If parties choose the applicable law pursuant to Article 8(1) of the Rome I Regulation, the objectively applicable law (ex Article 8(2-4) does not apply with the exception of ‘provisions that cannot be derogated from by agreement’. Moreover, the choice for the applicable law must be free, but is considered to be made freely even if the employee merely accepts a clause drafted by the employer.

Spanish ‘fijos de obra’ employment contracts could be in breach of the Framework Agreement on Fixed-Term Work. Following a transfer, only the rights and obligations arising from the last contract transfer, provided that this is not to the detriment of the employee. Both are for the referring court to verify.

In principle, a Member State can require an attorney-at-law from another Member State to cooperate with a local attorney-at-law during litigation, but a general obligation not taking the experience of the visiting laywer into account would go beyond what is necessary in order to attain the objective of the proper administration of justice

The concept of “successive fixed-term contracts” in Clause 1 and 5(2) of the framework agreement on fixed-term work (annexed to Directive 1999/70/EC) also covers automatic extensions, even if they do not meet formal national requirements. The referring court must undertake, to the fullest extent possible, assess whether national law can be interpreted in conformity with the directive.

Posting of Workers: Directive 96/71/EC applies to the road transport sector. A worker is posted if his/her work has a sufficient connection with the host country.The ECJ’s summary of the case is available on: https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/p1_3345527/en/

Articles 5 and 7 of Directive 2003/88 do not apply to national rules providing for special leave on days when workers are required to work, when these days occur during weekly rest periods or paid annual leave.

Declarations by a person during a radio programme stating that he did not want to recruit homosexual persons to his firm nor use their services are covered by Directive 2000/78/EC.

Directive 2003/88/EC precludes a self-employed independent contractor from being classified as a ‘worker’ under the Directive, if they are afforded discretion on the use of subcontractors, acceptance of tasks, providing services to third parties and fixing their own hours of work, provided that the independence does not appear to be fictitious and no relationship of subordination between them and their putative employer can be established.

Member States can decide that rules on transfer of undertaking do not apply to supplementary occupational pension scheme accruals pre-transfer, if the transfer has been carried out by an insolvency administrator after the opening of insolvency proceedings.