Balancing Acts – The Future of Work Report 2023

New challenges, new norms  Our last Future of Work report was written during a period of upheaval, with the Covid-19 pandemic necessitating new ways of working and social movements – including Black Lives Matter, #MeToo, #StopAsianHate and growing climate activism – changing expectations of internal and external stakeholders. Now the pandemic has abated but new … Read more

Australia: Talking Shop EP11 – Unpacking the Australian Closing Loopholes Bill: What this means for consumer sector employers

Natalie Gaspar joins Aoife Xuereb to discuss the Australian Federal Government’s proposed changes to employment and industrial relations, following the introduction of the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes Bill) 2023 (Cth). Natalie delves into how these reforms could impact employers in the consumer sector, including in relation to casual employment, fixed term contracts, wage theft compliance, gig-economy participants and … Read more

The Australian Government Tables Closing Loopholes Bill: What It Means For Your Business

On 4 September 2023, the Federal Government introduced the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes) Bill 2023 (Cth) (Bill) in the House of Representatives. This Bill is significant, running to 278 pages and covering 28 distinct parts. It proposes reforms that will have a substantial impact on employers, employees, principals, and contractors. In many respects, the Bill … Read more

UK: changes to flexible work request rights in the offing

The Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Bill received Royal Assent on 20 July 2023. It requires regulations to be implemented, but once in force will: allow employees to make two (rather than one) flexible working requests in any 12 month period (but there can only be one live application at a time), require employers to consult … Read more

Spain: New measures to protect work-life balance and worker protection

On 29 June, Spain’s Official State Journal (the BOE) published Royal Decree-law 5/2023, of 28 June, which adopts a wide range of measures applicable to different fields and a series of provisions that aim to reinforce the right to work-life balance for parents and carers. In particular, it introduces: new measures applicable to leave and … Read more

UK: Royal Assent for Bills on enhanced rights for parents and carers, but implementing regulations unlikely to be in force before 2024

Three Private Members’ Bills expanding rights for parents and carers received Royal Assent on 24 May 2023.  When in force, they will provide for: the right to paid leave where an employee’s new-born baby requires specialist neonatal care; protection from redundancy during and for a period after the end of pregnancy, maternity leave, adoption leave … Read more