From Tuesday, 12 December 2023, the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) will have new powers to commence an inquiry and ensure compliance when it ‘reasonably suspects’ an organization is not complying with its positive duty under the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) (“Sex Discrimination Act”). The positive duty commenced in December 2022 following the passing of legislation to implement a recommendation in the Respect@Work Report.
Inclusion and diversity are key factors today. As gender, racial, and ethnicity pay gaps have been slow to narrow, governments in Latin America have introduced more requirements to further reduce these differences.
In this quick overview, the Employment & Compensation group presents recent trends in pay equity in Latin America, highlighting critical issues to consider for your day-to-day decision-making.
Welcome to the next edition of our quarterly HR Privacy newsletter designed to keep you updated with key cases, legal developments, trends and news relating to employment / HR data privacy matters, which is brought to you by the Baker McKenzie EMEA Employment and Compensation practice group.
This edition explores high-profile case-law decisions and new consultations and guidance in the UK, Germany, Netherlands and Spain markets.
Balancing work and family life may become easier for growing families in South Africa after a ground-breaking parental leave judgment in the High Court declared certain provisions of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act unconstitutional.
The last thirty days in September, the end of the US federal government’s fiscal year, is generally an important time to analyze enforcement activity by the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission. In this short video, Baker McKenzie Partner Peter Chan, a former SEC Assistant Director of Enforcement, provides his insights regarding the importance of the timing of some of these enforcement actions.
The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 is due to receive Royal Assent. The Act will introduce a new duty on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment and is expected to come into force 12 months after Royal Assent is granted. This duty will sit alongside employees’ existing protections from sexual harassment in the workplace.
A recent decision in the Scottish courts offers a stark warning of the need to consider issues of legal privilege at an early stage when conducting an internal investigation. In an article for HR Magazine, John Bracken and Paul Harrison explain what this means in practice for employers.
Employee handbooks have recently come to the forefront of employers’ key priorities. Why? The NLRB’s recent decision in Stericycle adopted a retroactive “employee friendly” standard for workplace rules, including those often included in handbooks. In addition, the new year often rings in new laws requiring changes to workplace policies likely to be included in handbooks. And the US Supreme Court decision banning affirmative action in higher education has led employers to take a closer look at their inclusion, diversity and equity related policies and statements in employee handbooks.
In first-of-its-kind legislation, under SB 54, California will require venture capital companies to collect and report diversity data from portfolio company founders as soon as 1 March 2025. The new Fair Investment Practices by Investment Advisers law intends to increase transparency regarding the diversity of founding teams receiving venture funds from covered entities in California.
On 8 November 2023, join thought leaders from government, the judiciary, academia, and private practice for this timely gathering on the Georgetown Law campus in Washington, DC. Laws and policy surrounding the protection of trade secrets are changing as technology evolves. In this first-of-its-kind event at Georgetown, intellectual property experts will discuss the following topics: How generative AI is transforming the trade secret landscape, the role of non-competes, protecting against leaks of confidential information, the impact of China’s emerging trade secret protection landscape on global commerce, and the future of trade secrets in the US and abroad.