One year ago, on 24 February 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a military invasion of Ukraine from three directions – north, east, and south. Putin claims the goal of the invasion is to protect ethnic Russians in Ukraine, prevent Kyiv from joining NATO, and keep the country within Russia’s sphere of influence. Ukraine and Western countries regard the invasion as an unlawful act of…
2023 verspricht ein interessantes Jahr in puncto Unternehmensmitbestimmung zu werden. Neue Gesetzesregelungen sollen die Mitbestimmung von Arbeitnehmern im Aufsichts- oder Verwaltungsorgan von Gesellschaften insbesondere bei grenzüberschreitenden Reorganisationen stärken. Darüber hinaus hat sich die Regierungskoalition im Koalitionsvertrag unter anderem das Ziel gesetzt, die Mitbestimmung nach dem Drittelbeteiligungsgesetz (ab mehr als 500 Arbeitnehmern) durch eine erweiterte Konzernzurechnung – auch im Fall nur faktischer (nicht nur vertraglich begründeter)…
To mark UN International Day of Women and girls in Science, on 11 February, we’ve been taking a look at the issue of gender equality in science as a profession. It seems that despite numerous initiatives aimed at promoting gender equality in the workplace, discrimination against women in the field of science continues to be a persistent and systemic issue. From gender bias in the…
See below our Immigration and Global Mobility Update, which shows the changes in global mobility and immigration from around the world over the past two months. We hope you find this information useful and we aim to continue to update you regularly. Immigration & Global Mobility Update Every 2 months, our experts from around the world put together an Update on the law on immigration…
The French Court of Cassation has ruled that an airline dress code that allowed women cabin crew members but not men to wear their hair braided is discriminatory. Background The Air France cabin crew dress code permitted women who had braided hair to wear it tied up in a chignon. This option was not offered for men, who were required to wear their hair neatly…
A final report into a multi-national four-day week trial has been published. It declares the trial ‘a resounding success on virtually every dimension’, with the vast majority of participating employers pledging to continue. Background In early 2022, 33 employers signed up to test out four-day working weeks for a six-month period. The trial, organised by the organisation 4 Day Week Global in collaboration with researchers at Cambridge…
Menschenrechts- und umweltbezogene Sorgfaltspflichten in Bezug auf Zulieferer nach dem Lieferkettensorgfaltspflichtengesetz (LkSG) betreffen nicht nur internationale Großkonzerne, sondern Unternehmen jeder Größe innerhalb der Lieferkette. Die Mehrheit der geschützten Menschenrechtspositionen weist unmittelbaren Bezug zum Arbeitsleben auf. Personalabteilungen sollten sich daher mit den Regelungen vertraut machen. Am 1. Januar 2023 tritt das Lieferkettensorgfaltspflichtengesetz (LkSG) in Kraft. Bei unzureichender Einhaltung von menschenrechtlichen und umweltbezogenen Standards nicht nur im…
The Luxembourg Court of Appeal has ruled that an employer did not breach its obligations by failing to act on sexual harassment when an employee did not report alleged incidents until she resigned. At a time when victims of sexual violence are speaking out, and making significant waves in the media and beyond (the Weinstein affair, #Metoo, Balance ton porc, etc.), the Luxembourg Court of…
Belgium has introduced a state-supported temporary unemployment scheme for ‘energy intensive’ companies and other employment-related measures to help businesses and individuals facing the current energy crisis. Today a new law setting out temporary support measures in response to the energy crisis was published in the Belgian State Gazette. This law seeks to provide both citizens and organisations with various measures to face the current energy…
In Spain, both employers and public authorities are taking initiatives to improve workers’ mental health. In general, in Spain people have a positive perception of their state of health, both physically and psychologically. In 2020, 75.51% of the population aged 15 and over rated their state of health positively, and this positive perception among Spaniards has remained virtually unchanged over the last 33 years (see here)….