|
|
 |
|
|
Mettre à Jour: the European HR newswire
Issue 2007/12: June 15th 2007
CZECH REPUBLIC: CABINET APPROVES ANTI-DISCRIMINATION BILLWhen the Czech Republic joined the European Union (EU) in May 2004, it was given until the end of 2006 to incorporate EU equal treatment directives into national legislation. A previous Czech government drafted an anti-discrimination bill in 2005, but this was vetoed by the Senate. The latest draft law has been prepared following several notifications of infringement proceedings by the European Commission. It guarantees equal treatment, access to work and freedom from discrimination on grounds not fully covered by current national legislation, such as physical disability, religion, gender of partner preference, political conviction, marital status, language, property, membership of a political party and membership of a trade union.The bill establishes the government ombudsman as the supervisory body responsible for the operation of the new legal rights, although this is against the wishes of the present ombudsman, who wants a special institution to be established. If the law is passed by the two houses of parliament and signed by the president, it could become law as early as January 1st 2008.ECJ: UK LAW DOES NOT CONFLICT WITH EU DIRECTIVEThe European Court of Justice (ECJ) has dismissed a claim by the European Commission that the UK's Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 is in contravention of Council Directive 89/391/EEC on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health of workers at work. The Commission claimed that the 1974 Act allows employers to avoid responsibility for workplace accidents because it states that health and safety measures need not be applied where such measures "would have been grossly disproportionate in terms of money, time or trouble when balanced against the relevant risk." This, according to the Commission, undermines the general principle that the employer is responsible for health and safety on their premises.In coming to its conclusion, the ECJ has taken into account the fact that the 1974 Act must be viewed in the context of case law. In its application, the Commission had largely ignored the fact that the UK operates a common law system in which case law is critical to the legal interpretation of any primary or secondary legislation.EU: MORE COUNTRIES SIGN UP TO eCALLAustria and Germany are the latest countries to commit themselves to supporting the introduction of the eCall accident notification system. Nine EU member states have now given their support to a system that could save the lives of over 1,000 company vehicle drivers each year.eCall enables a vehicle that has crashed to make an automatic call giving its location to an emergency centre. The problem of accident victims being too badly injured to call for assistance is therefore removed and the response times of emergency rescue services are reduced by 50% in rural areas and 40% in urban areas.FRANCE: REMOVAL OF ANCIÉN REGIME French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, has confirmed in an interview with French daily newspaper Le Figaro that he intends to curb the practice of giving 'golden-parachute' payments to senior executives when they leave a company, unless the payments are strictly linked to performance and approved by shareholders. Stock options will also be restricted to schemes that grant options at their full market cost and where all employees may participate in the same, or a similar alternative savings, scheme.In a further recent move, President Sarkozy has told teaching unions that he intends to rescind the 'Robien decrees' that increased the weekly working hours of teachers by one to three hours without additional remuneration.FRANCE: RADICAL PLAN TO INCREASE WORKING TIMEPrime minister, François Fillon, has just presented to the French Council of State a radical plan to stimulate the French economy by providing an economic incentive to work overtime. Under the plan, overtime hours would not be subject to employer and employee social security contributions or income tax. Critics of the plan claim that it will cut state revenue income by up to 5bn euros per year, that employers will decrease basic working hours to maximise the tax-free remuneration element, and that an increase in overall working time will reduce the creation of new jobs. Trade unions have also expressed concern about a 10% tax-free overtime hours limit that will be applied to part-time workers, and about the likelihood of the reforms undermining existing collective agreements.UNITED KINGDOM: EAT DEFINES MEANING OF 'SAME JOB'A recent ruling by the UK's Employment Appeals Tribunal has helped to clarify the rights of women resuming work after maternity leave to "return to the same job". Employers should ensure that the 'nature' of the job, as described in the employment contract, is preserved. They should also maintain the 'capacity' of the job (as might be set out in a job description) and require that the woman returner should work at the same location (even if a mobility clause exists in the employment contract). Thus, in the tribunal's view, it is not necessary to "freeze time" at the precise moment a job occupant takes maternity leave, but an employer may have regard to the "normal range within which variation has previously occurred." It went on to conclude that the regulations aim to provide that a returnee comes back to a work situation as near as possible to that she left. Blundell v St Andrews Catholic Primary School [2007] UKEAT 0329_06_1005.OTHER EUROPEAN NEWS IN BRIEFBULGARIA: The Bulgarian government has drawn up an amendment to wage regulations that will establish a clear reference point when adjusting the statutory minimum wage. Instead of the minimum wage being an arbitrary figure, it is proposed to set it at between 110% and 145% of the official poverty level. Employers and trade unions would then have to negotiate sectoral agreements establishing entry level and low-skill wage thresholds within this range. No response has yet been given on a further amendment put forward by both sides of industry to change statutory rates from monthly to hourly minima.CYPRUS: Although the Cyprus government has agreed to extend maternity leave from 16 to 18 weeks and improve maternity grants, no decision has yet been made on the labour minister's proposal to make a one-off payment to parents having a third child. The draft legislation, which will shortly be submitted to parliament, also contains a proposal to increase parental leave from 13 weeks to 26 weeks in the case of twins and 39 weeks in the case of triplets.CZECH REPUBLIC: The Czech labour code has recently been amended to restrict workplace monitoring of employees. It is no longer sufficient for employers to gain consent from affected employees, it is also necessary to be able to justify surveillance on business and security grounds. Companies that carry out unlawful surveillance could face fines of up to 6m koruny (210,000 euros)DENMARK: A smoking ban will come into force on August 15th 2007 in almost all Danish workplaces, taxis, public transport vehicles and restaurants. The exceptions will be bars not serving food that are smaller than 40 square metres, care homes and special smoking rooms within office complexes.EU: An assessment by the European Commission of measures applied to the posting of workers has found that there is a 'virtual absence of administrative cooperation' between EU member states. Employers have to deal with a wide variety of national measures, many of which the Commission considered to be excessive as they "go beyond the protection of posted workers and are unjustified obstacles to the free movement of services, a fundamental right under the (EU) Treaty".EU: From June 15th 2007, travellers entering or leaving the European Union (EU) will be required to make a declaration to customs officials if they are carrying 10,000 euros or more in cash, foreign currency or cheques.EU: A study into teleworking across the European Union (EU) carried out by three Dutch academic and research bodies has found that 7% of the EU labour force regularly works from home via a computer. There are, however, wide variations in practice from 2% in Spain and 3% in Italy to 18% in Denmark and 20% in the Netherlands.FINLAND: A working group established by the Finnish Ministry responsible for telecommunications has recommended that employers should have the right to access certain information relating to the emails of employees, such as named senders, recipients, routing, duration and file size, but not content. The group recommended that employees should be informed about such interceptions and that regular reports should be given to shop stewards. The government has responded to the recommendation by confirming that it is currently drawing up draft legislation on email privacy.GERMANY: Agreement has been reached between German printing employers and the trade union Ver.di establishing new wage rates applicable to 180,000 printing industry employees. The two-year deal provides for an increase of 3% on July 1st 2007 and a further increase next July of 2.1%.GUERNSEY (CHANNEL ISLANDS): A bill establishing Guernsey's first minimum wage is due to be debated by the States of Guernsey parliament this autumn. No specific minimum rate has so far been published, but there is growing support for an adult rate of £6.00 per hour. This compares with an hourly rate of £5.35 (7.94 euros) in the UK and £5.40 (8.01 euros) on neighbouring Jersey.HUNGARY: Following the abolition of the Act on minimum tax earlier this year, the Hungarian parliament has approved a new measure that will require companies with pre-tax net income below the normal taxation thresholds to make a special declaration. This will establish as an alternative company tax base for corporate, dividend and personal income tax purposes any "income from activities performed through a foreign-based permanent establishment that were allocated to the foreign establishment".IRELAND - REPUBLIC OF: Twelve months after concluding an inflationary 27-month pay agreement 'Towards 2016', the Irish trade union movement is calling for fresh national pay talks due to a rise in the consumer price index. The index has risen to an annual rate of 5.1% in April and 5% in May 2007.NETHERLANDS: The district court in Amsterdam has ruled that a Muslim woman who wore a burqa whenever in public should not have been denied welfare payments by the municipality of Dieman because she refused to change her form of dress to improve her chances of obtaining a job. Neither, according to the court, is it necessary for her to accept work that includes activities (such as the selling of lottery tickets) contrary to the teachings of the Koran.NETHERLANDS: A new accord on pay and pensions arrangements has been concluded between Dutch temporary work agencies and several FNV-affiliated trade unions. The 700,000 temporary agency workers in the Netherlands will each receive a 3% pay increase on July 2nd 2007. From January 2008, occasional temporary staff will receive a non-contributory supplementary pension funded by a 2.6% payment from their agency. Regular temporary staff will become part of a full scheme funded one-third by employees and two-thirds by employers. NETHERLANDS: The Dutch cabinet is currently considering a draft law that would allow employees to use their accumulated career savings scheme fund (levensloopregeling) as tax-free working capital to start their own businesses. The proposal also includes the extension of further tax benefits to some part-time entrepreneurs working for fewer than 1,225 hours per year (the current tax break threshold).NETHERLANDS: Employers in the Netherlands could soon face increased litigation across a wide range of employment-related fields due to the relaxation of professional rules about 'no win, no fee' legal fee arrangements in client contracts. This move follows talks between the justice minister, Ernst Ballin, and the Dutch Bar Association about the conduct of a pilot exercise to test the ethical and practical value of such contracts. During these discussions it was established that the claiming of an agreed fee could be conditional on winning a case, but it will not be permitted for lawyers to claim a share of agreed damages. It was also decided that the new system will not be available for personal injury claims.NETHERLANDS: The Dutch cabinet has agreed that a ban on smoking in hotels, restaurants and events that use caterers will be introduced from July 1st 2008. Smoking will still be allowed in cafes and bars, but not in areas where customers are being served. Although smoking is prohibited in other workplaces, a special exemption has so far applied within the hospitality sector. POLAND: Polish security company 'Solid' has signed a recognition agreement with the Solidarnosc trade union. The union will be provided with an office on company premises and representatives will be given time off for union activities. They will have regular access to all employees and new recruits will be given an opportunity to meet with union representatives before they start working for the company.SLOVENIA: Slovenia's Labour ministry has published pension proposals that will create a penalty of 0.3% per month for those retiring early and an incentive of 0.3% per month for those deferring their pension after their normal retirement age.SPAIN: An analysis carried out by the leading Spanish daily newspaper El Pais of the income received by board members in 35 Ibex-listed companies has found that gross salaries rose by 30.9% in 2006. The highest-paid director was the chairman of BBVA with a package worth 9.8m euros, plus a pension contribution of 10m euros. Senior managers reporting to board members earned, on average, 658,000 euros, with the highest-paid manager receiving 2.36m euros. Only 22 of the 500 board members were women, a ratio of one woman for every 23 men.SWEDEN: The Swedish labour court has found that rail operating company Veolia (formerly Connex) acted lawfully when it dismissed the Connex chapter chairman of the Union of Service and Communications Employees (Seko) in 2005. The company claimed that the local union leader had behaved in a "threatening and insulting manner" when criticising the company's safety procedures on its Stockholm subway operations.SWITZERLAND: The Swiss Federal Court has found the tax system of the canton of Obwalden to be unconstitutional. The canton operates a system of digressive taxation, which means that the richer a resident is, the less tax they pay. The canton's income tax rate for those earning over 300,000 Swiss francs (181,304 euros) per year, for example, was just 1%. The Swiss canton of Schaffhausan also operates a digressive tax system, which will need to be reformed in the light of the court's decision.TURKEY: The statutory gross minimum wage will rise in Turkey on July 1st 2007 from 562.50 lira (315.40 euros) to 585 lira (327.62 euros) per month. A revised rate of 491.90 lira (275.48 euros) will apply to workers under the age of 16.UNITED KINGDOM: The UK government has issued a consultation paper on proposals for a single Equality Act. The paper seeks views on such subjects as whether the requirement for a comparator in direct discrimination cases should be retained and whether the concept of 'reasonable adjustments' should be extended beyond disability discrimination. The consultation period runs until September 4th 2007 and the document is available online at the Communities and Government website.UNITED KINGDOM: Over the year to April 2007, UK average earnings (excluding bonuses) grew in the private sector by 3.7%. The biggest annual increases were in mining and quarrying (+9.5%), engineering and allied industries (+5.3%) and in wholesale trade (+5.3%).
|
|
|
|
