From 1 December, the Acas early conciliation period was extended from six to twelve weeks. The intention was clear: to ease growing administrative pressures on Acas at a time of rising demand. But while the extension may give Acas more breathing space, it raises a broader question for employers and employees alike – does more time … Continue Reading
Last week, in the wake of International Women’s Day, the Flemish government approved a – very partial – implementation of the Pay Transparency Directive. The bulk of the transposition work is still to be done by the federal government and the social partners in the National Labour Council, and on these fronts, things are still … Continue Reading
You’d think that, now that we’re less than four months away from the official implementation date of the Pay Transparency Directive, we’d be bombarding you with updates on national implementation initiatives, right? And yet no, things are still fairly quiet on the pay transparency front. There are, however, some developments to report, for example in … Continue Reading
If we had to rank the most frequently asked questions regarding the Pay Transparency Directive, the question of its relationship to individual employees’ right to privacy and the GDPR would be pretty high up there. The concern is clear: the Directive requires employers to share averages of wages of male and female employees per category … Continue Reading
On 12 December, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) finally issued its official response to the public consultation on non-financial misconduct (NFM). This was issued through a Policy Statement PS25/23, finalising new binding regulatory rules and accompanying official guidance on NFM. The Policy Statement 79 respondents contributed to the consultation, including Squire Patton Boggs. At long … Continue Reading
In previous blogs, we have mentioned how Belgium is high up in the ranks of countries with employees on long-term absence, and how our new(ish) government wants to tackle this national disease on different fronts. The first chapter of this ambitious plan came into force on 1 January 2026. We have summarised the changes below, … Continue Reading
The UK Government’s recent Command Paper – A Fairer Pathway to Settlement signals the most significant overhaul of immigration and settlement policy in decades. The proposals aim to replace the current five year route to Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) with a merit-based system where settlement is earned through contribution and integration rather than granted … Continue Reading
We sighed a collective sigh of relief when the Belgian government finally reached the budget agreement last week. The negotiations had been really difficult, which is not surprising considering the challenges the government faces: €8 billion had to be found somewhere to keep Belgium’s debt at an acceptable level (acceptable as in not driving us … Continue Reading
On 25 November, the Polish government published the principles that will form the basis of its new legislation implementing the outstanding provisions of the Pay Transparency Directive. Readers of our blog will be aware that Poland has already published legislation to implement the transparency provisions in the Directive (see our previous blog) and these will … Continue Reading
While the new government announced fairly drastic measures on the employment front when it was formed towards the end of January 2025, most of these changes have yet to take place. There are however a couple of developments to report: Belgium has long applied an early retirement regime known as a ‘bridge pension‘ or, following … Continue Reading
During our recent webinar on Reasonable Adjustments, we received several questions via the chat facility. Here are our outline answers. Yes, but care should be taken in how this is handled to minimise the risk of any claims.… Continue Reading
During our recent webinar on Reasonable Adjustments, we received several questions via the chat facility that we will address in a couple of blogs over the next few days. As we mentioned on the webinar, an employer is only under an obligation to make reasonable adjustments if it knows, or could reasonably be expected to … Continue Reading
Yesterday the Government announced several updates to the Immigration Rules that will impact business immigration planning. These changes will come as no surprise as many of them were detailed in the Immigration White Paper on 12 May and which we wrote about here. The key changes employers should be aware of include:… Continue Reading
Some useful pointers for employers in the handling of protected disclosures, courtesy of the EAT’s recent decision in Argence-Lafon -v- Ark Syndicate Management Limited, a sad example of what happens when an employee lets his unshakeable belief in his own rightness cost him his sense of perspective and ultimately his job.… Continue Reading
The Dutch government has announced that the target date for introducing domestic legislation to implement the Pay Transparency Directive is now 1 January 2027, instead of 7 June 2026 as required under the Directive. The Netherlands was one of the first member states to publish draft implementing legislation – see our previous blog here. It … Continue Reading
In a previous blog, we announced our new federal government’s ambitious plans regarding the labour market, employment law and pensions. Just before heading off on a sunny break, the government has now come to an agreement on a first set of measures, which journalists – clearly also in desperate need of a break – have … Continue Reading
On 2 July 2025, the FCA finally issued its long-awaited next steps document (CP25/18: Tackling non-financial misconduct in financial services) on the proposed new guidance on non-financial misconduct (NFM). The document contains two key elements: Rule Change from 1 September 2026 – The FCA will extend its Code of Conduct Rules (COCON) to non-bank firms, following strong … Continue Reading
Everyone knows that an essential part of a fair dismissal for redundancy is proper consideration of alternative employment, yes? But what does that mean in practice for the employer? In Hendy Group -v- Kennedy, the Employment Appeal Tribunal has taken a look at this principle that everyone knows about and pulled out of it some … Continue Reading
An act partially implementing the Pay Transparency Directive has been published and will enter into force in Poland on 24 December this year. The act focuses on the pay transparency aspects of the Directive. Implementation details for aspects of the Directive relating to job evaluation and reporting are still awaited, with the government indicating that … Continue Reading
On 3 April, a new legislative proposal by the political parties VVD, D66, CDA and SGP was published for consultation. It aims to bring long-awaited clarity to the legal status of self-employed individuals in the Netherlands. It partially replaces a previous proposal by the Dutch government (Wet verduidelijking beoordeling arbeidsrelaties en rechtsvermoeden; WVBAR) which addresses … Continue Reading
Here are the last couple of questions – and our outline answers – following our recent webinar on Handling Workplace Investigations. Who writes up the conclusion, the investigator or HR? As a general rule, it should be the investigator who drafts the investigation report, being the person who conducted the investigation. It is of course … Continue Reading
Here are a few more of the questions – and our outline answers – following our recent webinar on Handling Workplace Investigations. Can a witness refuse to participate due to a conflict of interest, e.g. a family member under investigation? The fact a member of the employee’s family is under investigation does not automatically disqualify … Continue Reading
Here are a few more of the questions – and our outline answers – following our recent webinar on Handling Workplace Investigations. Does the notetaking at investigation meetings need to be verbatim? No. There is no requirement for meeting notes to be a verbatim record of everything that has been said – not only can … Continue Reading
In December 2024, the new Private Investigations Act came into force. The Act replaced the Private Detectives Act of 1991 and was long overdue, considering how much has changed in the world of private investigations. The 1991 law focused on detectives as sole practitioners, think Columbo or Magnum P.I., a world of uncertain ethics, periodic … Continue Reading
