Reporting period: 1 April - 30 June 2020: Report on European Labour and Social Security Law
The second edition of the HSI Report focuses on current developments in European labour and social security law in the second quarter of 2020. We would like to highlight two decisions of the European Court of Justice in particular.
In the decision in the Yodel Delivery Network case, the Court of Justice deals with work in the gig economy and, in this context, with the controversial question in national and European law as to when courier drivers are to be considered employees in the platform economy. Prof. Martin Gruber-Risak uses the decision made in the context of the Working Time Directive to further differentiate the criteria of the concept of employee in EU law and to test them in the gig economy. His comments on the decision can be found here (in German language).
In another decision, the Court of Justice had the opportunity to further develop its case law on anti-discrimination law. In the Associazione Avvocatura per i diritti LGBTI case, a lawyer had publicly stated in a radio interview that he would not employ homosexuals in his law firm. In response to a collective complaint by an Italian anti-discrimination association, the CJEU emphasised that this - detached from a specific job advertisement - constitutes discrimination in the field of employment and occupation. A comment by Micha Klapp of the DGB Bundesvorstand (Executive Board of the Confederation of German Trade Unions) can be found here (in German language).
In addition, numerous other rulings by the CJEU were issued, opinions by the Advocates General were filed and new proceedings were pending during the reporting period. The same applies to proceedings before the ECtHR. There, for example, a judgment was handed down in Kövesi v Romania on the freedom of opinion of civil servants. Specifically, the case concerned the removal from office of the chief prosecutor of the Romanian National Anti-Corruption Authority, who professionally criticised a change in the law. Two newly pending cases should also be mentioned: In the case Aleksiæ v Serbia, the ECtHR will deal with data protection issues in connection with the employer's access to an official e-mail account. The complaint in the case Pansitta and others v Italy concerns the legal prohibition for employees of the financial police to form trade unions.
We hope that the report will once again provide you with a comprehensive overview of the latest developments and hope you find it an inspiring read. You are very welcome to disseminate the report further and to invite colleagues to subscribe for free to it.