Written answer
EU Directives
105. Deputy John Paul Phelan asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will engage with industry to ensure that companies who solely rely on sales advisers to attract customers will not be inadvertently brought into the scope of the EU Platform Work Directive; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26627/24]
Comment on this
On 11th March 2024, Ministers at the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO) confirmed the provisional agreement reached on 8 February 2024 between the Council’s presidency and the European Parliament’s negotiators on the Directive. Ireland supported the proposal for agreement.
The agreed Directive text strikes a balance between respecting national labour systems and ensuring minimum standards of protection for persons working in digital labour platforms across the EU.
The main compromise elements agreed revolve around a legal presumption which will help determine the correct employment status of persons working in digital platforms:
• Member States will establish a legal presumption of employment in their legal systems, to be triggered when facts indicating control and direction are found.
• those facts will be determined according to national law and collective agreements, while taking into account EU case-law.
• persons working in digital platforms, their representatives or national authorities may invoke this legal presumption and claim they are misclassified.
• it is up to the digital platform to prove that there is no employment relationship.
The text of the agreement must now be formally adopted by both institutions. After the formal steps of the adoption have been completed, Member States will have two years to incorporate the provisions of the Directive into their national legislation. DETE will now consider what are the next steps in order to transpose the Directive in Ireland. DETE will engage with all stakeholders, including in industry, in relation to any legislative changes which may affect them arising from transposition of the Directive into national law.