News Flash

The use of independent contractors in Chile will become significantly more expensive from 2018 when such workers will, for the first time, be legally required to pay contributions to a pension fund as well as workers’ compensation and health insurances.

From January 1st 2017 companies in Sweden will be obliged to report salary statistics broken down by gender to the national statistical agency, Statistics Sweden, every year. Currently it is only required every three years. The company size threshold will

On March 9th 2016 Decree-law 10/2016 came into force in Portugal re-establishing temporary early-retirement rules that had been in effect during 2015. These rules provide that access to early retirement benefits is only available to workers over the age of

Although wage boards have been in existence in Sri Lanka since 1941, there has — until now — been no universal minimum wage for the private sector as a whole. Earlier this month parliament passed both the National Minimum Wage

A new Inventor Agreement has been negotiated between the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise and the Council for Negotiation and Cooperation (a body representing 25 trade unions). The Agreement is widely recognised as the basis for determining ownership and compensation in

Vietnam’s labour market is being opened up to foreign workers for the first time since 2003. From April 1st employers will be able to hire workers from outside the country if after 30 days search through a government employment agency

Employers wishing to hire non-EU nationals to work in Italy this year should move quickly to submit their applications before the annual quota is met. The government published its annual decree on February 8^th setting a limit of 30,850

A Bill has been drafted by the Danish government to grant the beneficial tax treatment of share-based employee incentive schemes. The maximum tax liability would be set at 42% (rather than 56% on employment income) and the tax levied only

In Japan the Labour Ministry has set up a working group to examine the possibility of introducing a system of dismissal with monetary compensation. The introduction of such a system would be a positive change for employers as the current

A law that would give special protection to workers who blow the whistle on serious wrongdoing in the workplace has been proposed by the Legislative Council in Sweden.

The proposed law would protect employees from reprisals by their employer when

The consultative assembly (Shura Council) and Saudi Labour Ministry have rejected representations made by Chambers of Commerce on why they should reconsider their decision to introduce a 40-hour week and obligatory two-day weekend in the private sector in Saudi Arabia.

The total replacement of paper meal vouchers by the electronic lunch pass has finally been achieved in Belgium and the maximum contribution by employers increased to 6.91 euros (7.54 US dollars). This means that when the employee contribution is taken

Under an Amendment to Puerto Rico’s Minimum Wage, Vacation and Sick Leave Act, employees in companies with at least 15 workers may be entitled to use up to five of their annual sick leave days for the purposes of caring

After three years of negotiations the European Union (EU) Parliament, Council and Commission have finally reached agreement on new European data protection rules. The draft General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which will replace the 1995 EU Data Protection Directive, is

The Mexican government has issued a new equal opportunities standard for employers. Although the standard is not binding it serves as a guideline for employers to evaluate equal opportunities practices in their workplaces. Furthermore, employers that are able to show