In June the European Commission had been expected to publish a Green Paper which will examine ways in which European labour law has evolved in recent years. Although Green Papers are consultations rather than legislative proposals, they can often lay the foundations for more concrete policy proposals in the future. However the timetable for publication has slipped and it is now likely to be in the Autumn.
The Green Paper is expected to look at a variety of labour law issues, particularly at what the Commission sees as less traditional types of employment status such as agency work, self-employment and economically dependent work (often referred to as parasubordination). It is likely that the paper will compare how Member States treat these types of work and may also look at whether any further EU-level employment protection is needed for these categories.
Parasubordination, in particular, is often viewed as a grey area between self-employment and employment. In general, this refers to a situation where someone is self-employed but only has one client and is therefore economically dependent, or partly subordinate to this client, as if in a standard employment relationship. With this in mind it is possible that the Green Paper will also raise the question of whether the absence of a coherent EU-level definition of "worker", which at present varies between Member States, is a problem that needs addressing. This would be at odds with the views of the UK Government, which announced in the recent ‘Success at Work’ employment strategy paper that it saw no reason for further legislation on the differing rights and responsibilities in UK employment law between “employee” and “worker” – a view endorsed by EEF. We will continue to monitor progress on this issue and report back as and when there are further developments.