The EU27 Ministers for Employment and Social Affairs will meet in Luxembourg, on Monday 9 October, to discuss the strengthening of European social protection systems in the era of new forms of work, and the wider impact of new technologies on the world of work.
They will also adopt a number of conclusions on social protection for the self-employed and mental health in the workplace. They are also expected to approve the draft recommendation on strengthening the framework for the social economy (see EUROPE 13257/22, 13262/9), in which they call on Member States to facilitate taxation or access to the public market.
The ministers will also hold a debate, as part of the ‘European Semester’, on the digital transition and the impact of new technologies on work. They will discuss as well the guidelines proposed by the Commission for Member States’ national employment policies and the challenges in the social and employment fields.
Equal access to adequate and inclusive housing for the Roma, combating violence against women and domestic violence, and the European Disability Card (see EUROPE 13244/1) are also on the agenda.
On the fringes of the discussions on the future of social protection systems, the ministers could debate the new attempts by the Spanish Presidency of the EU Council to relaunch the dossier on the coordination of social security schemes, the famous 883/2004, which is being submitted to new working groups.
However, they are not expected to return to the issue of digital platform workers, which is currently under discussion with the European Parliament.
On Friday 6 October, the Member States were briefed on the latest meeting held on 3 October (see EUROPE 13264/29).
A major step forward for platform workers
One of the issues discussed was the proposal made to the EU Council by MEP Elisabetta Gualmini (S&D, Italian), who revised the structure of the European Parliament text on the legal presumption of salaried status.
According to a diplomatic source, the rapporteur has come a long way towards fulfilling the mandate of the EU Council and has made a considerable step forward in the negotiations and towards an agreement. However, not all Member States are convinced, according to other sources.
The proposed new provisions on the reversal of the presumption of salaried status (by a platform, a worker or an authority) seemed difficult to apply to some delegations, and even contradictory in relation to the stated openness on the presumption criteria.
The proposal, which is still being examined, reformulates Article 4 on the legal presumption and reintroduces into the text eight elements or indicators (and not ‘criteria’, as the EU Council calls them) determining subordination, such as the fact that the digital labour platform determines or controls working conditions, including by limiting working hours and working time, or indicators that the digital platform prevents a worker from building up a clientele.
On the rebuttal of the presumption, it states that the legal presumption applies in all relevant administrative or judicial proceedings. For some, this would mean that there would no longer be any exclusion from tax or criminal proceedings.
The party rebutting “the presumption shall prove that the contractual relationship in question is not an employment relationship as defined by applicable law, collective agreements or practice in force in the Member State in question, with consideration to the case-law of the Court of Justice”.
For some, this would mean that more ‘criteria’ need to be met, including at national level, in order to be able to challenge this presumption and, therefore, the reclassification of the worker, which would apply the presumption to a very broad fringe of workers.
The MEP also proposed a recital stipulating that, where workers or trade unions acting on behalf or in support of one or more persons performing platform work challenge their classification, no type of evidence should be required to apply the presumption. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)