Editors' message, September 2020

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Welcome to the first of our 2020 e-Bulletins, where there are a number of articles discussing various global Employment law topics.

The hot topic of this year's newsletter is that of whistleblowing and a number of articles cover this from an Indian, Italian and UK regime perspective. Travers Smith's article on ‘Whistleblowing: how to have good ‘speaking up’ procedures and why this matters’ looks at the current UK regime and the new EU Whistleblowing directive which came into force in December 2019 and discusses best practice for employers when implementing whistleblowing policies and procedures and investigating concerns raised. Iuno's article on the ‘Latest developments on whistleblower protection in the Nordics’ explains that, despite legislative attempts, the protection of individuals who report overall remains insufficient and fragmented in the Nordics. However, it notes that the introduction of EU-wide minimum standards and other recent legislative initiatives is expected to improve the level of protection for these individuals, particularly around protecting whistleblower's identities.

IndusLaw's article on ‘Key employment law issues in a whistleblower investigation: an Indian perspective’ covers the absence of a specific and standalone law in India for whistleblower investigations and explains that several Indian companies are consequently emphasising the enforcement of a robust whistleblower policy in order to demonstrate their commitment to their codes of conduct and values and statutory law (for public companies). De Berti Jacchia's article on ‘Blowing the whistle on workplace sexual harassment: an Italian labour law perspective’aims to analyse what means and legal protections are available so as to induce employees to blow the whistle when they are victims of sexual harassment at work and what improvements could be made in the future.

Another topic tackled by a number of articles is that of the Working Time Rules. Garrigues' article on ‘Spain and the revolutionary change in working time rules’ discusses Spain's recently adopted Royal Legislative Decree 8/2019 of 8 March 2019, in relation to the tracking of employees' working time. These regulations impact Spanish labour relations, as they create an obligation on all employers to set reliable tracking systems with a view to keeping records of their employees' working schedules on a daily basis. Macado Meyer's article on ‘Tracking of working time rules in Brazil: recent developments’ portrays the new reality of Brazil, where Brazilian laws are following a global trend to minimize governmental interference in labour and employment relations. Bozoglu-Izgi Attorney Partnership's article on ‘Tracking of working time rules’ explains that although in Turkey Labour Law No 4857 does not regulate how employers track the working times of their employees in any detail, such tracking has become more important in view of a recent decision of the European Court of Justice stating that employers must set up an objective, reliable and accessible system that can track working times.

There is an interesting mixture of other issues discussed in the remaining articles, including Bersay's article on ‘Wrongful dismissal compensation: back to a purely indicative scale?’, which explains how in France in 2016, an indicative scale was inserted in the French Labour Code, and in 2017, the scale was capped by the Macron Ordinances, and made legally binding on judges, except in specific cases. However, 56 per cent of the Labour Courts have deviated from the scale and three Court of Appeal decisions have ruled that the scale can be deviated from should the employee demonstrate a disproportionate infringement to their situation. 

Marval's article on ‘Difficult times for employers in Latin America’ deals with the current period of political volatility and social instability in Latin America which forces employers to adjust to labour market rules that are continuously changing. Allen & Overy's article on ‘Personal issues impacting the workplace’concerns ‘burnout’ and how it is a specific personal issue that could greatly affect the workplace. Skrine's article on ‘A Malaysian perspective on compensation and benefits for millennials’ aims to examine the current state of the workforce in Malaysia and highlight the significant gap between what millennials expect in terms of compensation and benefits with what employers are prepared to offer. T&C Law Firm's article on ‘Does an equity incentive fall within the scope of labour remuneration’discusses whether equity incentives fall within the scope of labour remuneration from a Chinese labour law perspective.

Herzog Fox & Neeman's article on ‘Employers' obligations towards disabled employees in Israel: knowing when and how to accommodate disabilities’ considers the nature and scope of employers' obligations towards those with disabilities in view of recent National Labour Court rulings in Israel. Perchstone and Graeys' article on ‘Preventing and defending discrimination claims’ uses Nigeria as a reference point to examine the boundaries in preventing and defending discrimination claims.

Finally, Skadden's article on ‘Growing areas of United States shareholder scrutiny related to employment and compensation matters’ explains that in the US, shareholders are increasingly becoming interested in engaging with companies on issues that are discussed across society relating to employment and compensation.

We hope you enjoy this e-Bulletin.

Kind regards,

Rebecca Ford, Szymon Kubiak and Orly Gerbi

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