On Wednesday 26 February, Alicia Homs Ginel MEP (S&D, Spanish) published her draft report on the directive on quality traineeships and the fight against employment relationships disguised as traineeships.
While the EU Council will be leaning towards a new draft compromise on 28 February (see EUROPE 13584/20), the draft report, which will be discussed by the European Parliament’s Committee on Employment and Social Affairs on 18 March, insists on non-discrimination for trainees and on the principle of remuneration.
The report therefore defines a traineeship as “limited period of entry-level work aiming to provide practical and professional skills through significant training, with a view to facilitating the transition from education to stable employment, or accessing a profession” “based on a written contract between the trainee and the traineeship provider, which is paid in accordance with Directive (EU) 2022/2041 (on an adequate minimum wages)”.
As the Polish Presidency of the EU Council has also just done, it sets a maximum duration of six months with regard to traineeships, with Member States able to make exceptions where a longer duration is justified on objective grounds.
Regarding the scope of the directive, the draft report states that “traineeships can be understood to include traineeships which are part of curricula for formal education; traineeships which are regulated under national law and the completion of which is a mandatory requirement to access a specific profession; open market traineeships; and traineeships in the context of active labour market policies”.
The MEP has also included provisions to facilitate access to traineeships for groups of workers in a vulnerable situation.
Regarding non-discrimination, the Directive aims to ensure that the Union’s existing anti-discrimination protections under Council Directive 2000/78/EC, Directive 2006/54/EC and Council Directive 2000/43/EC are applicable to trainees, providing legal clarity and reinforcing trainees’ rights.
The directive introduces Articles 4 and 5 to prevent abusive practices arising from the use of traineeships for purposes other than facilitating the transition from education to stable employment, or accessing a profession. To achieve this, the directive sets out criteria for identifying abusive practices on which the competent authorities can rely, such as the absence of a training component, the lack of a written contract, excessive duration and the lack of a public vacancy notice.
Traineeship providers who have a high ratio of trainees relative to the size of the establishment, or who replace permanent posts with traineeship adverts, may also be indicative of abusive practices.
“Using this framework, the Directive therefore enables competent authorities to identify and protect against abusive practices arising from the use of traineeships in the Union”, explained the MEP.
Link to the report: https://aeur.eu/f/for (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)