education, social protection, membership of organisations and access to goods and services;
Definitions of direct and indirect discrimination and harassment.
Positive action to ensure full equality in practice;
The right to complain through a judicial or administrative procedure, with appropriate penalties for
those who discriminate;
Limited exceptions to the principle of equal treatment (where a difference in treatment on the grounds
of race or ethnic origin is a genuine occupational requirement);
Shared burden of proof in civil and administrative cases: victims must provide evidence of alleged
discrimination; defendants must prove that there has been no breach of the equal treatment principle;
An organisation in each EU country to promote equal treatment and assist victims of racial
discrimination.
Full text: Directive 2000/43/EC of 29 June 2000 on racial equality
Employment
Directive against discrimination at work on grounds of religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation:
Principle of equal treatment in employment and training irrespective of religion or belief, disability, age or
sexual orientation;
Same rules as the Racial Equality Directive as regards definitions of discrimination and harassment,
positive action, rights of redress and sharing the burden of proof;
Employers must make reasonable efforts to accommodate disabled people who are qualified to
participate in training or paid employment;
Limited exceptions to the principle of equal treatment where the ethos of a religious organisation
needs to be preserved, or where an employer legitimately needs an employee to be from a certain age
group.
Full text: Employment Framework Directive 2000/78/EC of 27 November 2000
Age, disability, sexual orientation and religion or belief beyond the
workplace
Proposal for a Directive against discrimination based on age, disability, sexual orientation and religion or belief
beyond the workplace.
This new Directive proposal, adopted by the Commission in July 2008 and currently under negotiation,
proposes the following:
Equal treatment in the areas of social protection, including social security and health care, education and
access to and the supply of goods and services which are commercially available to the public,
including housing. The Directive will prohibit direct and indirect discrimination as well as harassment
and victimisation;
For people with disabilities, there would be an obligation to provide them with general accessibility as well
as "reasonable accommodation ". Both are subject to the condition that they do not impose a
disproportionate burden on service providers.


Terms of employment
Updated 03/2013
Employment contracts
EU rules lay down your obligations with regards to information you have to give
to your staff as regards employment contracts.
In some EU countries the rules below may not apply to employees workingmaximum 1 month for you or to employees
working fewer than 8 hours per week.
Information obligations
You must provide at least the following information to
employees when they first come to work for you:
parties of the employment contract
place of work - if there is no fixed place of work, you should highlight that the employee will work in
various locations and say where your business is registered
title, grade, category of the work or brief specification/description
start date
expected duration of the employment relationship, if the contract is temporary
number of paid annual holidays
length of notice periods for you and the employee if one of you terminates the contract
initial basic salary, any other components of remuneration, frequency of payment
length of the normal working day or working week
rules of any collective agreements governing the employees conditions of work, if appropriate.
For annual holidays, length of notice periods, working time and remuneration, it is enough to refer employees to any
relevant laws and administrative provisions.
If your employees will be required to work in a different
country (see Posting of workers), you must also inform them in
advance of the following:
duration of the employment abroad
currency to be used for payment of their salary
any allowances they will be eligible for while abroad
conditions regarding their return.
Providing information - by when and how?
You must give the information above to new employees in
writing no later than 2 monthsafter they begin working for you.
The information can take the form of:
a written employment contract
a letter of commitment
one or more written documents containing the information above.
Modification of employment relationships
You must inform employees in writing of any change to their
work contracts no later than 1 month after the date the change takes effect.
If the change is necessary because of a change in laws or
administrative provisions, there is no need for a written
document modifying the original contract.
Informing and consulting your staff
If your company has over 50 employees (or 20 if it is a unit of a larger
business), you are legally obliged to inform them about:
recent and probable future developments in company activities and economic situation
employment situation
likely substantial changes to the way work is organised or in contractual relations.
You must also make sure you give the information in time for employee
representatives to prepare for official consultation with you on
the related issues.
Employee representatives (or any experts assisting them) are prohibited by law from divulging to staff any information you give
them in confidence.



How long can your staff work?
If you employ staff, you need to know the basic rules
about working hours. These rules cover minimum periods of daily and weekly
rest, as well as annual leave and maximum weekly working time. EU countries also
have the option to apply rules that are more favourable.
Maximum weekly working time, weekly and
daily rest
As an employer, you must ensure that the average weekly working time for
your staff - including overtime - does not exceed 48 hours. Your
employees must rest for at least 11 consecutive hours daily. On top of it, in any 7
days you must also give your staff at least 24 hours of uninterrupted rest.
Breaks, annual leave
If your staff works more than 6 hours a day, you must ensure that they get
a break (of a duration specified in collective agreements or by
national law).
Beyond the daily and weekly rest periods each worker is
entitled to at least 4 weeks of paid holidays every year. You cannot replace these
holidays by a payment, unless the employment relationship has
ended before the staff member has taken all their annual leave.
Night work
Night work is at least a 7-hour shift, at least 3 hours of which
must be between midnight and 5.00 am.
Night workers may not work more than 8 hours per 24 hours on average. If the
work involves special hazards or heavy physical or mental
strain, the daily limit of 8 hours may not be exceeded.
Night workers are entitled to a free health assessment before they start
the night work and are entitled to a free, regular health check
afterwards (that must respect medical confidentiality). If your
night workers suffer from health problems related to the fact
that they work nights, they must be transferred to day work
whenever possible.
When working hours are not measured or predetermined, as in the case ofmanaging executives or family workers, the working
time obligations may not apply.
Further exemptions from the rules are possible in the following fields:
security and surveillance
industries where work cannot be interrupted for technical reasons
rail transport
agriculture
tourism.
Mobile workers
Mobile workers are staff members operating transport services for
passengers or goods by road, rail, air or waterway. Their
working time is regulated differently.
Working time for mobile road transport activities [52 KB] (EU directive)
Working hours in civil aviation [106 KB] (EU directive)
Working hours in the railways sector [41 KB] (EU directive)
Working hours for seafarers [133 KB] (EU directive)
Employing young people
If you would like to employ young people, the minimum employment
age is 15 (higher where compulsory full-time schooling continues
after age 15).
Young people under 15 years may be employed in cultural, artistic, sports or advertising activities with prior authorisation
from the competent authority.
Children who are at least 14 (but not yet 15) can also work as part
of a work/trainingscheme or a work-experience scheme. Children who are at
least 14 (in certain cases 13) can also perform light work. The
rules on working time, night work, and rest are quite strict for
young people. The EU countries can set stricter rules than
the minimum requirements [718 KB] .
Dig deeper, country by country: