In March 2025, the Home Office issued a revised version of its statutory guidance “Transparency in Supply Chains” following the House of Lords Modern Slavery Act 2015 Committee’s report. This marks the first full revision of the guidance in nearly a decade. In an article for Compliance & Risk, Jon Tuck and David Yadid examine the current legal framework under the Act, unpack the key changes introduced by the new guidance, and consider their implications for businesses.
The Committee on Employment and Social Affairs of the European Parliament recently published a draft report on digitalisation, AI and algorithmic management in the workplace. It makes a number of recommendations including for a directive specifically regulating ‘algorithmic management’ in the workplace with protections extending to self-employed individuals in addition to workers. There are a number of steps in the EU legislative process before these proposals could become legally binding. Given their significance, including the broad definition of ‘algorithmic management’, impacted organisations should nevertheless monitor if and how they develop.
The European Commission has issued its first fine in a no-poach case in the labor market, and its first sanction of the anti-competitive use of a minority share in a competing business. With the fine of EUR 329 million, the Commission joins the ranks of a number of high-profile antitrust enforcers worldwide that have targeted HR-related infringements. The Commission’s first intervention is also likely to encourage other EU regulators to follow suit and is an important reminder of the need to carefully manage antitrust risk (specifically information flows) where a company holds a minority shareholding in a competitor.
On 6 December 2024, the Private Investigations Act (PIA) was published in the Belgian Official Gazette. The PIA imposes certain new obligations with respect to private investigation activities, whether carried out in-house or by external investigators. Given the broad scope of application of the PIA, it is likely to materially impact many employers in Belgium.
On 4 March 2025, the Luxembourg parliament adopted draft bill No. 8225, transposing the employment law provisions of the Mobility Directive (Directive (EU) 2019/2121) into Luxembourg law. This legislation introduces new rules on employee information, consultation and participation in cross-border conversions, mergers and divisions.
A legislative proposal has been introduced to implement the ‘Pay Transparency Directive’ in the Netherlands. On 26 March 2025, the internet consultation for this proposal was launched and will conclude on 7 May 2025. Following this, a decision will be made on whether, and in what form, the bill will be submitted to the House of Representatives. The intended implementation date for the bill is 7 June 2026.
On 21 February 2025, the Ministry of Labor released the revised “Guidelines for Preventing Illegal Harm While Performing Duties (4th Edition).” The revised guidelines emphasize the establishment of an investigation team within three days for suspected illegal harm incidents, with specific team compositions based on organization size. The scope has been expanded to include personnel supervised by workplace managers, applying the same guidelines as for employees. The 4th edition also specifies potential workplace harm behaviors, including violence, bullying, sexual harassment, and discrimination, with examples of workplace bullying such as unrealistic work goals and excessive or trivial task assignments.
The Presidents of the Employment Tribunals (England & Wales and Scotland) have issued an addendum to the Joint Presidential Guidance on employment tribunal awards, updating the Vento bands for damages for injury to feelings and psychiatric injury in discrimination claims.
The government has published a consultation seeking views on how to introduce mandatory ethnicity and disability pay reporting for employers with 250 or more employees. The consultation closes on 10 June 2025.
Creating a diverse and inclusive workforce remains a business imperative for global employers. Despite stakeholder and social pressure to accelerate progress, many companies have been unable to move the dial towards greater equality and diverse representation in the workplace. Join our panel of Inclusion & Diversity experts on May 11 as they discuss the findings of our recent Mind the Gap Survey and the steps diversity and HR leaders are taking to accelerate I&D progress and the challenges they are encountering.