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WORKERS.

INCLUDES:

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  • the rights of movement and residence for workers.

  • the rights of entry and residence for family members

  • the right to work in another Member State and be treated on an equal footing with nationals of that Member State.

 

Restrictions are applied in some countries for citizens of new Member States. The rules on access to social benefits are currently shaped primarily by the case law of the Court of Justice.

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Objectives


Freedom of movement for workers : It is laid down in Article 45 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and is a fundamental right of workers.

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It entails the abolition of any discrimination based on nationality between workers of the Member States as regards employment, remuneration and other conditions of work and employment.

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Achievements

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1.Current general arrangements on freedom of movement.

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Any national of a Member State has the right to seek employment  in their national State or foreigner without any discrimination on grounds of nationality, and also has the right to stay in the host country for a period long enough to look for a work, apply for a job an be recruited.

As regards working and employment conditions in the territory of the host memeber state workers who are nationals of another memeber state cannot be treated differently from national workers because of their nationality.

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This applies in particular to matters such us:

  • Recruitment

  • Diminissal

  • Remuneration

  • Social and tax benefits.

  • Access to housing

  • Equal treatment.

 

2.Restrictions on freedom of movement.

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Under Article 45(4) TFEU, free movement of workers does not apply to employment in the public sector, although this derogation has been interpreted in a very restrictive way by the CJEU, according to which only those posts involving the exercise of public authority and of responsibility for safeguarding the general interest of the state concerned may be restricted to its own nationals.

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TYPES OF DISCRIMINATION.


Employees are protected from discrimination at all stages of employment including recruitment, workplace terms and conditions and dismissal.

These rights of non-discrimination of workers are collected in the Treaty of Amsterdam (Article 13), in the European Court of Human Rights (Article 14), that guarantees equality, rights and freedoms of workers, this being most important one. Protocol 12 prohibits discrimination in relation to ‘enjoyment of any right set forth by law’ and is this greater in scope than Article 14, which relates only to the rights guaranteed by the ECHR.

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The personal characteristics protected by the law include:
• age
• parental and carer status
• disability
• employment activity
• gender identity, lawful sexual activity and sexual orientation
• industrial activity
• marital status
• physical features
• political belief or activity
• pregnancy and breastfeeding
• race
• religious belief or activity
• sex
• expunged homosexual conviction
• personal association with someone who has, or is assumed to have, one of these personal characteristics.
Sexual harassment is also against the law.

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