On 30 March 2023, the European Union Parliament adopted the Pay Transparency Directive, approving the legislative proposal of the European Commission based on equal pay for equal work or work of equal value between men and women.
The Council will have to formally approve the agreement before the text is signed into law and published in the EU Official Journal, and the new provisions will come into force twenty days after their publication.
The European Whistleblowing Directive has recently been transposed in the Netherlands with the Whistleblowers Protection Act, and in Italy, with Legislative Decree No. 24 of 10 March 2023.
On 2 march 2023, the European Union Court of Justice, in Case C-477/21, stated that daily rest is additional to weekly rest, even when it directly precedes the latter and even when national legislation grants workers a period of weekly rest greater than that required by EU law.
On 22 December 2022, the European Court of Justice ruled that the employer must bear the cost of the vision devices purchased by its employees using video display screens, either through reimbursement of the expenses incurred or through the direct supply of lenses or spectacles.
On 21 December 2022, Act LXXIV, which includes the amendment of Act I of 2012 on the Hungarian Labour Code, effective as of 1 January 2023, was published.
The official purpose was to harmonise Hungarian legislation with EU legislation. Still, it became a broader reform than just the transposition of the Directives on work-life balance and predictable working conditions.
Last December, the European Parliament voted on measures to improve conditions for workers on digital labour platforms, particularly on their employment status and automated systems monitoring their work.
The text, adopted with 41 votes to 12, will constitute a negotiating mandate and be subject to trialogue negotiations in 2023.
On 17 November 2022, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled on corporate welfare in the case of a UK company that offered vouchers to its employees as part of a programme to reward the most deserving and efficient staff.
According to the European Court of Justice, such provision does not fall within the scope of Article 26 paragraph 1(b) VAT Directive, and those vouchers are not subject to VAT.
On 30 November 2022, Eurofound published its research report, carried out in the context of the three-year pilot project (2021–2023), ‘Role of the minimum wage in establishing the Universal Labour Guarantee’, mandated to Eurofound by the European Commission.
It aims to understand how minimum wages, wage rates, tariffs, fees and other forms of pay could be fixed for specific jobs or professions in sectors with a high level of ‘vulnerable’ workers and ‘concealed’ self-employed by mapping national and sectoral approaches.