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International
Employment Update
A
round-up of international news |
September 2008
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Welcome
to
the International Employment
Update
Welcome to the
latest edition of our International Employment Update.
This is designed to provide you with
an international news round-up of new legislation and case
updates and is written by our dedicated employment law
experts located across Europe and
Asia.
Bird & Bird's international team of
employment lawyers also
share their views and opinions on topical issues
affecting employers and employees.
News by
country
Legislation
In
order to stimulate R&D activities, the Belgian legislature
had introduced a system by which employers could retain 50% of
the payroll tax withheld on the wages of scientific personnel
or researchers.
Top
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Finland
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Maisa
Polonen,
Helsinki |
Legislation
New provisions for the Act for
Protection of Privacy in Working Life: Regulating on what
grounds an employer has the right to process personal credit
data concerning an employee or a job applicant to asses the
reliability of the
person.
Top
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France |
Christopher
Ivey,
Paris |
Legislation
The Labour Code previously only
provided a maximum probationary period for non management
employees of 2 months, renewable once, merely indicating that
the probationary periods for management employees should be
defined by common practice.
Top
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Germany |
Catharina
Klumpp,
Dusseldorf |
Case
law
Under German law, an employee may
obtain a contractual entitlement against the employer as a
result of a so-called "operating routine". Such a routine
results from a repeated, unreserved and uniform benefit
provided by the employer.
Top
Legislation
The Race Discrimination Ordinance (the
"Ordinance") was passed on 10 July 2008 and its enactment has
marked another step forward by the HKSAR government to put in
place a framework of anti-discrimination
laws
Top
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Italy |
Caterina
Rucci,
Milan |
Legislation
As
recently reported, law 230 of 1962 on fixed-term contracts was
entirely changed in 2001 by law 368 and since then has been
amended several times. The
latest amendment had provided that employment contracts for an
indefinite term were nevertheless to be considered a normal
contract.
Top
Case
law
The EU Directive 2001/23/EG, also known
as the Acquired Rights Directive (the "ARD"), applies to the
transfer of undertakings through an asset transaction. In the
Netherlands, the ARD Directive is incorporated in the articles
7:662-666 Dutch Civil Code.
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Spain |
Maria
Eugenia De La
Cera,
Madrid |
| Case
law
The Labour Chamber of the Spanish
Supreme Court determined early this decade that the profit
obtained from the exercise of stock options should be
considered as part of an employee's remuneration for the
services provided in the company and, therefore, that it
should be taken into account when calculating the severance
package in cases of unfair dismissal.
Top
Legislation
According to the Swedish Sick Pay
Act (1991:1047) an employee is entitled to receive sick pay
from the employer from day 2 to day 14 of the sickness period,
provided that the employee's working capacity is reduced due
to the sickness.
Case
law
Neither Proffice nor TMH applied
the provisions regarding transfer of business in the Swedish
Employment Protection Act
(1982:80).
Top
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UK |
Sonia
Parsons, Chloe
Pereira, Dean
Jones
&
Jonathan Goldsworthy,
London |
Legislation
Changes to Additional Maternity and
Additional Adoption Leave Rules, Minimum Wage and Immigration
Checking and TUPE
Case
law
ECJ Judgment - Associative
disability discrimination
High Court Case - Employee with
no Post Termination Restrictions Liable to Ex Employer for
Breach of Duty of Fidelity
High Court Enforces a Liquidated
Damages Clause
House of Lords Judgment - disability-related
discrimination
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