Press release

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Gloomy year in prospect for employers thanks to Brussels

2008 is threatening to be a gloomy year for employers thanks to developments in Brussels.

Several new employment laws are expected to be passed in Brussels this year – including the infamous working time and agency workers directives. Multinational employers are also worried about plans to toughen up laws on European works councils. And moves are afoot to extend EU laws on work-life balance.

The directives on working time and agency workers have been stalled for several years in Brussels. But UK-led opposition to them is now crumbling.

The UK Government is gearing up to accept the working time directive now that it has been changed to allow the UK opt out from the 48 hour week to continue. But employers who make use of the opt out will find themselves saddled with even more bureaucracy and restrictions.

Meanwhile the UK-led “blocking minority” against the agency workers directive has all but disappeared. As a result, employers who use temporary agency workers will be forced to give them the same rights – including pay – as normal employees. Possibly from day one.

Both Directives came close to agreement in Brussels in December, but the UK persuaded the other EU countries that forcing them through against UK wishes would jeopardise ratification of the EU Lisbon Treaty in Britain. Once the Treaty has been ratified by Parliament later this year, the way will be clear to finally agree the controversial directives. France - which holds the rotating EU Presidency in the second half of 2008 - is one of the strongest supporters of the two directives, and will pull out all the stops to get them adopted. The European Parliament then has its say, and if the past is anything to go by, employers will not like what they hear.

Also in 2008, multinational employers are bracing themselves for tougher rules on European Works Councils – groups of employees and trade unions from all over Europe – who have to be consulted about company restructuring plans, plant closures and redundancies that affect more than one country. They are costly and time-consuming to run, and this will get worse if the EU Commission in Brussels gets its way with planned changes to the law.

Commenting on these developments, Philip Sack, Director of Policy at employee regulation specialists ESG said:

"With the EU Commission and the European Parliament both nearing the end of their current terms of office, the pressure is on them to leave a legacy. Too often they think in terms of more laws, and this is almost always bad news for employers.

“We are calling on policy makers in Brussels to heed the views of employers and keep new regulation to a minimum.

“They keep saying they want to ease the burden on employers, and regulate better, but this batch of new laws will just make things worse.”