Working abroad
Posted workers in the EU: which rules apply
Is your employer sending you to work in another EU country for a while? You stay their employee, but some rules of the country where you work apply to you too. Here is which ones.
Who this is for
For employees of a company based in an EU country who are sent temporarily to work in another EU country: for a contract or service, to another site of the same group, or as temporary agency workers. It does not cover people who move and are hired by an employer in the new country: in that case read free movement of workers.
In short
- During a posting you are entitled to a “core” of host-country conditions: working time and rest, minimum leave, pay, health and safety, equal treatment.
- Pay is not only the minimum wage: it includes all the elements made mandatory in the host country.
- After 12 months (18 with a motivated notification) almost all host-country working conditions apply.
- The employer usually has to file a prior declaration with the host-country authorities.
- For social security contributions you normally need the A1 form.
General information, not legal advice. Rules change and have exceptions. Always check the official text in the sources below and, for your own case, talk to a trade union, a qualified lawyer or the competent public authority.
Who is a posted worker
Under Directive 96/71/EC a posted worker is a worker who, for a limited period, carries out work in an EU country other than the one where they normally work. [1] The Directive covers three cases: a posting under a contract with a client in the host country, a posting to a company of the same group, and a temporary work agency hiring out a worker to a user company. In every case you stay employed by the company that sends you during the posting. [1]
Host-country conditions you are entitled to
Whatever law applies to your contract, the host country must guarantee you its rules (set by law or by universally applicable collective agreements) on: [2]
- maximum work periods and minimum rest periods;
- minimum paid annual leave;
- remuneration, including overtime rates;
- conditions for hiring out workers through agencies;
- health, safety and hygiene at work;
- protection of pregnant women, new mothers, children and young people;
- equal treatment between men and women and non-discrimination;
- accommodation conditions, if provided by the employer;
- allowances or reimbursement for travel, board and lodging when you have to travel for work.
Since the reform by Directive (EU) 2018/957, applicable from 30 July 2020, the rule refers to remuneration and no longer only to “minimum rates of pay”: all the elements of pay made mandatory in the host country count. [2] If the terms of your own contract are more favourable, they still apply. [8]
If you are a temporary agency worker, you are entitled to the same conditions the host country guarantees to workers of its own temporary work agencies (Art. 3(1b)). [2]
Long postings: over 12 months
If the posting actually lasts more than 12 months, the host country must guarantee you, on an equal footing, almost all of its working conditions laid down by law or universally applicable collective agreements. The exceptions are rules on concluding and ending the contract (including non-compete clauses) and supplementary occupational pension schemes. With a motivated notification from the company, the threshold becomes 18 months. If the company replaces one posted worker with another for the same task at the same place, the periods are added together (Art. 3(1a)). [2]
The prior declaration and documents
Directive 2014/67/EU allows EU countries to require the posting company to file a simple declaration, at the latest when the service starts, with the company’s identity, the number of workers, the duration, the workplace and the type of service. The country may also require the company to keep the contract, payslips, time records and proof of payment available (Art. 9). [3]
If you are posted to Italy
In Italy the rules are in Legislative Decree No 136 of 17 July 2016, as amended by Legislative Decree No 122 of 15 September 2020, which transposed Directive 2018/957. [5] [6] A company posting workers to Italy must notify the Ministry of Labour at the latest when the posting starts and report any changes within five days (Art. 10). [5] Note: the Ministry’s page, referring to Ministerial Decree No 170 of 6 August 2021, still states that the online notification must be sent by midnight of the day before the posting starts; to be safe, check the current procedure on the Ministry’s website. [7] For postings over 12 months (18 with a motivated notification), the working conditions set in Italy by law and collective agreements apply, with the same exceptions as the Directive (Art. 4-bis). [5] The Ministry has a dedicated page with the online procedure. [7]
Road transport drivers
Drivers are covered by special rules in Directive (EU) 2020/1057, applied from 2 February 2022. In short: drivers doing bilateral transport (from the country of establishment to another country or back) or just in transit are not considered posted; drivers doing cabotage are. [4]
Contributions: the A1 form
The posting Directive covers working conditions, not contributions. For social security, EU coordination rules apply: if the expected posting does not exceed 24 months and you are not sent to replace another posted person, you stay insured in your home country (Article 12 of Regulation 883/2004), and your employer requests the A1 form. [9] Details in social security and the A1 form.
Checklist before you go
- Get in writing the duration, place, pay in the host country and any posting allowance.
- Ask who pays for travel, board and lodging.
- Ask for a copy of the A1 form or confirmation that it was requested.
- Check that the employer filed the prior declaration.
- Look up the host country’s official national website on posting to see which conditions apply to you.
- Keep payslips and time records.