Work/Life: international employment news update

Issue 66

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

Flexible working to become a day one right for UK employees

New government legislation in the UK is set to allow employees the right to ask for flexible working as soon as they start their job compared to having to wait 26 weeks under the current law. This would benefit approximately 1.5 million low-paid workers including those operating within the gig economy and students and carers by allowing them to take on multiple jobs if they wished.

'Speak Out Act' will allow employees in the US to speak on workplace sexual harassment

The new 'Speak Out Act' will mean that employers in the US can no longer prevent employees from discussing incidents of sexual harassment in the workplace by the use of non-disclosure agreements and non-disparagement clauses.

Improvement on conditions migrant workers necessary, says Netherlands' social affairs minister

Netherlands' social affairs minister Karien van Gennip has pledged to take action to improve the housing and working conditions of people coming to the Netherlands from the rest of the EU to do manual labour in agriculture, slaughterhouses and distribution centres. Legislation introducing a certification system for staffing agencies will be introduced next year, but critics argue this does not go far enough. Instead, they say, staffing agencies should be fully licenced, as recommended two years ago in a major report.

Resolution passed by European Parliament to help FIFA compensate Qatar workers' families

Lawmakers in the EU have called on FIFA to provide compensation to families of workers who lost their lives in Qatar preparing for the World Cup and the European Parliament has passed a resolution to this effect.

Authorities in Qatar have had pressure put on them to investigate human rights abuses faced by workers in the lead up to the football competition.

Glencore agrees to pay $180m to Democratic Republic of Congo

Glencore has agreed a pay out of $180m to the Democratic Republic of Congo which covers “all present and future claims arising from any alleged acts of corruption by the Glencore group… between 2007 and 2018,” in the African country.

Banks fall foul of non-compliance with international anti-corruption rules

Research has found that banks and other financial services firms are failing to comply with anti-corruption regulations internationally.

The UK's Financial Conduct Authority recently fined Swiss bank Julius Baer over £18m over its corrupt commission payments to a third-party agent to introduce the bank to companies owned by a Russian oil company.

New visa programme will allow remote working in Spain for British workers

Employees of British companies living in Spain are to be allowed to work from home in Spain while paying half as much tax as Spanish citizens. Taxation will be between 23% and 26% compared to between 30% and 45% under the usual Spanish income tax rules. The scheme aims to attract more talent to Spain.

Amsterdam tech firm Messagebird cuts 240 jobs

Amsterdam tech company Messagebird is slashing its workforce for the second time in a month, cutting the number of staff by a total of 31%. Employees had been told in an email that the company had increased the size of its workforce too quickly and had not integrated acquisitions quickly enough.

Collective redundancies are becoming an increasing reality in Poland

Since the beginning of the year, companies in 11 Polish provinces have already terminated more than 10,000 employees. At the same time, the number of new job openings has stayed below the level last year.

A slowdown in the labour market is expected by the National Bank of Poland. In its latest projection, it estimated that employment will stop growing at the end of 2022 and begin to decline next year with the annual rate of decline potentially exceeding 1.5%.

Slovakia's largest job portal to merge with its Czech counterpart

Slovakia's largest job portal Profesia.sk is to merge with the firm’s branch in the Czech Republic in 2023 and is regarded as a significant business transaction affecting the provision of job advertising and other similar services in the region of Central Europe. The ownership of the merged company will remain with the Finnish media giant Alma Media.

UK National Living and Minimum Wages to increase in April 2023

The National Living Wage in the UK will rise to £10.42 from 1 April 2023, an increase of 9.7% from £9.50. There will also be an increase in the National Minimum Wage from £9.18 to £10.18 for those aged 21-22, £6.83 to £7.49 for those aged 18-20, £4.81 to £5.28 for those under the age of 18 and the rate for apprentices will rise from £4.81 to £5.28.