The European Commission is seeking more social protection and rights for casual workers, such as those in the “gig economy”, and others with non-standard contracts to address growing social inequality, according to Reuters. 

 The Commission is proposing to extend full social protection and other forms of security to all workers, including those on short-term, part-time and zero-hour contracts who in some EU member countries have lower safeguards. The Commission is also proposing that workers should be properly informed about the conditions of their employment and should be given explanations by their employers for not having a permanent contract after a few years in the same job. Furthermore, the proposal states that casual workers should also be entitled to a minimum number of guaranteed hours “after a predefined continuous period”. However, the protection would not be extended to self-employed workers. The Commission added that it will discuss the proposal with social partners.