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.
The European Whistleblowing Directive (WBD) was supposed to be implemented by the European Union’s 27 member states by no later than 17th December 2021, impacting employers with operations in those jurisdictions.
This article looks at what those key challenges are and the unique support we can offer in helping global employers harmonize their global approach to managing whistleblowing reports within the prescriptive requirements of the WBD.
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.
On 1 February 2023, the Austrian National Council passed the so-called Whistleblower Protection Act (HinweisgeberInnenschutzgesetz). This law regulates a set of obligations for companies in relation to whistleblowing, with the setup of an internal “whistle-blowing system” a priority. This new law will come into force shortly — following a formal confirmation by the Federal Council of Austria, which is still pending. The Austrian legislator is finally implementing the requirements of the EU Whistleblower Directive, although with a delay of more than a year.
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.
The European Parliament adopted a proposal on 2 February seeking potentially far-reaching changes to the current European Works Council (EWC) Directive. These include strengthening the information and consultation rights of EWCs and improving enforcement by introducing GDPR-level fines for non-compliance and a risk of injunctions for failure to inform and consult.
Through The Employer Report blog, our lawyers provide legal updates and practical insights to help clients understand, prepare for and respond to the latest domestic and cross-border Labor and Employment issues affecting US and multinational employers.
Through the Canadian Labour and Employment Law blog, our lawyers provide legal updates and practical insights to help clients understand, prepare for and respond to the latest domestic and cross-border Labour and Employment issues affecting Canadian and multinational employers.