Temporary Employment Directive 2008/104/EC
Temporary Employment: A Study of Directive 2008/104/EC
Directive 2008/104/EC of 19 November 2008.
Application
- Workers with an employment contract or employment relationship with a Temporary Employment Agency (ETT), which is made available to business users to work temporarily under their control and direction.
- Public and private companies that are ETTs or user undertakings engaged in economic activities, regardless of whether or not they are for profit.
- After consultation with social partners, Member States may decide not to apply to employment contracts or relationships concluded under a specific public program, or one supported by public authorities, for training, placement, and retraining.
Purpose
To ensure the protection of temporary workers by temporary employment agencies, improve the quality of the ETT, ensure respect for the principle of equal treatment in relation to agency workers by temporary employment agencies, and recognize ETTs as employers. It takes into account the need to establish an appropriate framework for the use of ETTs’ assignment of workers to effectively contribute to job creation and the development of flexible forms of work.
Definitions
- Worker: Any person who, in the Member State concerned, is protected as a worker under national employment law.
- ETT: Any natural or legal person holding employment contracts or employment relationships with workers under national law in order to allocate them to user undertakings to work there temporarily under the direction and control of these.
- Temporary worker for a temp agency: Any worker who enters into a contract of employment or establishes a working relationship with a temp agency entrusted with the mission to work temporarily in a user company under the control and direction.
- User enterprise: Any natural or legal person for whom and under the control and direction of which a temporary agency worker, temporarily ceded by a temporary agency, works.
- Mission: The period during which the temporary worker is a temp agency appointed to work under the direction and control of the user enterprise.
- Basic working and employment conditions: Those established by the provisions of laws, regulations, and administrative provisions, collective agreements, and other binding general provisions in force in the user undertaking relating to:
- The duration of the day, overtime, breaks, rest periods, night work, holidays, and paid holidays.
- Compensation.
Without prejudice to national law as regards the definition of compensation, the employment contract, or employment of the worker.
Member States shall not exclude from the scope of the Directive workers, employment contracts, or employment relationships solely because they concern part-time workers, workers with fixed-term contracts, or those who have an employment contract or employment relationship with an ETT.
Review of Prohibitions or Restrictions
The restrictions or prohibitions on temporary agency workers by temporary employment agencies are justified only for reasons of general interest relating mainly to the protection of temporary workers by temporary employment agencies, the demands on health and safety at work, or the need to ensure the proper functioning of the labor market and prevent possible abuses. By December 5, 2011, Member States, after consulting the social partners in accordance with national legislation, collective agreements, and practices, reviewed any restrictions or prohibitions on the use of temporary workers to check whether they are justified for the reasons stated in paragraph 1. If such restrictions or prohibitions are laid down in collective agreements, social partners who negotiated the agreement concerned may carry out the review. Paragraphs 1, 2, and 3 shall be without prejudice to national requirements with regard to registration, licensing, certification, and warranty.