Maximum duration of any probationary period
1. Member States shall ensure that, where an employment relationship is subject to a probationary period as defined in national law or practice, that period shall not exceed six months.
2. In the case of fixed-term employment relationships, Member States shall ensure that the length of such a probationary period is proportionate to the expected duration of the contract and the nature of the work. In the case of the renewal of a contract for the same function and tasks, the employment relationship shall not be subject to a new probationary period.
3. Member States may, on an exceptional basis, provide for longer probationary periods where justified by the nature of the employment or in the interest of the worker. Where the worker has been absent from work during the probationary period, Member States may provide that the probationary period can be extended correspondingly, in relation to the duration of the absence.
Parallel employment
1. Member States shall ensure that an employer neither prohibits a worker from taking up employment with other employers, outside the work schedule established with that employer, nor subjects a worker to adverse treatment for doing so.
2. Member States may lay down conditions for the use of incompatibility restrictions by employers, on the basis of objective grounds, such as health and safety, the protection of business confidentiality, the integrity of the public service or the avoidance of conflicts of interests.
Minimum predictability of work
1. Member States shall ensure that where a worker’s work pattern is entirely or mostly unpredictable the worker shall not be required to work by the employer unless both of the following conditions are fulfilled:
(a)
the work takes place within predetermined reference hours and days as referred to in point (m)(ii) of Article 4(2); and
(b)
the worker is informed by his or her employer of a work assignment within a reasonable notice period established in accordance with national law, collective agreements or practice as referred to in point (m)(iii) of Article 4(2).
2. Where one or both of the requirements laid down in paragraph 1 is not fulfilled, a worker shall have the right to refuse a work assignment without adverse consequences.
3. Where Member States allow an employer to cancel a work assignment without compensation, Member States shall take the measures necessary, in accordance with national law, collective agreements or practice, to ensure that the worker is entitled to compensation if the employer cancels, after a specified reasonable deadline, the work assignment previously agreed with the worker.
4. Member States may lay down modalities for the application of this Article, in accordance with national law, collective agreements or practice.
Complementary measures for on-demand contracts
Where Member States allow for the use of on-demand or similar employment contracts, they shall take one or more of the following measures to prevent abusive practices:
(a)
limitations to the use and duration of on-demand or similar employment contracts;
(b)
a rebuttable presumption of the existence of an employment contract with a minimum amount of paid hours based on the average hours worked during a given period;
(c)
other equivalent measures that ensure effective prevention of abusive practices.
Member States shall inform the Commission of such measures.
Transition to another form of employment
1. Member States shall ensure that a worker with at least six months’ service with the same employer, who has completed his or her probationary period, if any, may request a form of employment with more predictable and secure working conditions where available and receive a reasoned written reply. Member States may limit the frequency of requests triggering the obligation under this Article.
2. Member States shall ensure that the employer provides the reasoned written reply referred to in paragraph 1 within one month of the request. With respect to natural persons acting as employers and micro, small, or medium enterprises, Member States may provide for that deadline to be extended to no more than three months and allow for an oral reply to a subsequent similar request submitted by the same worker if the justification for the reply as regards the situation of the worker remains unchanged.
Mandatory training
Member States shall ensure that where an employer is required by Union or national law or by collective agreements to provide training to a worker to carry out the work for which he or she is employed, such training shall be provided to the worker free of cost, shall count as working time and, where possible, shall take place during working hours.
Collective agreements
Member States may allow the social partners to maintain, negotiate, conclude and enforce collective agreements, in conformity with the national law or practice, which, while respecting the overall protection of workers, establish arrangements concerning the working conditions of workers which differ from those referred to in Articles 8 to 13.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
