Federal Court ruling on changes to bonus plan Under Swiss law, an employer needs their employees’ consent to change the terms of a bonus plan, unless the changes are entirely to the employees’ benefit. In a recent case, the Swiss Federal...

Gender pay gap reporting The Government will introduce new regulations requiring larger employers, with at least 250 employees, in the private and voluntary sectors to publish details of their gender pay gap (the difference in pay between male and f...

Supreme Court restricts contact with employees’ private phone numbers and email addresses Spain’s Supreme Court has declared void a clause in a contract of employment which obliges employees to give their private mobile numbers or privat...

Recent legislation has amended the Labour Codes, most notably regarding fixed term employment, post-termination restrictions and parental leave.New rules on definite period (ie fixed term) employment contracts and other Labour Code amendments will c...

The assignment of employees’ duties under the recent Legislative Decree no. 81 of 2015 On 25 June 2015 the Legislative Decree no. 81 of 2015 (“the Decree“) came into force. The Decree completely revises the regulation of work relat...

Accidents at work under the influence of alcohol or drugs On 1 July 2015 changes were made to the compulsory health insurance system, under which individuals are eligible for certain payments if they are injured in an accident at work. Before 1 July...

Minimum wage: Further relaxation of the documentation obligations Since the statutory minimum wage of EUR 8.50 per hour was introduced, the administrative obligations in respect of the minimum wage continue to frustrate employers. Companies wit...

New provisions relating to staff representatives OverviewFrom 17 August 2015 new provision, referred to as the “Rebsamen Law” (the “Law”), was introduced. It is aimed at modernising and strengthening relationships with staff ...

Government plans significant changes to labour legislation For some time the government and labour market organisations have been trying, without success, to agree on reforms to employment rights in Finland. Now, in an attempt to break the deadlock,...

The Supreme Court judgment in the Alstom case In the ALSTOM case, the judgment of the Supreme Court (No 3-2-1-80-15) dated 21 September 2015 deals with how to make a claim for employment litigation costs. In addition, the judgment explains the damag...

Determining exempted employment categoriesAustrian employment law exempts certain  part-time employment from payment of health, pension and unemployment insurance contributions. In 2015 the maximum monthly salary is EUR 405.98 per month or EUR ...

Court expands discrimination lawThe CJEU has ruled that EU law covers indirect discrimination by association - a decision which expands the reach of discrimination law. It decided that an individual may claim indirect discrimination under the EU Rac...

Introduction to Abu Dhabi Global Market – Employment Regulations In 2013 the Abu Dhabi Global Market (“ADGM”) was established as a financial free zone in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Since then, the ADGM has implemented its own rules and regul...

Labour Brokers and Clients: The Assigned roles of Employers In recent years South Africa has experienced progressively stricter regulation on the use of labour brokers (also known as employment agencies in some other jurisdictions - placing workers ...

Working hours in Hong Kong Some employers are surprised to learn that (save for rules regarding children, young persons in industrial undertakings, statutory holidays and rest days) there is no regulatory framework restricting or monitoring standard...

A digital age of evidence in employment disputes In China, when an employer wishes to terminate an employee’s employment, the burden of proof falls on the employer to show that the statutory grounds for justifying the termination have been met...

Reform of section 2103 of the Italian civil code, concerning modification of work duties Section. 3 of law decree no. 81 of 2015 significantly amended section 2103 of Italian civil code. In its original form the rule set out that “an employee ...

Working after pensionable age – new legislation takes effect Over the coming years the Dutch pensionable age (currently 65) is set to increase gradually, in order to offset the costs associated with an ageing population. By 2021 the pension ag...

Changes to fixed term (definite term) employment contracts On 22 February 2016, an amendment to the Labour Code on definite period employment contracts will come into force. This amendment will introduce new rules allowing an employer to conclude no...

Court extends flexible working rights under the Spanish Constitution?In a recent case involving a request for flexible working, the court found in favor of the employee by granting his request for a flexible starting time, relying on Article 39 of t...

Amendment to the Labour Code and the Employment Act On 1 October 2015, amendments to the Czech Labour Code and the Employment Act came into effect and brought about substantial changes to Czech labour law, affecting most employers in the Czech Repub...

Swiss working time regulations simplified for higher ranked employees On 1 January 2016, new articles 73a and 73b of the Swiss Ordinance relating to the Labour Law Act (OLLA1) entered into force. Reflecting the reality of today’s work life, th...

Major new anti-slavery law affecting global organisations doing business in the UK in force The Modern Slavery Act 2015 requires commercial organisations with a turnover of £36 million and above and supplying goods or services to publicly repo...

Important EU data protection changes are a step nearerAfter years in the offing, the EU Parliament, Council and Commission representatives have reached political agreement on the drafting of the new EU data protection framework. Although minor modif...

UAE employers be aware - new UAE employment requirementsThree new Ministerial Decrees came into effect on 1 January 2016. These Decrees, issued by the Ministry of Labour (“MOL”), impact upon the way job offers are made and have implicati...

Ministry of Labour makes numerous labour law changes The Ministry of Labour made a number of changes to labour law with effect from 18 October 2015. Amongst other things, the amendments cover disciplinary procedures, training, Saudization privileges...

New requirement to issue itemised payslips and key employment terms With effect from 1 April 2016, all Singapore employers will be required to issue itemised payslips and key employment terms to employees covered under the Singapore Employment Act. ...

Latest developments in temporary employment (agency or leased workers) In Germany, the provision of temporary personnel is strictly regulated by the German Law on Labour Leasing Act (AÜG). The principle is straightforward: the agency is the emp...

2016 – A new year and a new employment claims system in Ireland 2015 brought a number of changes to the Irish employment law landscape. The most significant change was the introduction of the Workplace Relations Act 2015 (the “Act”...

Increase in parental leave days Swedish parents are entitled to 480 days of paid parental leave when a child is born or adopted. In principle, each parent is entitled to 240 days’ leave, some of which is available exclusively for that parent&...

Private sector wage increasesAn increase of 6% has been agreed for private sector pay, following a negotiation between the UGTT and UTICA. This agreement provides for an increase of 6% on basic salary, plus an increase in the transport allowance by ...

A number of employment law changes have taken effect at the start of 2016… Increased fines for unfulfilled employment quotas Employers with more than 25 employees must employ at least one employee with a disability for every 25 employees in t...

Supreme Court rulings on fixed term and overtime work In its recent rulings, the Supreme Court of Estonia has clarified appropriate compensation for the early termination of a fixed term employment contract and also how to determine overtime work wh...

Prescription (the lapse of arbitration awards) in employment  There have been a number of conflicting judgments dealing with the prescription of arbitration awards and how the term “debt” should be defined in the employment arena. ...

New legislation on occupational accidents and diseasesThe Act on occupational accidents and occupational diseases (459/2015) came into force on 1 January 2016. By combining the earlier three Acts on occupational accidents and diseases into one, the ...

Compulsory provision of health insurance by employers in FranceThe safeguarding of employees’ wellbeing is a key focus of French employment legislation. From biannual consultations with employees to evaluate the psychological impacts of their ...

More flexibility for group companies to enforce proprietary rights and restrictions against employees? The Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Ordinance (Cap. 623) (the “Ordinance”) came into force in Hong Kong on 1 January 2016. The Ord...