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Employment Bill 2024 – the perils of believing your own publicity (UK)

Before getting into the detail of last week’s Employment Bill, which we will do here separately, a brief review of its press release. Where new law is proposed, this is usually a good starting point from which to judge the quality of the legislation it supports. On that basis, I think it fair to say … Continue Reading

Illinois Bans Mandatory Captive Audience Meetings with Employees (US)

Illinois joins a growing list of states prohibiting employers from requiring employees to attend meetings discussing union representation issues. Here’s the scene: President Truman is seeking reelection, and Miracle on 34th Street just snagged three Academy Awards. The Minneapolis Lakers are celebrating their win in the National Basketball League championship (in the team’s inaugural season, … Continue Reading

All the fun of the fair – new tips Code offers bumpy ride to service-sector employers (UK)

If the UK introduced a piece of employment law to require all employees to be nice to each other in the workplace, then you would instantly and rightly dismiss it out of hand. What a ridiculous idea – how can you define what it is to be “nice” and without that, how can you determine … Continue Reading

Four year series of fixed-term contracts doesn’t automatically result in permanent employment (UK).

So you employ an individual on a series of fixed term contracts and after four years they seek a declaration that they should have been given a permanent employee job doing basically the same thing. Does that sound fair? Well, in Lobo v University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, the Employment Appeal Tribunal said, … Continue Reading

Labour’s employment manifesto – the road paved with good intentions? (UK)

There is, as you will have noticed, an election looming in the UK and in amongst the wrangling over lies about tax, missing D-Day commemorations and the fiercely contested issue of which leader has the least charisma, there are some potentially very significant changes in the offing when it comes to employment law.… Continue Reading

Is your use of AI in the workplace compliant and guided by policies? (Germany)

The recent decision of the Hamburg Labour Court concerning a German works council’s attempt to enforce a ban on the use of AI in a workplace makes it clear once again that employers cannot simply let the use of AI run its course unchecked. Employers are well advised to take a moment check their current … Continue Reading

Employees on long-term sickness absence – out of sight, out of mind no longer (Belgium)

The Belgian Parliament is currently discussing a draft Bill proposed by Federal Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke which aims to reverse the growing trend of long-term sickness. About half a million employees have been off sick for more than a year, according to figures from the National Institute for Sickness and Disability Insurance. That’s two-thirds more … Continue Reading

Does failure to prevent sexual harassment lead to directors exposing themselves? (UK)

In the normal course, the question of whether there is any interplay between the new duty to take proactive steps to prevent sexual harassment on the one hand and section 172 Companies Act 2006 on the other would be a bit of a downer at your Christmas dinner.  However, if you are a director then … Continue Reading

Knew this would happen, Part 2 – predicted problems persist in working patterns legislation (UK)

Back in February I offered here some thoughts on the main practical problems implicit in what was then the Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Bill.  It was a mess, missing explanations of key concepts and grossly over-engineered for its objectives. That makes it all the more depressing to report that it has now received Royal … Continue Reading

High Court quashes legislation allowing temporary workers to cover for striking workers (UK)

Yesterday in R (on the application of ASLEF and ors) v Secretary of State for Business and Trade the High Court quashed the government’s controversial legislation which repealed the prohibition placed upon employment agencies from supplying temporary workers to businesses in order to backfill labour shortages caused by employees participating in industrial action. The proceedings … Continue Reading

A tip for your trouble – new rules for employers on treatment of gratuities and service charges (UK)

Employers in the hospitality, leisure and service sectors should be aware that the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 has now completed the parliamentary process and will be coming into force at some point in 2024, most likely May.    This particular piece of legislation has been a long time coming – the suggestion was … Continue Reading

No sparklers in new employment law regulatory bonfire proposals (UK)

Of course it could just be coincidence, but scarcely hours after my post last week concerning the dearth of the employment law candidates for the Brexit red-tape bonfire, out pops a Gov.uk policy paper on “Smarter Regulation to Grow the Economy” containing the first five suggested victims. And what a woeful little bunch they are, … Continue Reading

The German Whistleblower Act: the never-ending story approaches its end, maybe

Last April, the Federal Ministry of Justice in Germany published a draft bill – the Whistleblower Protection Act (Hinweisgeberschutzgesetz/HinSchG) – to implement its obligations under the EU Whistleblowing Directive. The legislation should have come into force by last Autumn, but there have been various delays and it now looks more likely to be Summer this … Continue Reading

Belgium finally transposes the Whistleblowers Directive – fashionably late, but worth the wait?

Roughly a year late, but here we are then: Belgium has finally transposed the Whistleblowers Directive into national law. The Act of 28 November 2022 on the protection of reporters of breaches of Union or national law discovered within a legal entity in the private sector sets out the rules for companies in the private … Continue Reading

Possible impact of Brexit on UK employment law – some informed guesses

So if in some parallel universe you had somehow acquired the ability to strike red lines through EU-derived employment legislation, where would you put them? That is a question I put well before the Brexit Referendum to countless HR audiences, the very people one might think would be straining at the leash to make changes … Continue Reading

MPs use Private Members’ Bills to advance government’s employment agenda (UK)    

Parliament’s Private Members’ Bills ballot gives backbench MPs the opportunity to propose new legislation or changes to existing laws on a topic of their choice. We wouldn’t normally report on Private Members’ Bills as very few of them ever become actual law and some are downright silly – if you can still find it, take … Continue Reading

UK Government allows agency staff to cover for striking workers

Despite what seems to be almost universal opposition to its proposals, the government has changed the law to allow employment businesses to supply temporary workers to cover for striking workers. Regulation 7 of the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 prohibits employment businesses from supplying temporary workers to cover (i) the duties … Continue Reading

New Colorado Law Dramatically Limits Use of Employment-Related Restrictive Covenants (US)

Squire Patton Boggs Summer Associate Jacob Williams details how new legislation in Colorado will impact employers’ use of non-competition covenants in the Centennial State. Adding to a growing nationwide trend placing restrictions on the use of non-competition agreements in employment contracts, Colorado is the most recent state to adopt exacting restrictions on employers’ use of … Continue Reading

Implementation of the EU Whistleblowing Directive in Germany: latest position

As per our previous blog post, very few members of the European Union managed to implement the provisions of the Whistleblowing Directive into their national legislation before the 17 December 2021 deadline for compliance. Germany is one of the countries that failed to meet the deadline, but as in a number of other EU countries, … Continue Reading

Implementation of the EU Whistleblowing Directive in France: latest position

France already has fairly extensive legislative protection in place for whistleblowers under its “Sapin II” law, with certain private and public organisations required to operate whistleblowing schemes, but the scope of this protection is being expanded to ensure compliance with the EU Whistleblowing Directive. Legislation to that effect was supposed to go live in each … Continue Reading

Implementation of the EU Whistleblowing Directive in Spain: latest position

In our latest update on how the EU Whistleblowing Directive is being implemented across Europe, we focus on recent developments in Spain. Whistleblowers in Spain currently have very little legislative protection, with existing provisions limited to certain types of complaint (e.g. money laundering) and certain sectors (e.g. financial institutions).  To comply with the much broader … Continue Reading

Proposed new EU regulatory regime for Artificial Intelligence – more relevant to HR than you might think (UK)

For the last year or so the EU Commission has been working on the world’s first serious attempt to create a regulatory framework around the use of AI, the Artificial Intelligence Act.  The Proposal itself runs to over 100 pages of dense type and no pictures, so is a fairly off-putting read at first look.  … Continue Reading

D&I reporting and quotas — practical concerns for employers (UK)

Here are two related questions from our What’s Next webinar of a fortnight ago, both arising out of government consultations in connection with possible further diversity reporting obligations. Since the webinar the government has issued a response to the consultation around ethnicity pay reporting which implies strongly that there won’t be any legislation on that … Continue Reading
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