Migrant workers are particularly vulnerable to labour exploitation and violations of European Union (EU) labour law. Workplace inspectors play a key role in overseeing the correct application of the safeguards enshrined in EU law.
EU law lays down safeguards to protect workers from non-EU countries (third countries) against employers’ abusive behaviour and to facilitate their access to justice. EU law provides different levels of protection to non-EU workers. The level varies depending on their residence status.
Under EU law, non-EU workers who are legally resident in an EU country must receive equal treatment. They must be treated the same as workers from the Member State where they are employed. Equal treatment covers many areas, including working conditions, pay, working time, and health and safety at work.
According to the International Labour Organisation’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, core labour rights apply to all workers, including workers in an irregular residence situation.
EU law rules protect all workers regardless of their nationality and residence status. For example, the safety and health of workers is protected under the framework directive on safety and health at work (89/391/EC).
Beyond the general EU law rules that apply to all workers, the following key EU law instruments provide specific safeguards for non-EU workers:
This report presents six points to help labour inspectors apply these EU law safeguards in practice:
This report is a summary of the forthcoming manual for workplace inspectors.
FRA activity: Manual for workplace inspectors to be published in autumn 2024
The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) is compiling a manual for workplace inspectors presenting safeguards for non-EU workers which will be published in autumn 2024. The manual will contain examples and promising practices across Member States. These examples will illustrate how EU labour inspectors can help ensure safeguards in law become a reality.
The manual analyses relevant EU law safeguards for non-EU workers holding residence permits under the EU single permit directive, the EU seasonal workers directive, the posted workers directive. It also analyses the situation for asylum applicants (as defined in Regulation (EU) 2024/1347) and for migrants in an irregular situation (as defined in the employer sanctions directive).
The manual is based on contributions from representatives of national labour inspectorates of selected EU Member States, the European Labour Authority, the European Commission, the International Labour Organisation, the International Trade Union Confederation, the European Union Trade Union Confederation, the International Organisation for Migration, the Council of Europe and other organisations.
Labour inspectors reviewed the content of the manual and discussed the promising practices. FRA held three meetings with experts and ran two validation workshops with labour inspectors between March and October 2023.
Workplace inspectors play an important role in upholding workers’ rights. Promising practices identified in this research include workplace inspectors communicating directly with migrant workers during inspections and building trust with them. A further promising practice is when workplace inspectors have the skills to identify signs of labour exploitation. This involves overcoming language barriers, for example, by using translated leaflets and adjusting their interactions with exploited workers who may have experienced trauma or intimidation.
