EU social legislation plays an important role, but must “strike the right balance between protecting workers’ rights and ensuring businesses can operate effectively”, employers’ organisation BusinessEurope summed up on Monday 29 June, when publishing the results of a study it had commissioned.
“EU social legislation has expanded in scope, complexity and ambition, reflecting changing labour markets, societal expectations and policy priorities. While its objectives (...) are broadly supported, its practical implications for businesses, particularly in terms of administrative, financial and compliance burdens, can be substantial. To date, such impacts have received comparatively little systematic attention”, the organisation deplores.
According to the study, the Transparency Directive (71% of respondents) and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (70%) are most frequently rated as imposing very high or high costs, followed by safety and health risk assessment, documentation and preventive obligations (68%), cross border social security documentation requirements for posting of workers (A1 forms, 63%) and working time reporting requirements (55%). Pay Transparency, Working Time and Transparent and Predictable Working Conditions are considered to be the three most burdensome directives for small businesses.
BusinessEurope has already proposed ‘omnibus’ legislative acts on certain directives, such as pay transparency or working time.
Links to the documents: https://aeur.eu/f/mn3; https://aeur.eu/f/mn2; https://aeur.eu/f/mmz (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)