UK: communicating with employees on maternity leave

28 March, 2019
Employers should ensure they agree in advance how and how often they will communicate with an employee while on maternity leave (or indeed other periods of longer family-related leave), particularly if the employee will be at risk of redundancy during… Read more

France: Recent and Upcoming Labour Reforms

14 March, 2019
Several important employment law reforms have come into force recently or will come into force shortly, both at the EU and French level. Below are some of the changes to expect for 2019: ... Read more

Hong Kong: Proposed changes to discrimination laws

7 December, 2018
On 30 November 2018, legislation was gazetted which proposes various amendments to the Sex Discrimination Ordinance, Disability Discrimination Ordinance, Family Status Discrimination Ordinance and the Race Discrimination Ordinance. The proposed amendments reflect eight of the recommendations from the Equal Opportunities… Read more

Thailand: Proposed Amendments to the Labour Protection Act

22 November, 2018
On 21 September 2018, the Minister of Labour announced the National Legislative Assembly's ("NLA") in principle approval of the draft amendment ("Draft Amendment") to the Labour Protection Act B.E. 2541 (1998) ("Act"). Key changes and implications for employers are discussed… Read more

UK: consultation on parental bereavement leave and pay

2 April, 2018
The Government is supporting a private member's bill which, subject to Parliamentary approval, will require the Secretary of State to introduce regulations creating a legal requirement for all employers to grant a period of a minimum of 2 weeks of… Read more

UK: pregnancy discrimination update

13 March, 2018
The ECJ has confirmed that there is no EU law requirement to give priority to a pregnant worker in the context of collective redundancies.  The prohibition on dismissing workers whilst pregnant or on maternity leave does not apply where there are… Read more

UK: New Resources

3 October, 2017
New presidential guidance has been issued in relation to how employment tribunals should calculate pensions loss and awards for injury to feelings in discrimination cases, available here. There are three bands for injury to feelings, with a usual minimum of… Read more

Hong Kong: Immigration win for same-sex couple

28 September, 2017
In a landmark ruling, the Court of Appeal held that the Immigration Department's visa policy, insofar as it denies same-sex couples eligibility for consideration for a dependant visa, breaches the right to equality enshrined in article 25 of the Basic… Read more

France: The Loi Travail – Introduction

8 September, 2017
One of Emmanuel Macron's key campaign promises was the reform of laws relating to employees partly, in order to help French companies respond in a more flexible manner to the challenges they are facing to become more competitive in the… Read more

Singapore: Focus on fixed-term employees

30 August, 2017
On 31 July 2017 the Tripartite Alliance issued the Tripartite Standard on Employment of Term Contract Employees (First Standard), (Tripartite Standards). The Tripartite Standards are the first of five new standards seek to encourage fair and progressive labour practices in… Read more

Japan: 45 hour overtime cap proposed

31 July, 2017
On 5 June 2017, the committee deliberating on the proposal to cap overtime made a written submission to the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare proposing to cap overtime to 45 hours a month, with an annual cap of 360… Read more

UK: Queen’s Speech and Brexit developments

28 July, 2017
The Queen's Speech on 21 June 2017 set out the government's programme for the next two years and was inevitably dominated by Brexit-related legislation. The principal bill will be the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill, subsequently published on 13 July 2017,… Read more

India: Amendments to maternity benefit

22 September, 2016
Enhancements to maternity benefits in India under the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 (the Act) have been in the spotlight for some time. Calls for such enhancements have culminated in the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2016 (the Bill), which has now… Read more

UK: Consultation on changes to taxation of salary sacrifice

15 September, 2016
HMRC is consulting until 19 October 2016 on restricting the use of salary sacrifice for the provision of benefits in kind with effect from April 2017. As previously announced, employer pension contributions, employer-provided pension advice, employer-supported childcare, provision of workplace nurseries,… Read more

UK: Budget 2016 – key announcements for employment law

17 March, 2016
The 2016 Budget delivered by the Chancellor on 16 March includes the following: From April 2018, the Government will tighten the scope of the income tax exemption for payments on termination of employment "to prevent manipulation" and will also align… Read more