sec_1__para__6

This in turn means that certain persons qualified as ‘self-employed’ under national law could nonetheless be categorised as ‘workers’ by the Court for the purpose of the application of the Working Time Directive (43). The Court indeed held that ‘the classification of a “self-employed person” under national law does not prevent that person being classified as an employee within the meaning of EU law if his independence is merely notional, thereby disguising an employment relationship’ (44). The Court pointed to the following elements as possible indicators of the ‘worker’ qualification: if the person acts under the direction of an employer as regards, in particular, the freedom to choose the time, place and content of his or her work (45), if the person does not share the employer’s commercial risks (46) and if he or she forms an integral part of the employer’s undertaking for the duration of that relationship (47). On the other hand, the choice of the type of work and tasks to be executed and the manner in which they are performed, as well as of the time and place of work, and with more freedom in the recruitment of own staff, are features typically associated with the functions of an independent service provider (48).

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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.