What is posting?

A "posted worker" is an employee who is sent by his employer to carry out a service in another EU Member State on a temporary basis, in the context of a contract of services, an intra-group posting or a hiring out through a temporary agency.

For example, a service provider may win a contract for the provision of services in another country and send his employees there to carry out the contract.

Employment rights and working conditions for posted workers

To guarantee that rights and working conditions for posted workers are protected throughout the EU and to ensure a level-playing field, the EU law defines a set of mandatory rules regarding the terms and conditions of employment to be applied to posted workers.

These rules are set out in the   Posting of Workers Directive (PWD) which was adopted in 1996 and revised in 2018.

The starting point of the employment protection of posted workers is that posted workers remain employed by the sending company and are therefore subject to the law applicable to their employment contract, which most often is the law of their home Member State. However, the PWD provides core terms and conditions of employment, which are applied in accordance with the rules in place in the host Member State apply in so far as they are more favourable than the protection offered by the employment law of the home State (or the law applicable to the employment contract).

A posted worker can rely on the following terms and conditions of employment in the host Member state,:

• remuneration, including overtime rates
• maximum work periods and minimum rest periods;
• minimum paid annual leave;
• the conditions of hiring-out workers in particular the supply of workers by temporary employment undertakings;
• health, safety and hygiene at work;
• protective measures with regard to the terms and conditions of employment of pregnant women or women who have recently given birth, of children and of young people;
• equal treatment between men and women and other provisions on non-discrimination;
• the conditions of workers’ accommodation where provided by the employer to workers away from their regular place of work;
• allowances or reimbursement of expenditure to cover travel, board and lodging expenses for workers away from home for professional reasons.

A new provision on long-term posting provides that where the effective duration of posting exceeds 12 months (or 18 months in case a motivated notification is submitted), all the host Member State’s applicable terms and conditions of employment, laid down by law or by collective agreement within the meaning of Article 3(8), must be guaranteed. The only exceptions are:

• the procedures, formalities and conditions of the conclusion and termination of the employment contract, including non-competition clauses;
• supplementary occupational retirement pension schemes.

Further details or practical help can be found in:

• Practical Guide on posting
• The Posted workers section of the Your Europe website.

Enforcement Directive

In 2014 the Enforcement Directive was adopted, with the aim to strengthen the practical application of the PWD  by addressing issues related to

• access to information and circumvention of rules,
• inspections and monitoring,
• joint liability in subcontracting chains,
• exchange of information between the Member States.

European Labour Authority (ELA)

The posting Directives also fall under the remit of the European Labour Authority (ELA)  established in July 2019 and created to help Member States and the European Commission to ensure that EU rules on labour mobility and social security coordination are enforced in a fair, simple and effective way.

Member States’ single national websites on posting

Do you want to know about concrete terms and conditions of employment applicable to posted workers as well as employers obligations in the receiving Member State? Then take a look at Member States’ special websites on posting.

Single national websites on posting

Member States’ national liaison offices and competent authorities

If you want to know more about posting conditions? Contact the responsible  national liaison office:

National liaison offices and authorities

Social security of posted workers 

The social security of posted workers is regulated through Regulation no 883/2004 on the coordination of social security systems. A detailed guide explaining the applicable rules is available.

More information on the social security coverage of persons posted on a short assignment to another EU country can also be found here.

Posted workers in the road transport sector

For the road transport sector, the new rules on posting of drivers (Directive 2020/1057) adopted in July 2020 as part of Mobility Package I are applicable from 2 February 2022. The so-called “lex specialis” applies to drivers employed by undertakings established in a Member State who are posted to another Member States in the framework of a contract of services that has been concluded by the undertaking. Under this type of subcontracting posting, drivers remain under the direct authority of their original employer and provide their services to companies that require to have their goods transported. Examples of this type of posting in the road transport sector are transit-, bilateral-, cross-trade-, cabotage operations.

Questions and answers on posting in the road transport sector can be found here.

EU Legislation

• Directive 96/71/EC (consolidated version) concerning the posting of workers in the framework of the provisions of services as amended by Directive 2018/957/EU.
• Directive 2014/67/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 May 2014 on the enforcement of Directive 96/71/EC concerning the posting of workers in the framework of the provision of services and amending Regulation (EU) No 1024/2012 on administrative cooperation through the Internal Market Information System (‘the IMI Regulation’)
• Directive 2020/1057/EU laying down specific rules with respect to Directive 96/71/EC and Directive 2014/67/EU for posting drivers in the road transport sector and amending Directive 2006/22/EC as regards enforcement requirements and Regulation (EU) No 1024/2012.
• Decision No A2 of 12 June 2009 concerning the interpretation of Article 12 of Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the legislation applicable to posted workers and self-employed workers temporarily working outside the competent State.
• Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the coordination of social security systems (consolidated version).
• Regulation (EC) No 987/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 establishing a European Labour Authority, amending Regulations (EC) No 883/2004, (EU) No 492/2011, and (EU) 2016/589 and repealing Decision (EU) 2016/344.