Judgment_paragraph 33 · Ender Balkaya v Kiesel Abbruch- und Recycling Technik GmbH (C-229/14)

33Therefore, contrary to the submission of Kiesel Abbruch, the concept of ‘worker’, referred to in Article 1(1)(a) of Directive 98/59, cannot be defined by reference to the legislation of the Member States but must be given an autonomous and independent meaning in the EU legal order (see, by analogy, judgment in Commission v Portugal, C‑55/02, EU:C:2004:605, paragraph 49). Otherwise, the methods for calculation of the thresholds laid down in that provision, and therefore the thresholds themselves, would be within the discretion of the Member States, which would allow the latter to alter the scope of that directive and thus to deprive it of its full effect (see, to that effect, judgment in Confédération générale du travail and Others, C‑385/05, EU:C:2007:37, paragraph 47).