Overview of recent cases before the Court of Justice of the European Union for the special issue on strategies for Social Europe

Abstract

Being part of the special issue on strategies for Social Europe, this overview of recent cases before the Court of Justice is focused on matters that are high on the European agenda for Social Europe. Firstly, in the aftermath of the economic crisis, many Member States had to reduce their generous pension schemes. The YS case, rendered by the Grand Chamber on the 23rd September 2020, deals with the limits afforded by the Member States when they reduce an occupational pension scheme in order to secure the continuity of State-funded pensions. Secondly, the status of “self-employed” delivery carriers operating in the gig economy is being discussed in many Member States’ courts. In the Yodel case, the Court of Justice clarified in July 2020 whether such delivery carriers should be considered as “self-employed persons” or as “workers” for the purposes of the Working Time Directive. Lastly, the AFMB case concerns the underlying issue of using a company situated in a Member State as the formal employer of international transport workers in order to benefit from more advantageous social security legislation. The Court then determined in April 2020 the criteria to establish who is the actual employer of international transport workers.