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You are here: Home Employment Employment Information HR European news roundup - April 2009

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28/04/2009HR European news roundup - April 2009

A selection of the latest European HR news from the Federation of European Employers (FedEE).

Europe: Employee wellbeing – target for cost savings?
As companies seek to reduce costs in response to the economic downturn, one area that is particularly vulnerable to cuts is occupational healthcare, even though this can have a negative impact on employee absenteeism. In some European countries such as Finland and Spain, employers are obliged to arrange regular health checks if an employee's work involves particular health risks. However, few countries go so far as Sweden in requiring employers to take a broad responsibility for employee health and wellbeing.

In Turkey, the government has recently declared the longer-term aim of reducing cancer by one-third and increasing the recovery rate from 15 to 80 percent. The Turkish Ministry of Health has drawn up a national program that includes free screening services and the establishment of early diagnosis and treatment centres.

Since 6 April 2009, the UK's HM Revenue and Customs has exempted annual employer-provided health screening and medical checks from tax, even if they are not made available to all employees in a company. This has permitted the launch of a major initiative in the Welsh county of Carmarthenshire, where workers over the age of 40 at the county's three biggest employers will be screened for cardiovascular disease and type
2 diabetes.

The programme will be launched at Corus's Trostre steelworks and will run for 10 years. Staff will be contacted through their workplace by occupational health teams and those identified as being at high risk of developing diabetes or vascular disease will be offered testing and support on a voluntary basis.

EU/ECJ: Pension discriminates against male workers
The European Court of Justice has found that the Greek state pension system applies employment age conditions and rules on minimum periods of service that are less favourable to men than women. Although it would be lawful to include provisions in the system to compensate women for the disadvantages they experience because of the shorter duration of their working lives, the court found that the Greek Pensions Code is not designed to offset such disadvantages.
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