Employment contracts
When you get a job in an EU country your employer should give you a written contract
or an equivalent written statement that confirms your working conditions. The employer
should ideally give you your terms of employment on or before the day you start working. However, the deadlines vary depending on the type of information, as shown below.
Information your employer must provide to you within seven working days from your first working day:
- parties to the employment contract (employer and employee)
- place of work – if there is no fixed place of work, your employer should highlight that you will work in various locations and say where their business is registered
- title, grade, category of work or a job description/brief specification of tasks
- start date
- expected duration of the job if the contract is temporary, initial basic salary, frequency of payment, any other components of remuneration
…including, if your work schedule is regular or predictable:
- length of the normal working day or working week (working hours)
- overtime and its compensation
- arrangements for shift changes
…or if your work schedule is irregular or unpredictable:
- number of guaranteed paid hours and the remuneration for extra hours
- reference hours and days of work
- notice before the start of an assignment and deadline for its cancellation.
Information your employer must provide to you within one month from your first working day:
- for temporary agency workers, the identity of the organisation/entity where you will work
- any training provided
- number of paid annual holidays or – if this cannot be indicated at the start of the contract – the procedures for determining it
- rules of any collective agreements governing your working conditions
- the identity of the social security institutions governing the social contributions (if it is your employer’s responsibility).
For annual holidays, length of notice periods, working time and remuneration, you should refer to any relevant national/regional laws and administrative provisions.
Minimum requirements for working conditions
PROBATION PERIOD
If you are required to serve a probation period, it must not exceed six months. In the case of a fixed-term employment relationship, the probation period must be proportionate to the expected duration of the contract and the type of work. If your contract is renewed for the same function and tasks, your employer cannot make it subject to a new probation period. Exceptionally, EU countries can establish longer probation periods in national regulation if it is in the interest of the worker or justified by the type of the employment.
PARALLEL EMPLOYMENT
Your employer cannot prohibit you from working with other employers, outside of the established working time, and they cannot treat you less favourably for doing so. EU countries can establish conditions on the incompatibility of parallel employment, based on objective reasons such as health and safety, business confidentiality, integrity of public service or the avoidance of conflict of interest.
MINIMUM PREDICTABILITY OF WORK
If you have a contract with an irregular work schedule, your employer must:
- give you predetermined reference hours and days
- inform you of a work assignment within a reasonable notice period established in accordance with national law, collective agreements, or practice.
If one or both requirements are not fulfilled, you have the right to refuse a work assignment without adverse consequences. Even when national law allows your employer to cancel a work assignment without compensation, you are entitled to compensation in accordance with national law, collective agreements or practice, if your employer cancels a previously agreed work assignment after a specified reasonable deadline.
ON-DEMAND CONTRACTS
If the national law of your EU country allows for the use of on-demand or similar employment contracts, and you are hired on this kind of contract, your employer must follow the national laws put in place to prevent its abuse and misuse. All EU countries that allow for such contracts must have such national laws, which may, for instance, limit the use and duration of on-demand and similar contracts or presume that you have an employment contract with a minimum number of paid hours, based on the average hours you worked during a specific period.
TRANSITION TO ANOTHER FORM OF EMPLOYMENT
After at least six months of service and a successfully completed probation period (if applicable), you can request a form of employment with more predictable and secure working conditions, if available. Your employer must give you a reasoned written reply within one month of the request. EU countries may limit the frequency of such requests.
If your employer is an SME, or a natural person, in some EU countries they may have up to three months and they can give you an oral reply if you request it more than once and the justification remains unchanged.
MANDATORY TRAINING
If EU or national law require your employer to provide training for your tasks, they must provide it free of cost. Moreover, the training must be counted as working time, and, if possible, take place during working hours.
In some EU countries collective agreements made in conformity with the national law might establish different measures than those mentioned above, while respecting the overall protection of workers.
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