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New EU Directive on Transparent and Predictable Working Conditions likely to lead to changes in Belgian employment law

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The purpose of this Directive, which was adopted on 16 April 2019, is to improve working conditions by promoting more transparent and predictable employment while ensuring labour market adaptability. Employers will be required to inform workers of the essential aspects of the employment relationship, which includes salary, place of work, work schedule and work pattern (defined as the form of organisation of the working time and its distribution according to a certain pattern determined by the employer). The Directive imposes that any change in the aspects of the employment relationship must be provided in the form of a document by the employer to the worker at the latest on the day on which it takes effect. The Directive also introduces the right for the employee to refuse a work assignment without adverse consequences where a worker's work pattern is entirely or mostly unpredictable, unless the work takes place within predetermined reference hours and days and the worker is informed by his or her employer of a work assignment within a reasonable notice period. The aim is that “gig economy” workers working “on-demand”, enjoy more transparent and predictable working conditions. Finally, employers will not be able to prohibit a worker from taking up employment with other employers, outside the work schedule established with that employer, nor subject a worker to adverse treatment for doing so. The Directive must be transposed by each Member State at the latest within 3 years and is likely to lead to some significant changes in Belgian employment law. ■
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