Work/Life: international employment news update

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Issue 82

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

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Women's rights and sport: employer governance responds

Across sports and national boundaries, recent years have seen challenges to governance and attempts to establish minimum wage rights, employment status and equal pay. Player power is influencing social attitudes and those seem to drive the responses of sports authorities.

Cross-border remote working: French ratification

Following the Covid-19 pandemic, EU member states introduced a period of flexibility for cross-border remote workers. The transitional period ended in June 2023 and a multilateral framework agreement was presented to EU countries which many, including France, have now signed. Under the agreement, social security regulations applicable to a worker will not change if they are living and working remotely in a signatory country and their employer's headquarters are based in another signatory country. This may encourage the introduction of permanent European legislation related to remote working.

Rules for employing foreign workers in Hungary

On 14 August 2023, the rules on employing third country nationals in Hungary will be restricted significantly. From September onwards, companies who employ individuals that are nationals in a third country will not be able to claim the social benefit tax allowance related to those individuals. If an employee who fits this criterion changes jobs during the transitional period in August, the new employer company taxpayer can claim tax relief for the whole of August.

UK to retain equal pay protection for low-paid workers post-Brexit

The UK government has announced that EU protection for low-paid workers to have equal pay will be retained once the EU law is abandoned at the end of 2023. Under UK law, men and women in the same employment performing "equal work" will be entitled to equal pay, which doesn't cover individuals working for outsourcing companies or those employed at different sites doing equal work. The EU provision gives a right to equal pay as long as the employees work for the same source, which will help low-paid workers take action for equal pay. The transposition of this protection into UK law comes amid EU-wide implementation of the EU Pay Transparency Directive.

Cuts to Parental Allowance in Germany

Despite considerable social protests, the German Cabinet has approved significant cuts to the Parental Allowance as of 1 January 2024, which provides support with the cost of bringing up a child. For all future births in 2024, only parents or single parents who earn a taxable income of less than EUR150,000 in the calendar year before the birth of their child will be entitled to the Parental Allowance, with the previous limits being EUR300,000 for couples and EUR250,000 for single parents. The cuts will affect high-earning parents who will now have to provide for their own living expenses during planned parental leave.

Spain's new six month notice period for business closure

The Spanish Government has implemented legislation for companies closing operations so they must notify representatives in advance. Six months before commencing consultation with employees, the company must notify trade unions, labour authorities and the governments. The new law is still largely uncertain, the government has not specified the steps to be taken pre-closure or the specific information to be shared with employees, and is yet to provide details as to what sanctions might be imposed upon breach of the rules.

Professional development training budget cuts in the Netherlands

The STAP subsidy for professional development is an allowance of EUR1,000 to be used for training programmes, with the aim of increasing employability, which is due to expire in 2024. The budget for the remainder of 2023 will only be available to be used for training programs that are approved by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. This is off the back of recent cuts to the program, but the Cabinet claims the reduction of available courses will align individuals with the labour market and prepare them for work in the most understaffed sectors, like healthcare and technology.

Goldman Sachs sued over toxic workplace culture

A GBP1,000,0000 lawsuit has been brought by the former global head of recruiting at Goldman Sachs in London, claiming that the "dysfunctional" workplace environment which regularly provoked tears among staff, was a catalyst for his mental health issues. The bank has filed a defence, stating that there is no culture of divisiveness or unpleasant infighting present at their offices and emotions among employees could be due to external factors. The lawsuit comes amid recent scrutiny around Goldman's working practices following the provision of unlimited holidays to senior executives in 2022, for rest and recuperation purposes.