sec_1__14__para__6

In its Isère case, the Court considered whether this derogation applied to ‘workers employed in holiday and leisure centres under an educational commitment contract’. It based its assessment on the fact that the description of the activities of the workers concerned and the operation of such centres suggests that those workers were not ‘able to decide the number of hours which they are to work’. The Court also noted that there were no elements indicating that the workers were ‘not obliged to be present at their place of work at fixed times’, and concluded that they did not fall within the scope of the derogation (376). In its Hälvä case, the Court confirmed that ‘relief parents’ who temporarily replace foster parents do not fall under the ‘autonomous workers derogation’ of Article 17(1) (377). This is despite the fact that the ‘relief parents’ have a certain degree of autonomy in the organisation of their time and, more specifically, their daily duties, their movements and their periods of inactivity (378). The ability of the workers to decide on both the quantity and the scheduling of their working hours is therefore essential for the autonomous workers derogation of Article 17(1) to apply.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-09-25 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.