The New Acquired Rights Directive and its Implications for European Employee Relations in the Twenty-First Century
| Author | Stephen Hardy,Richard W. Painter |
| Published date | 01 December 1999 |
| Date | 01 December 1999 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/1023263X9900600403 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Ste phen H ardy *
Ric hard W . Pa inter **
Th e New Acqu ired Ri ghts Dir ect ive and its Im plica tion s
for Eu rope an Em plo yee Relations in the Twen ty-Fi rst
Century
Abstract
The E uropean Commission found it difficult to secure EU Member States’ agreement
on the content of a revised Acquired Rights Directive. After four years of negotiation
and the production o f two drafts, the Council o f Ministers fina lly agreed to adopt the
Amending Directive at the Cardiff Summit in June 1998. However, this new Directive
bears all the hallmarks o f an EU compromise: hardly radical in outlook and still leaving
unanswered some difficult questions concerning the rights o f employees caught up in
contracting-out and out-sourcing exercises across the EU.
§ 1. Intr oduct ion
The Acquired Rights Directive (ARD) is one o f a small but growing numbe r of EU
legislative measures aimed at protectin g workers. The Directive applies where a
business o r part of a business is transferred and provides affected employees protection
in three areas: by provi ding for the automatic transfer of employees’ terms and
conditions of employment on the trans fer of an undertaking ; by making certain
dismissals unlawful; and, by giving employees’ representatives rights to information and
consultation. More than 21 years of experience with the original 1977 ARD has
demonstrated that the Directive is not easy to apply in practice and has sh own the
Directive to be particularly controversial in relation to contracting-out and out-sourcing.
The Directive has resulted in a significant number of cases concerning interpretation
being re ferred from domestic cou rts to the European C ourt of Justice (ECJ) as a result
of the variant methods of implementation of the Directive in existence across the EU.
* Senior Lecturer, Facu lty of Social Stud ies, University of Salford (UK).
** Professor and Dean of the Law School, Staffordshire University, (UK).
366 6 MJ 4 (1 999)
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