If workers are posted within the EU, employers must comply with the working conditions (working time, holidays, health and safety, remuneration, etc.) in force in the host country.
The provisions on the posting of workers are governed by Directive 96/71/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 1996 concerning the posting of workers in the framework of the provision of services, which has been transposed into the national laws of the various Member States.
The principle underlying that Directive is as follows: if a Member State lays down minimum conditions of employment, those conditions must also apply to workers posted to that State. However, there is nothing to prevent the employer from applying more advantageous working conditions for workers, for example those of the Member State of origin (that is to say, the place where the worker usually pursues his profession or occupation).
The law of the host country cannot have the effect of depriving any worker during his posting of the more favourable conditions of work, remuneration and employment that derive from the application of the law of the country in whose territory he habitually works or in the territory from which he has been recruited.
That is apparent from Article 3(7) of the above-mentioned Directive. Where the set of rules in the host country is less favourable than that in force in the country of origin, the latter rules shall apply. The main core of the minimum protective rules will not represent an obstacle to the application of more favourable conditions.
Examples :
In cases of the posting of workers engaged under a contract of employment governed by Luxembourg law in France, overtime between the 40th and the 42nd hours will be remunerated at the Luxembourg rate of increase of 40%, which is more favourable than the French rate of 25%.