Work/Life: international employment news update

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Issue 78

Welcome to the latest edition of our international employment news update.

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Founder to leave hedge fund amid sexual misconduct claims

Crispin Odey is stepping down from Odey Asset Management, the hedge fund he founded, following 13 allegations of sexual misconduct against him by various women and allegedly spanning a 25 year period. Despite Mr Odey denying all claims of sexual harassment and assault and being cleared of indecent assault charges by a UK court in 2021, the firm's partners have published their intention to end all personal and economic involvement with him and many clients and prime brokers have moved to review or cease dealings with the firm.

Female Next staff succeed in next step of equal pay battle

An employment tribunal in the UK rules that the work of 2,000 female sales staff is of equal value to that of their male colleagues working in the warehouses, who earn between £2 and £14 more per hour. If the claimants succeed in the third and final stage of the five-year long battle with the retail giant, it could cost Next up to £100 million to increase the pay of all 15,000 staff across the sales workforce. The decision is also encouraging for the thousands of women who are involved in similar disputes against major supermarkets such as Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrisons and Co-op.

German collective agreements on temporary employment are in line with EU law

The Federal Labour Court in Germany rules in favour of a temporary employment agency represented by Taylor Wessing, in a claim by a temporary worker for equal pay on the grounds that the temporary employment collective agreements violate EU law. The court confirmed that the temporary employment collective agreements conform with EU law without distinction between permanent and fixed-term employment relationships. The ruling means that personnel service providers can continue to legally deviate from the principle of equal treatment and pay by applying the collective agreements.

Facebook accused of gender discrimination in job listings

A Dutch women's rights organisation accuses Facebook of gender discrimination in job advertisements posted on their social media platform. A study found that vacancies for mechanics and electricians were almost exclusively advertised to men, while vacancies for teachers and hairdressers were advertised mainly to women. The organisation will be submitting a complaint to the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights and believe that Facebook are stunting movement towards equity in the workplace by depriving job seekers of opportunities.

Neurotechnology use at work could lead to bias and discrimination

The UK Information Commissioner's Office has published the Tech Futures: Neurotechnology report on neurodata, which identifies workplace monitoring as a possible future use of neurotechnology. The UK data regulator is calling for new regulation around neurotechnology use in workplaces, which could be used for monitoring employee wellbeing, recruitment and as a tool for improved productivity, as they caution that the use of such technology comes with a risk of bias and discrimination. There are concerns around managers using data to discriminate against neurodivergent characteristics, or that the technology itself could be biased against certain groups.

EU court overturns Barcelona's limit on ride-hailing taxi licences

Barcelona city introduced restrictions in 2018 to limit the availability of taxi licences for vehicles affiliated with ride-hailing companies such as Uber, meaning that for every 30 traditional taxi licences only one would be granted to drivers of private-hire firms. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has overturned the ruling, stating that the licence ratio is contrary to EU law. Although ECJ decisions are no longer binding on UK courts since Brexit, the ruling could have a far-reaching effect across Europe in claims about protecting the economic viability of traditional taxi services.

Uber: the saga continues before French courts

The Court of Appeal in Paris rejects a claim introduced by several drivers against Uber for their service agreements to be re-classified as employment contracts, on the basis that there was no master-servant relationship. This is contrary to the decisions of the French Supreme Court in 2020 and 2023 which found Uber drivers to be employees. The decision comes amid recent agreement by EU member states on proposed rules from the European Council which would provide greater employment benefits to gig economy workers, including Uber drivers and delivery riders. The rules will now be discussed with European parliament.

Czech Republic labour shortages

There are calls on the Czech government to support the employment of more foreign workers, to address the long-term shortage of workers in the country which has been raised as the third biggest risk for companies' development, after energy prices and the economic state. The conflict in Ukraine has impacted many companies which typically used workers from Ukraine and Belarus as the government's labour quota was halted for these countries, meaning businesses now need to look elsewhere for labour and need higher government quotas to do so