Gender equality and non-discrimination at work
The status of irregular workers must be improved
Compulsory self-employment, successive temporary employment contracts and involuntary part-time work are all approaches that enable employers to cut labour costs and circumvent their legal obligations. Various casual jobs impose uncertainty and financial pressures on employees.
Objectives
- The conditions for using temporary employees must be tightened by specifying the need for permanent labour more clearly.
- Criteria for using employer-initiated part-time work must be prescribed by law, as is already the case when using temporary employment contracts.
- The Annual Holidays Act must be reformed to ensure that employees earn 2.5 days of holiday per working month, even when working on short employment contracts. A directly enforceable right to annual holiday must be prescribed for casual workers.
- We must promote all efforts to prepare and implement national and EU legislation that prevents the misclassification of employment and self-employment (i.e. misrepresenting employment as self-employment).
- The competence of the Labour Council must be enlarged to include demarcation of the scope of the Employment Contracts Act, the temporary character of employment and variable working time, and the establishment of working time by custom and practice. This will give workers access to justice at a lower threshold and more swiftly.
- Workers who are genuine self-employed must be guaranteed the right to bargain and improve the terms and conditions of their work collectively.
Grounds
Even though more than 80 per cent of employees still have a regular job, temporary and part-time employment has been rising steadily. The lack of permanent employment is most noticeable among workers aged from 25 to 34 years and among women.
The Employment Contracts Act normalises permanent full-time employment, regarding temporary and part-time work as exceptional. Employees may not be disadvantaged due solely to the duration of employment or length of service. These principles must be reiterated.
For example, temporary contracts are often used unlawfully because the law is open to interpretation. Many part-time workers do not secure the desired number of working hours, and are therefore really part-time unemployed. The financial risk arising from fluctuating demand is often passed on to casual workers.
There is no justification for earning less annual holiday when employment lasts for less than one year. Casual workers must also be entitled to a paid holiday in the same way as other workers.
For example, camouflaging of employment in the form of various assignments and partnerships has increased, with technological progress and platform work further accelerating this trend. A low-threshold legal remedy is needed for demarcation of employment and self-employment in unclear cases.
Other SAK objectives related to gender equality and non-discrimination
- Unjustified wage differentials must be abolished.
- The status of victims of discrimination must be improved.
- Discrimination on the basis of pregnancy and family leave must be brought under control.
- A reform of the child home care allowance system is needed, and the quality and availability of early childhood education services must be ensured.