This section is made up of three sub-sections covering:
- the national transposition of training rights in the recast EWC directive;
- the national transposition of training rights in the SE directive; and
- an overview of rights to time off and training for employee representatives at national level. (under construction)
In the case of both the European Works Council Recast 2009/38/EC and SE Directives, it is clear that in most countries' legislators have been content to reproduce the wording of the directive almost without alteration, and, where there are significant changes, the influence of national legislation covering national employee representatives is often evident.
However, there are differences in who is covered by the training rights provided by the directives, particular in the case of the SE Directive. While most countries limit training rights to members the employee representative body in the SE, where it is set up under the standard rules, four countries give these rights to national members of the employee representative body, irrespective of whether it is set up under the standard rules. Two of these also extend these training rights to employee representatives at board level.
The general terms in which most national legislators have transposed these rights leaves room for substantial variation in how they are interpreted, and national legislation and practice is likely to influence this. An examination of national legislation shows that 13 Member States make statutory provision for specific time off for training for employee representatives, although only eight define time limits. Closer examination of the situation in the three EU countries with the largest number of companies with EWCs, shows that there are significant differences in the terms under which training rights are provided.