The European Commission wants to improve working conditions and pay for trainees in the EU, with a principle of non-discrimination to ensure that they are not treated in a less favourable manner than comparable workers of the same category in the same establishment (including with respect to pay).
It also wishes to combat employment relationships disguised as traineeships and will require Member States to provide for “effective” checks and inspections by competent authorities to detect regular employment relationships disguised as traineeships.
This is what the Commission is due to propose on Wednesday 20 March with a new European directive on ‘quality traineeships’, according to a draft directive seen by EUROPE.
This Directive, which also aims to increase the participation of young people in the labour market, is intended to update the current 2014 EU Council recommendation on quality traineeships and also fulfils a promise made to the European Parliament.
In 2023, the Parliament called for such an initiative (see EUROPE 13201/9) to remedy the shortcomings in both working conditions and learning content. In particular, the Parliament wanted to impose an obligation for traineeships to be paid. The Commission does include a principle of non-discrimination, but will not propose a minimum level of pay or a limit on the number of trainees per company, as some national laws do.
It is estimated that there were 3.1 million trainees in the EU in 2019, of whom 1.6 million were paid and 1.5 million were unpaid.
A growing number of trainees in the EU are taking part in cross-border traineeships (21% of trainees in 2023 compared with 9% in 2013). And, in 2019, around 370,000 paid trainees had completed a long-term traineeship (over six months), including consecutive or repeated traineeships with the same employer.
Of these, around 100,000 were on long-term traineeships with “mediocre” teaching content.
The directive focuses on two main areas: ensuring, by establishing the principle of non-discrimination, that trainees are not treated in a less favourable manner than comparable workers of the same category in the same establishment, unless a different treatment is justified on objective grounds. It aims to help trainees defend their rights as ‘workers’ by ensuring that workers’ representatives may engage in procedures to enforce the rights of trainees.
It introduces the obligation for Member States to set up channels for trainees to report malpractice and poor working conditions. It introduces an obligation for Member States to set up channels for trainees to report bad practices and working conditions, as well as compensation mechanisms.
In terms of tracking down fake internships, it provides for effective checks and inspections by competent authorities, which may sometimes lack the human resources to carry out the checks, and potentially enforcement measures. It proposes that Member States take account of a set of indicative elements set out at EU level to determine whether a traineeship constitutes a regular employment relationship disguised as a traineeship, such as duration, the existence of a significant learning or training component, equivalent levels of tasks and responsibilities, and whether or not the employer requires previous work experience for the traineeship.
It provides for an obligation on employers to provide information to authorities (if they so request) in order to help them carry out the assessment. Information must be provided on the number and duration of placements, working conditions (including pay), learning and training elements and vacancy notices.
Member States must also set a limit for excessive duration of traineeships. “A reasonable maximum duration of traineeships should, in principle, not exceed six months, as stipulated in the 2014 Recommendation”.
Longer periods may be justified if there are objective grounds for doing so: for example, traineeships the completion of which is a mandatory requirement to access a specific profession.
Certain traineeships that are part of active labour market policies could also benefit from a longer duration.
However, a number of Member States already provide for a maximum limit of six months, with a minimum bonus (generally below the minimum income) from the first month.
The Directive still calls for penalties against employers/companies that infringe the rules of the directive, but does not set a minimum level for these penalties either, asking Member States to make them dissuasive.
Link to the draft: https://aeur.eu/f/bek (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)