Work/Life: international employment news update

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Issue 85

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

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France complies with EU law on paid leave

In September 2023, the French Supreme Court reversed its position regarding entitlement to paid leave during absences due to a disease or an accident. So far, French employees have not been able to accrue paid leave during sick leave.

Going forward, French case law is aligned with the rules established by the European Court of Justice so that employees on sick leave or absent due to an accident will continue to acquire paid leave, regardless of the duration of their absence and even if their sick leave is not related to work.

UK Supreme Court rules chain of deductions not broken by three-month gap in underpaid holidays

Workers will no longer be prevented from bringing claims for miscalculated holiday pay if there are three-month intervals between underpayments. The recently released judgment in Chief Constable of the Police Service in Northern Ireland v Agnew provided that a three-month gap between underpayments of holiday pay did not automatically break the chain of deductions. The landmark UK Supreme Court ruling could prompt an influx of significant-value claims for holiday pay miscalculations, highlighting the renewed importance of getting holiday pay calculations right first time.

Biggest rise in collective wages this century in the Netherlands – vacancies on the rise again

Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reported that last quarter, the wages in Dutch collective labour agreements increased the most since the beginning of this century. Even when inflation is allowed for, these are historically high increases. And still, the number of vacancies in the Netherlands increased slightly again.

More stringent tax rules for UK platforms

The gig economy is gearing up for a shake-up of tax regulations: from 1 January 2024, HMRC's new 'Model Reporting Rules for Digital Platforms' are expected to come into effect, requiring platforms to record workers' earnings and report them to the tax authority.

Amid concerns that workers aren't accurately self-reporting their incomes (well, well…), HMRC is placing some onus on platforms like Etsy, Uber and Airbnb to help ensure appropriate tax is paid. There are approximately 7.25m gig workers in the UK, so the impact of the new rules may be extensively felt.

Minimum wage rise and uniform hourly wage system 2024

The Netherlands will increase its statutory minimum wage by 3.75% as of 1 January 2024. The statutory gross minimum hourly wage for employees aged 21 and over will be set at 13.27 EUR per hour, and a minimum hourly rate will replace the existing monthly rate.

WhatsApp group exclusion ruled discrimination in the UK

Workplace WhatsApp groups can be an effective tool for communication and project management. However, if used carelessly, they can create a lot more issues than they solve. A UK employment tribunal has ruled that exclusion from a work-related WhatsApp group can amount to discrimination.

Plumber Mark Brosnan was awarded £15,000 compensation for injury to feelings after discovering he was omitted from a WhatsApp group while on sick leave with a bad back. His exclusion was an "unfavourable act" amounting to disability discrimination, and it was noted that Mr Brosnan's employers had done "literally nothing" to ameliorate his return to work.

10 pitfalls in German employment and labour law when using ChatGPT

ChatGPT (serving as an example for Large Language Models (LLMs) using generative artificial intelligence (AI)) is claimed to make our lives easier. Can it also help in our working lives? To name but a few examples, job advertisements, application rejections, job reference letters, and disciplinary decision-making can all be generated automatically. Even legal assessments on which the decision-making is based can be provided by AI.

Our new article points out 10 pitfalls which should be on your radar to avoid costly mistakes when using AI in Germany.

Employment tribunal cases relating to remote working are at an all-time high

Remote working is reportedly cropping up in a record number of tribunal cases, although the number of tribunals citing remote working in 2022 was still only 42.

That upward trajectory may well continue, with the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023, which received Royal Assent in July 2023, expected to come into force next summer. The government is planning to introduce secondary legislation which will give employees 'day one' rights to request flexible working from the outset of their employment.