international Archives

How does China's public policy of encouraging later childbirth and small families affect maternity rights? What are Chinese equal opportunities laws like? What's the statutory holiday entitlement in China? HR professionals working for global organisations with interests in China can find the answers to these questions and more in the new guide to employment law in China that has been added to XpertHR International.

We have set out below seven surprising features of Chinese employment law:

1. Employers are obliged to employ a quota of people with disabilities, in appropriate types of job (see Employment quota for people with disabilities).
2. The representative office in China of a foreign company cannot directly recruit a Chinese citizen (see Recruitment - general and Seconded workers).
3. Statutory annual leave entitlement for employees is very low (see Holiday and holiday pay).
4. In many cases, legislation at provincial, regional or municipal level gives women a right to additional maternity leave if they have their first child after the age of 24 (this forms part of public policy to encourage later childbirth and small families) (see Maternity and pregnancy rights).
5. Fixed-term contracts are the most common form of employment relationship in China (see Fixed-term workers and Types of contract).
6. The transfer of a business or part of a business does not automatically entail the transfer of the employees concerned from the transferor to the transferee (see Transfers of undertakings).
7. Legislative provisions on equal opportunities and discrimination in employment are rather general, lacking in detail and hard to enforce (see Equal opportunities).

The European Commission has compromised on quotas but approved a proposal for there to be a 40% objective for female non-executive directors on the boards of listed companies by 2020 (on the Personnel Today website).

According to the Commission, board rooms are still dominated by men, with only 15% of non-executive board members being women and 8.9% of executive board members being women. The aim of the proposal, which was published on 14 November 2012, is to “substantially increase the number of women on corporate boards throughout the EU” and “promote gender equality in economic decision-making”.

The proposal sets “a minimum objective of a 40% presence of the under-represented sex among the non-executive directors of companies listed on stock exchanges” by 2020. The deadline is 2018 for state-controlled undertakings.

The proposed Directive imposes an obligation on listed companies with less than 40% of members of the under-represented sex on non-executive boards to make non-executive director appointments on the basis of “a comparative analysis of the qualifications of each candidate, by applying pre-established, clear, neutrally formulated and unambiguous criteria”. In order to attain the 40% objective, the proposed Directive provides that where there are equally qualified candidates of both sexes for a non-executive director position, a company should give the under-represented sex priority. There is an exception to this where “an objective assessment taking account of all criteria specific to the individual candidates tilts the balance in favour of the candidate of the other sex.”

The proposed Directive is expected to apply to around 5,000 listed companies in the European Union but will not apply to small and medium-sized companies or companies that are not listed.

One of the services that XpertHR provides is XpertHR International, which is a valuable HR tool for anyone responsible for looking after staff based outside the UK or whose organisation has interests in other countries. XpertHR International provides guides to employment/labour law in the following countries:

• Belgium
• France
• Germany
• Greece
• Hong Kong
• Ireland
• Italy
• Netherlands
• Poland
• Spain
• Sweden
• Norway

These guides cover the following key multinational areas:

• Recruitment and selection
• Pay and benefits
• Employment rights
• Contracts of employment
• Training and development
• Equal opportunities
• Industrial relations
• Health and safety
• Termination of employment

We would be interested in getting your feedback on XpertHR International. How do you use it, or how do you plan to use it? Which countries does your organisation operate in and/or have dealings in? Please email your feedback to John Read, XpertHR employment law editor, at john.read@rbi.co.uk .

As the Daily Mail recently reported (external website), women have been banned from a Russian project to simulate a mission to Mars. It’s a bizarre story, but goes to show that discrimination issues will go beyond our small planet.

A district mayor in Tokyo has become the first local government leader in Japan to take paternity leave, reports the BBC website.

The unemployment rate across the 16 countries in the Eurozone has hit double figures, rising to 10% (external website), according to latest official data published today. The Eurozone therefore joins the US in what might be termed "the 10% club" when it comes to unemployment the US rate having broken the double-figure barrier in October 2009 (PDF format, 211K) (external website), and running at 10% as at December 2009).

The UK economy may be proving exceptionally slow in emerging from recession, but this has not harmed the London's position in the global labour market. London is the number one destination city of choice for international jobseekers, according to global research from Totaljobs (external website).

Do you need to know about employment law in France? The latest European employment law guide added to XpertHR looks at key elements of employment law in Frances as it applies to: recruitment and selection; pay and benefits; employee rights; contracts of employment; training and development; equal opportunities; industrial relations; health and safety; and termination of employment.

XpertHR regularly publishes information on industrial relations law and practice across Europe - providing expert analysis of developments at European level and in individual European countries. In addition, other guides to national employment law in European countries include: the Netherlands; Italy; Germany; Greece; Poland; and Ireland. For ease of reference, we’ve rounded our European information up on one European employment law and practice page.

Remember that we want to provide information on the countries that are relevant to you in your HR role - so let us know which countries you’d like to see guidance on in the future.

Many HR professionals’ remit extends beyond the UK to other European countries. This demands that they are familiar with employment laws and developments in countries across Europe.

XpertHR covers employment law across Europe, with information on national employment law in European countries, covering issues such as the law on Sunday working, hours of work, holiday and maternity leave, and trade union recognition rights.

Do you need to know about employment law in the Netherlands? The latest European employment law guide added to XpertHR looks at key elements of Dutch law as it applies to: recruitment and selection; pay and benefits; employee rights; contracts of employment; training and development; equal opportunities; industrial relations; health and safety; and termination of employment.

See Employment law in Europe: XpertHR guides for information on the other European employment law guides available.

Do you need to know about employment law in Ireland, Germany, Poland, Greece or Italy? If so, don’t forget that guides to employment law in these countries can be found on XpertHR. They provide a handy first point of reference for HR practitioners with a need to know about employment law in the country in question.

The guides cover issues from the law on Sunday working, hours of work, holiday and maternity leave, to trade union recognition rights.

Further European employment law guides are scheduled to be added over the coming months - an employment law guide on the Netherlands is due later this month. Remember to check the Coming soon to XpertHR page for forthcoming additions to the site. And to be sure that you’re alerted when new guides to other European countries are added, check that you’ve got the “international” preference ticked on the “my update settings” page (see My XpertHR in the horizontal toolbar on the XpertHR home page and that you’ve got the “MyUpdate” email box on the same page ticked. A daily XpertHR email will then alert you when articles that match your topic preferences have been added to the site.

For the full contents of the current European guides see:

• Employment law guide: Ireland
• Employment law guide: Greece
• Employment law guide: Poland
• Employment law guide: Germany
• Employment law guide: Italy

It appears that French workers have a flair for the dramatic when it comes to industrial action. After taking bosses hostage and rigging factories with bombs, they've now threatened to dump toxic fuel into the Seine (on the Guardian website).

The XpertHR guide How to manage international assignments (subscription required) has recently been updated. The article gives guidance for employers on the practicalities of having employees working abroad (on long or short-term secondments) and explains what should be covered in an international assignment policy. The areas highlighted for consideration include compensation and benefits, tax and social security issues, immigration issues, and how to handle the termination of the agreement.

If you think your industry is male-dominated, spare a thought for all the aspiring female gondoliers in Venice. It's being reported (on the Guardian website) that Giorgia Boscolo has become the first woman in 900 years to become a gondolier on the Venetian canals.

The recession of the early 1980s decimated the trade union movement in this country. Indeed, it is not too much of a push to argue that some of the economic policies pursued by government at the time were intended to achieve just that.

Heyday may have suffered a setback in its campaign to have the UK's default retirement age scrapped, but spare a thought for its American counterpart, the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP). It's being sued by a former employee for, of all things, age discrimination.

Those still reeling from last week's revelations that UK executive pay is slowing can take some comfort from the fact that times are not quite so hard on the other side of the Atlantic. New research from consultants Mercer finds that US corporate director pay continues to rise, even as the economic downturn bites.

As if employers don't have enough to contend with in terms of sickness absence, another issue has been highlighted recently: websites selling fake doctors' sick notes.

An Equality Tribunal has held that an Englishman was discriminated against by his Irish colleagues, in an unusual race discrimination ruling from the Republic of Ireland.

With the Olympics getting underway, some employers are going to great lengths to support athletes and volunteers who are involved.

The US senate has approved legislation to prohibit employers from using genetic information to discriminate against individuals.

The latest novelty among US employers destined not to catch on in the UK is the practice of employers allowing parents to bring their babies to work.

There is something of an air of relief hanging over Jaguar and Land Rover this week following their sale to India’s Tata Group.

Although Unite-TGWU’s Tony Woodley was somewhat lacking in enthusiasm, commenting that he would rather Ford had kept the car makers “in the family”, he did admit that if a sale had to take place then “Tata was the best option”.

European HR departments – and that includes those in the UK – are facing renewed criticism for their alleged failure to take as active a role in workforce management issues as their counterparts in Asia and the Americas.

According to computer giant IBM, the HR function in Europe takes an advisory role in business transformation efforts rather than working as a proactive contributor of time and resources. It says HR on this side of the Atlantic remains a supporter rather than a driver of change, with decisions often based on relationships rather than hard facts.

The prospect of an international trade union merger between Unite in the UK and the United Steel Workers in the US appears to be coming closer.

The Georgia Senate yesterday passed a bill that will allow some workers in the southern US state to keep a firearm in a car parked in a company car park, regardless of the wishes of their employers.

"There are eight million stories in the city, and this is one of them" goes the voiceover as the camera pans across a New York skyline. The face of Harvey Keitel fills the screen. But without a script, Keitel is speechless.

So too are Sean Penn, Kate Beckinsale, Martin Sheen, Susan Sarandon, Minnie Driver (pictured here), Julia Louis-Dreyfuss and – thankfully – the cast of Ugly Betty.

They are among the Hollywood A listers who have signed up to a project in support of the Writers Guild of America, which is currently locked in a bitter industrial dispute over payment for DVD and digital rights.

When UK employers were banned from discriminating against employees on the grounds of sexual orientation three years ago, the reaction from all concerned was generally positive and opposition muted.

The BBC reports that almost 13,000 nurses in Finland are threatening to resign in a pay dispute. A union claim for a 24% rise over 28 months has been met by an employer offer of 12%, which the nurses' union argues will leave its members struggling to survive.

It is now around 5.30pm, and the organisers of the virtual picket of IBM in Second Life are delighted with how it has worked out – albeit that the company has apparently decided to keep a low profile.

See our report from this morning on the start of the protest and the background to it.

This is how a picket line would be if the actors from an American soap walked out. The men are tanned and toned, torsos rippling rather than wobbling as is traditional; the women straight out of a casting director’s contacts book, just right for the “girl next door” part.

With Take Your Dog To Work Day taking place on 14 September and a cat called Sybil taking up residence in Downing Street, there’s never been a more pertinent time to ask: are pets at work ever a good idea?

Forget Facebook. An Italian trade union is taking all this Web 2.0 stuff much further and organising industrial action inside Second Life. It is even promising to put avatars on picket lines inside the virtual world.

Euro buzzwords, no. 749: Flexicurity

It's probably a good thing that the news that the European Commission formally adopted a paper on "flexicurity" on Wednesday was ignored in the UK, where the floods and the small matter of a change of prime minister took precedence.

If the Commission's latest attempt to promote a debate on labour market reform and the European social model had been reported in the UK, no doubt most attention would have focused on the word itself: "flexicurity" - an ugly neologism if ever there was one, destined to join "subsidiarity" in the list of Euro buzzwords that plain-speaking, no-nonsense Brits (me included) love to hate.

Eight out of ten American workers are satisfied in their current jobs, the Society for Human Resource Management reported this week. For the record, this is very similar to European workers' job satisfaction levels (subscription required).

But unfortunately for the SHRM, which hopes to use its annual conference in Las Vegas to promote the idea that HR practitioners are clued-up, hard-nosed professionals, the findings tend to indicate that its members don’t really have a clue what’s going on.

British workers tend to come relatively low down the international holiday entitlements league tables, even taking account of current plans to increase the statutory minimum from 20 to 28 days' paid leave.

But while counting down the days to this year's summer holiday, spare a thought for your American counterparts. US employers are notoriously stingy with the holidays; according to a recent survey by CareerBuilder.com, just 25% of Americans have four weeks' or more paid leave, while 30% get less than a fortnight. One in eight (12%) get no paid leave at all.

As if that's not bad enough, the Society for Human Resource Management (the US equivalent of the CIPD) reports that Americans are increasingly abandoning their two-week summer holiday for a series of extended weekend breaks (PDF format 412KB).

A report from the Sector Skills Development Agency shows that Britain's productivity levels are falling well behind Europe and the US (PDF format, 1.97MB). Apparently, the difference is stark when per hour or per worker measures of productivity are considered and varies widely according to sector.

The Sector Skills Almanac 2007 reveals that while the UK's employment rate is the fourth highest in Europe and some sectors are more productive than their EU and US equivalents, the UK's overall productivity levels are 21% behind the US and 8% lower than Europe.

Where would we be without our boundless sense of enthusiasm about work and gratitude for our generous pay and conditions? France, apparently.

According to a survey of 14,000 employees (PDF 64KB) by market research company FDS International, workers in the UK are second only to the French in "a league table of worldwide workplace whingers".

The findings are based on factors such as the percentage of workers unhappy with their pay, actual income relative to cost of living, percentage of workers who feel work impinges on their private life, and average weekly working hours.

According to the report, titled What workers want: a worldwide study of attitudes to work and work-life balance,

"Workers in the UK come second overall, alongside Sweden, in our global 'demanding workers' league table. As with the US, it is relatively high levels of dissatisfaction with pay despite what is, in global terms, a very good standard of living, that accounts for this."

Those expecting France's new centre-right president to ram through Thatcherite labour market reforms to create a flexible employment culture on the anglo-saxon model may be in for a disappointment.

Reuters reports today that Sarkozy's campaign chief of staff Claude Gueant has played down talk of strife with France's trade unions.

Gueant is a key player in the Sarkozy camp and is expected to take the role of the new president's chief of staff.

According to Reuters, he told French television that "Nicolas Sarkozy has no intention at all of ramming things through . . . He has clearly said that he would consult the social partners (unions and employers' groups) to work out the modalities of a dialogue that will take place in September."

So the French "social partners" are going to work out the "modalities of a dialogue".

hmmm, that doesn't really sound very much like a Thatcherite call to arms against over-powerful trade unions - or the "enemy within" as Mrs T used to call them.

Some news from overseas: now that the Democrats have control of both houses of the US Congress, American employers can look forward to a swathe of new employment legislation. Although there is no real appetite to tackle gun ownership, and several US states even have laws forbidding employers from preventing their employees arriving for work fully armed, this could mean new discrimination legislation.

At the end of last month, Democrats and liberal Republicans introduced legislation which would outlaw discrimination on the grounds of gender or sexual orientation in employment on a nationwide basis. Some states already have their own laws on this issue, but most do not. Success in getting the Act through Congress would leave the US with something remarkably similar to the UK Regulations on sexual orientation.

The need for such legislation in the US was highlighted a few weeks ago when Steve Stanton was fired as city manager (think local authority chief executive but with more power) of Largo in Florida. Stanton was sacked from his US$140,000-a-year job when, to the horror of the local council, he announced that he was undergoing gender reassignment and planned to change his name to Susan.

This being America, Stanton went on the Larry King television show to set out his side of the story. Although both sides are sticking to their guns, if that is not an unfortunate analogy in any story about the US, it looks as though there will be no court case to help keep the story running. Meanwhile, Stanton has been shortlisted for a similar job in another, presumably more tolerant, town.

Back on the wider political stage, supporters of the new anti-discrimination legislation may have to more fast. The next set of national elections take place in 2008, and without George Bush in the White House to drag down their poll ratings, there is every chance that the Republicans could take Congress back from the Democrats.