News Flash

Further to the Republic of Ireland’s Budget 2014, legislation has now been published that will ensure Irish registered companies cannot be “stateless” as regards their place of tax residence. Formerly, a company incorporated in Ireland and managed and controlled in

The French government is due to reconsider the rules on Sunday working. This follows significant protests against recent court decisions which have forced stores to close on Sundays due to breach of working time laws.

Under French law Sunday trading

A recent decision from the Italian Supreme Court has confirmed that (illegitimate) professional demotion of an employee on the transfer of a business should be compensated jointly by the transferor and the transferee. A demotion is deemed to have occured

In its judgment of September 26th 2013, the German Federal Labour Court ruled that employers may require an employee to apply for an electronic signature or an electronic signature card, if necessary for the performance of their work – even

A French criminal court has ordered Ryanair to pay over €8 million in damages for breach of labour laws. The airline had used Irish labour law and employment contracts, despite the employees concerned being stationed in Marseille. As a result,

The use of meal vouchers (chèques-repas) as a method of remuneration in Belgium could cease as from next year if a vote in October passes the proposed law. Meal vouchers, which are currently issued in 70,000 companies to 1.6 million

UK employers will no longer be automatically held vicariously liable for harassment of employees by third parties (persons other than the employer and colleagues) or for failure to take reasonable steps to prevent such harassment.

The Enterprise and Regulatory Reform

A Polish District Court has recently found that an employer was justified in the termination of an employee who refused to sign a post employment non-compete agreement. Although the penalties set out in the agreement were high the court accepted

Denmark’s dysfunctional labour relations legislation has been illustrated by the recent walkout of 130 employees at Carlsberg’s Fredericia plant. The dispute is not between the trade union and the company, but between the local union for brewery workers and a

In a surprise decision the Norwegian Appeals Court (Borgarting lagmannsrett) has decided that a case brought against the Irish airline Ryanair by a former cabin crew member for wrongful dismissal must be heard in a Norwegian court. Ryanair has repeatedly

FedEE recently reported problems in the eurozone, where employers have continued to increase salaries during the downturn in spite of falling levels of corporate value added. However, the situation in the UK has been even more dramatic.

Over the so-called

On September 15th 2013 Malta’s Whistleblower Act comes into force. This requires all large companies to establish a specialist unit to deal with information about fraud, corruption and other criminal acts. If the information is found to have any substance

Agreement has been reached on a common framework allowing collaboration between Spain’s public employment services and private sector agencies. A budget of 200 million euros has been established to cover the costs of the new ventures over the next two

An analysis of wage developments in Germany carried out by the Hans Boeckler Foundation has found that negotiated wage rates rose in Germany by an average of 2.7% last year, compared to a 2% rise in consumer prices over the

The German Federal Labour Court (7 ABR 91/11) recently ruled that a works council had the right to veto the use of agency workers in their company because the workers were not subject to clear limitations on the duration of