A study by the Equality and Human Rights Commission found that 77% of working mothers surveyed had potentially discriminatory or negative experiences. For many, the statutory protections designed to help mothers are not effective in re-balancing the disadvantages faced. With most mothers being of working age, we explore what employers can do to tackle these issues in order to retain mothers in the workplace.
After a long period in which the UK government has promised several employment law changes contained in an Employment Bill without bringing forward such a Bill, it has now announced it is supporting certain private members’ bills which include developments in these areas. These include expanding the right to request flexible working, a new right to request more predictable working conditions, a number of changes to family leave entitlements, and protection for those facing harassment by third parties such as customers at work.
Our Asia Pacific Employment & Compensation team is pleased to share our quarterly update, which highlights key employment law changes across the Asia Pacific region in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Inclusion, Diversity & Equity (ID&E) remains at the center of our continuous learning and organizational improvements, and in how we organize the full participation of our people and our clients. This continues to be reflected through how we have broadened the conversation to include ‘equity’ – when everyone gets what they need. This year we will go back to basics, exploring terminology and language, understanding our changing demographics and the impact on the world of work, with a focus on embedding inclusion through organizational change.
Spanish Official State Gazette published Law 2/2023 on 20 February 2023, which transposes the EU Whistleblower Directive (Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2019 on the protection of persons who report breaches of European Union law) into Spanish law.
The Tripartite Committee on Workplace Fairness has released its interim report on 13 February 2023 with its 20 recommendations for the proposed Workplace Fairness Legislation.
In 2021, the Singapore government announced that it will be taking steps to enshrine the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices (TGFEP) in law. The TGFEP, which is non-legally binding, sets out principles of workplace fairness and best practices for employers. While the TGFEP has improved standards of workplace fairness in Singapore, it does not have legal force. Enshrining the TGFEP in law is a significant step towards strengthening Singapore’s stand against workplace discrimination.
On 23 October 2019, the European Parliament and the Council adopted Directive (EU) 2019/1937 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law, informally referred to as the “EU Whistleblower Directive”.
Belgium has implemented the EU Whistleblower Directive separately for the public and the private sectors, with the Act of 8 December 2022 on reporting channels and protection of whistleblowers in federal public sector bodies and the integrated police, and the Act of 28 November 2022 on the protection of whistleblowers of breaches of Union or national law established within a legal entity in the private sector, published on 15 December 2022, which came into effect on 15 February 2023.
Due to workplace safety and health concerns arising from the lack of improvement in rates of workplace fatalities and a rise in major injuries in certain sectors, the Ministry of Manpower has announced the following:
• A three-month extension to the Heightened Safety Period (HSP) to 31 May 2023. The HSP, which applies across all industries, was due to end on 28 February 2023
• Additional measures adopting the Recommendations by International Advisory Panel to Strengthen Workplace Safety & Health on 19 January 2023
The Belgian act implementing EU Directive 2019/1937 (“Whistleblower Act”) requires legal entities in the private sector to establish channels and procedures for internal reporting and follow-up of reports in specific areas. In this context, the Whistleblower Act established a particular method to calculate the employee headcount within the legal entity with reference to the Belgian legislation on the social elections. However, there has been some uncertainty about how this reference should be applied in the context of the Whistleblower Act.
In June 2023, amendments to the Competition Act take effect that will allow Canadian employees to sue their employers for conspiratorial conduct. In this video, baker McKenzie Litigation and Competition lawyers reflect on the new buy-side conspiracy causes of action through the lens of a recent Federal Court of Appeal case, consider the expected implications of the new amendments on employers’ class action exposure, and discuss what employers can do to mitigate these new risks.