Latest news from the Federation of European Employers (FedEE)

Denmark: Anti-poaching law comes into force
The Danish Act on non-solicitation and no-hire restrictions has just come into force. A new agreement between companies limiting the solicitation or employment of a company's existing employees will now only be valid if the employees concerned are also a party to the agreement and are given monetary compensation for the imposition of the restriction.

A novel feature in this legislation is a provision for backdating its application. From July 1st 2009, any existing restrictions concluded before July 1st 2008 will also be covered by the Act. Companies therefore have one year in which to bring their non-solicitation and no-hire arrangements into line and make the subjects of agreements party to them.

ECJ: Court to take second look at forced retirement
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has recently heard submissions in a UK case concerning mandatory retirement at the age of 65 (R v the Incorporated Trustees of the National Council on Ageing,  better known as the Heyday case) This case has been  overtaken by an ECJ ruling last October about retirement  clauses in a Spanish collective agreement (Palacios v Cortefiel Servicios SA) where the court found that compulsory retirement was lawful if 'objectively and reasonably justified in the context of national law by a legitimate aim relating to employment policy and the labour market... provided that... the means put in place to achieve that aim of public interest do not appear to be inappropriate and unnecessary for the purpose'.

Irwin Mitchell, the law firm retained to present the Heyday case, has claimed that the Spanish case has helped rather than hindered its own arguments because it had been previously held that retirement dismissals were not within the scope of the EU Equal Treatment Framework Directive (2000/78/EC). Furthermore, the Spanish case hinged on the need for justification when applying mandatory retirement ages and, in the view of Irwin Mitchell, the UK has not presented clear justification for introducing regulations allowing forced retirement.

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