For employers
Employer obligations under EU law
What EU law requires when you hire in an EU country: written information and deadlines, working time recording, annual leave, pay transparency, employee personal data and equal treatment.
Who this is for
For companies, start-ups, self-employed professionals and households hiring employees in one or more EU countries who want a map of the common obligations. Directives bind the Member States: the concrete duties, penalties and exceptions are in national law, so always check the rules of the country where the person works.
In short
- Give the essential information about the job in writing: the key items by the 7th calendar day, the rest within one month.
- Set up an objective, reliable and accessible system to measure each employee’s daily working time.
- Untaken leave is not lost automatically if you did not enable and inform the employee to take it.
- Once Directive 2023/970 is transposed, you must give candidates the pay range and must not ask for their pay history.
- Employee data is personal data: the GDPR applies.
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.
Written information and deadlines
You must give each employee the essential information about the employment relationship in writing (on paper, or electronically if they can store and print it and you keep proof of sending) [1]:
- By the 7th calendar day from the first working day: parties, place of work, role, start date, end date if fixed-term, probation, pay, working hours and, for unpredictable schedules, guaranteed hours, reference hours and minimum notice (Art. 5(1)).
- Within one month: the other Art. 4 items, such as training, leave, notice periods, collective agreement and social security institutions.
- Changes: in writing at the latest on the day they take effect (Art. 6).
- Work abroad for more than 4 consecutive weeks (unless national law sets a different rule): before departure, information on country, duration, currency, benefits and repatriation; for posted workers also host-country pay (Art. 7). For posting notifications see posting of workers.
Also: probation of no more than 6 months as a rule (Art. 8); no general ban on second jobs (Art. 9); a reasoned written reply within one month to anyone with 6 months’ service asking for more secure work, which national law may extend to up to 3 months for individual employers and SMEs (Art. 12); mandatory training free of charge, counted as working time and, where possible, held during working hours (Art. 13); no dismissal for exercising these rights, and written reasons on request (Art. 18).
Working time: limits and recording
The limits are those in the worker page: 48 hours a week on average including overtime, 11 hours of daily rest, 24 hours of weekly rest plus the 11 daily hours, a break when the day exceeds 6 hours, 4 weeks of paid leave [2]. If your country allows the 48-hour limit to be exceeded with the employee’s consent, you must keep up-to-date records of those workers (Art. 22).
In CCOO v Deutsche Bank (14 May 2019, C-55/18) the Court of Justice ruled that Member States must require employers to set up an objective, reliable and accessible system to measure the daily working time of each worker [3]. National law decides how (tools, possible simplifications for small businesses).
Annual leave: enable employees to take it
In Max-Planck (C-684/16) and Kreuziger (C-619/16), both of 6 November 2018, the Court held that an employee does not automatically lose leave (or the allowance for untaken leave when the job ends) just because they did not ask for it. The employer must show that it enabled the employee to take it, in particular by informing them adequately and in good time [4] [5].
Pay transparency, by company size
Directive (EU) 2023/970 had to be transposed by 7 June 2026 [6]. Check the national law of each country where you employ people.
| Who | Obligation |
|---|---|
| All employers | Give candidates the starting pay or range; do not ask about pay history; use gender-neutral vacancy notices and job titles (Art. 5). Answer pay information requests within two months and tell staff about this right every year (Art. 7). |
| All, with a possible exemption for pay progression below 50 workers | Make the objective, gender-neutral criteria for pay and pay progression easily accessible (Art. 6). |
| 250 or more workers | Gender pay gap report by 7 June 2027 and every year after (Art. 9). |
| 150-249 workers | Report by 7 June 2027 and every 3 years after (Art. 9). |
| 100-149 workers | Report by 7 June 2031 and every 3 years after (Art. 9). |
| Employers subject to reporting | Joint pay assessment with workers’ representatives if the average gap in any category is at least 5%, unjustified and not remedied within 6 months (Art. 10). |
Note: if you have not complied with these obligations, in an equal-pay dispute you will have to prove that there was no discrimination (Art. 18).
Employee personal data
CVs, payslips, attendance and health data are personal data: the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) applies. Article 88 lets Member States adopt more specific rules on processing employee data, from recruitment to termination [7]. Check national rules too, for example on monitoring and geolocation.
Equal treatment
You must not discriminate on grounds of religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation; for people with disabilities you must provide reasonable accommodation unless it is a disproportionate burden [8]. Sex discrimination in hiring, working conditions, pay and dismissal is prohibited [9].
Checklist
- Prepare a template letter or contract covering every Art. 4 item and a process to deliver it within 7 days.
- Adopt a daily working time recording system that meets the national rules.
- Every year, remind employees in writing of their remaining leave and when it could expire.
- Put the pay range in job ads and remove the current-salary question from application forms.
- Write down objective, gender-neutral pay and progression criteria; prepare a standard reply to Art. 7 requests.
- Update the privacy notice for candidates and employees.
- If you send people to work in another country, check the posting rules before they leave.