On 3 July 2023, the Brazilian president sanctioned Law n. 14,611/2023, which aims to ensure equal payment for women and men who perform the same activities. The new regulation also creates greater sanctions for employers.
On 30 June 2023, the law amending the Luxembourg Labor Code to introduce a mechanism relating to the right for employees to disconnect outside working hours was published in the Luxembourg official journal. It enters into force on 4 July 2023.
The Czech Act on Protection of Whistleblowers (“Whistleblowing Act”) which implements the EU Whistleblowing Directive 2019/1937 was finally adopted and will become effective from 1 August 2023. The Whistleblowing Act introduces the obligation of employers to establish a whistleblowing channel to enable reporting of selected violations, and to protect individuals that filed such report.
The recent high-profile sexual harassment cases in Taiwan have raised concerns and triggered discussions about the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace. In fact, among the various types of employee misconduct, sexual harassment has been mostly addressed in Taiwanese law. Taiwan’s Occupational Safety and Health Act and the Act of Gender Equality in Employment both require employers to provide a friendly and safe working environment, and provide detailed regulations for the process of investigations of sexual harassment complaints.
Currently, Vietnam is in the process of reviewing the implementation of Decree No. 152/2020/ND-CP on foreign employees working in Vietnam, and the recruitment and management of Vietnamese employees working for foreign individuals and organizations in Vietnam. Against this context, the authorities have made various attempts to visit, inspect and audit companies on the use of foreign employees, work permit documentation and relevant compliance matters.
California Assembly Bill 1228 or, the “Fast Food Franchisor Responsibility Act” seeks to make fast food franchisors liable for certain civil violations committed by their franchisees. The Bill was passed by the California Assembly on 31 May and awaits a vote in the Senate. If signed into law in its current form, the Bill would drastically increase the legal exposure of certain franchisors in the fast-food industry.
On 12 June 2023, after lengthy negotiations, the Council of the EU agreed on the proposal for a directive that aims to better protect platform workers. This opens the door to negotiations between the Council and the European Parliament on the final directive. The directive aims to ensure that platform workers have or can obtain the appropriate employment status through the introduction of a legal presumption. In addition, the directive provides for rules regarding the transparency of the use of algorithms within the platform economy.
Baker McKenzie is proud to launch a series of webinars aimed at helping employers understand current employment trends and issues in the South East Asia region. Some of the topics discussed are Alternatives to the Traditional Employment Model, and complexities of Workforce Optimization.
The EAT has confirmed that a decision to dismiss based on “tainted information” given by another individual to the decision-maker would not make the dismissal discriminatory unless the decision-maker themselves were motivated by the protected characteristic in question.
The NYSE and Nasdaq have given listed companies more time to adopt their Clawback policy, with the new proposed effective date of their rules being 2 October 2023 with a requirement to adopt the policy by 1 December (subject to SEC approval).