Overview of recent cases before the Court of Justice of the European Union for the special issue on strategies for Social Europe
| Author | Pauline Melin |
| DOI | 10.1177/1388262720968850 |
| Published date | 01 December 2020 |
| Date | 01 December 2020 |
| Subject Matter | Case report |
Case report
Overview of recent cases
before the Court of Justice
of the European Union for
the special issue on strategies
for Social Europe
Pauline Melin
Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands
Abstract
Being part of the special issue on strategies for Social Europe, this overview of recent cases before
the Court of Justice is focused on matters that are high on the European agenda for Social Europe.
Firstly, in the aftermath of the economic crisis, many Member States had to reduce their generous
pension schemes. The YS case, rendered by the Grand Chamber on the 23rd September 2020,
deals with the limits afforded by the Member States when they reduce an occupational pension
scheme in order to secure the continuity of State-funded pensions. Secondly, the status of ‘‘self-
employed’’ delivery carriers operating in the gig economy is being discussed in many Member
States’ courts. In the Yodel case, the Court of Justice clarified in July 2020 whether such delivery
carriers should be considered as ‘‘self-employed persons’’ or as ‘‘workers’’ for the purposes of
the Working Time Directive. Lastly, the AFMB case concerns the underlying issue of using a
company situated in a Member State as the formal employer of international transport workers
in order to benefit from more advantageous social security legislation. The Court then deter-
mined in April 2020 the criteria to establish who is the actual employer of international transport
workers.
Keywords
Worker, self-employed, gig economy, transport, occupational pension
Corresponding author:
Pauline Melin, Maastricht University, Bouillonstraat 1-3, 6211 LH Maastricht, Netherlands.
E-mail: pauline.melin@outlook.com
European Journal of Social Security
2020, Vol. 22(4) 493–499
ªThe Author(s) 2020
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DOI: 10.1177/1388262720968850
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