CHAPTER IVHORIZONTAL PROVISIONS
Article 15Legal presumptions and early settlement mechanism
1.
Member States shall ensure that, where a worker has not received in due time all or part of the documents referred to in Article 5(1) or Article 6, one or both of the following shall apply:
(a)
the worker shall benefit from favourable presumptions defined by the Member State, which employers shall have the possibility to rebut;
(b)
the worker shall have the possibility to submit a complaint to a competent authority or body and to receive adequate redress in a timely and effective manner.
2.
Member States may provide that the application of the presumptions and mechanism referred to in paragraph 1 is subject to the notification of the employer and the failure of the employer to provide the missing information in a timely manner.
Article 16Right to redress
Member States shall ensure that workers, including those whose employment relationship has ended, have access to effective and impartial dispute resolution and a right to redress in the case of infringements of their rights arising from this Directive.
Article 17Protection against adverse treatment or consequences
Member States shall introduce the measures necessary to protect workers, including those who are workers’ representatives, from any adverse treatment by the employer and from any adverse consequences resulting from a complaint lodged with the employer or resulting from any proceedings initiated with the aim of enforcing compliance with the rights provided for in this Directive.
Article 18Protection from dismissal and burden of proof
1.
Member States shall take the necessary measures to prohibit the dismissal or its equivalent and all preparations for dismissal of workers, on the grounds that they have exercised the rights provided for in this Directive.
2.
Workers who consider that they have been dismissed, or have been subject to measures with equivalent effect, on the grounds that they have exercised the rights provided for in this Directive, may request the employer to provide duly substantiated grounds for the dismissal or the equivalent measures. The employer shall provide those grounds in writing.
3.
Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that, when workers referred to in paragraph 2 establish, before a court or other competent authority or body, facts from which it may be presumed that there has been such a dismissal or equivalent measures, it shall be for the employer to prove that the dismissal was based on grounds other than those referred to in paragraph 1.
4.
Paragraph 3 shall not prevent Member States from introducing rules of evidence which are more favourable to workers.
5.
Member States shall not be required to apply paragraph 3 to proceedings in which it is for the court or other competent authority or body to investigate the facts of the case.
6.
Paragraph 3 shall not apply to criminal proceedings, unless otherwise provided by the Member State.
Article 19Penalties
Member States shall lay down the rules on penalties applicable to infringements of national provisions adopted pursuant to this Directive or the relevant provisions already in force concerning the rights which are within the scope of this Directive. The penalties provided for shall be effective, proportionate and dissuasive.