Turin: The Quality Jobs Act is the most important social proposal still expected from the European Commission this year, and employers and unions are already preparing for it. A DLA Piper briefing published on 26 August 2026 says the Commission expects to table the law in the fourth quarter. The second-phase consultation ran until 28 September 2026.

The Commission set out the Quality Jobs Roadmap on 4 December 2025. According to the briefing, the planned law covers five priority areas, and the first is algorithmic management and artificial intelligence at work. The aim is more transparent, human-centred automated decisions and limits on excessive monitoring of workers.

Safety and health forms the second area. The Workplace Directive and the Display Screen Equipment Directive are under revision, and the topics include extreme heat, psychosocial hazards and sexual harassment. The Quality Jobs Act could therefore bring several long-standing health and safety files under one political label.

Subcontracting chains are the third area, and the fourth is fair digital and green transitions. Enforcement and the role of social partners complete the list. A separate two-stage consultation of social partners on the right to disconnect and fair telework finished in October 2025, and its outcome is expected to feed into the Act.

Timing is now uncertain. A sidebar headline dated 4 November 2026 says the Commission’s 2027 work programme contains several social texts promised for 2027. The sources reviewed do not confirm whether the Quality Jobs Act will arrive in 2026 or slip into the next year.

Other questions remain open as well. The briefing does not say whether the Commission will propose measures in all five areas, whether the Quality Jobs Act will be one directive or several instruments, or what it would cost businesses. It does not mention platform work, so earlier Council positions on the presumption of employment should not be read as part of this file.

Employers across the Union now face the question of what the Act would mean for them in practice. Businesses will watch the detail on algorithmic management, because many employers already use automated scheduling and monitoring tools across several countries. Unions will press for binding rules rather than guidance, and the Parliament will want a say on the final scope. Small firms will ask whether the Quality Jobs Act brings new reporting duties, while larger groups will ask whether it replaces national rules with one European standard. The briefing answers neither question.

For now the Quality Jobs Act remains a promise with a deadline that is slipping. The Commission’s next publication will show whether it keeps all five priorities or narrows the law to what can pass quickly.