Dear EELA Members,

We hope that you are well! While you may be present at the EELA Conference at this moment, please find your EU Employment Law update. There have been some interesting judgments. Also, this week is election week for the European Parliament!

Recent case law highlights

We have seen a lot of recent case law on Directive 2003/88/EC (Working Time Directive). Most of these cases concerned the right to paid leave, which is regulated by only one article in that directive. There have been relatively few judgments about working times. However, case C-55/18 (CCOO) should come as a serious bombshell. The ECJ held that Directive 2003/88 requires employers to establish a registration system for employee working hours, so that compliance with the directive’s requirements can be tracked. Directive 2003/88 has been requiring a lot from employers lately, and this case is no exception.

Another notable case is C-509/17 (Plessers). Referring to case C-126/16 (Smallsteps), the ECJ held that a transfer of undertaking in the context of bankruptcy proceedings with a view to maintain the company’s activities does not fall within the scope of the exemptions to Directive 2001/23 (Acquired Rights Directive), as a result of which the main rules of the directive apply. Consequently, the employer is not free to choose the employees which he would like to keep in service, while others would not transfer. The directive only provides for the possibility that all employees transfer, after which a number of them can be made redundant for economical, technical or organizational reasons.

List of recent case law

• C-55/18 (CCOO): employers must be obliged to establish a working hours registration system;
• C-677/17 (Çoban): the Association Council (on the application of the social security schemes of the Member States of the European Communities to Turkish workers and members of their families) makes it possible to withdraw a supplementary benefit from a Turkish national who returns to his country of origin, and who holds, at the date of his departure from the host Member State, long-term resident status within the meaning of Directive 2003/109/EC.
• C-132/18 P (Commission – v – Tuerck): EC must correct a pension transfer of an employee;
• C-170/18 P (CJ – v – ECDC): termination of employment contract of European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control found valid; and
• C-509/17 (Plessers): it is not possible to select employees in the context of the restart of a business. ETO reasons can be invoked after a transfer.

EU News

• The EP elections will take place from 23-26 May 2019. More information is available here.

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Concluding remarks

We hope that you appreciate this newsletter to keep you up to date on EU employment law developments. Once again, if you have suggestions or requests regarding this newsletter, please send an email to eelc@law.eur.nl!

Best regards,

22 May 2019,

Zef Even
Editor-in-chief EELC

Ruben Houweling
General editor Academic Board EELC