The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) has responded to the European Commission’s consultation paper known as the Green Paper on “modernising labour law to meet the challenges of the 21st century’. 

The Green Paper sought to launch a debate across Europe on issues as diverse as the reform of labour law, the quality of regulation of SMEs and the employment status of temporary agency workers.

The REC is calling for any action on employment regulation at the European level to respond to the diversity of Europe’s regulatory systems and the flexibility required in today’s labour market.

Marcia Roberts, REC’s chief executive says: “The Green Paper raised some positive questions, such as how to improve regulation for small businesses and the challenge of adapting employment regulation to reflect today’s world of work.

“However we are concerned that there appears to be an assumption that those who do not work in permanent positions are in some way disadvantaged.”