Czech Republic: Green cards to be launched next year
The Czech Chamber of Deputies has approved a bill that will replace the existing system of residence and work permits with a much simpler 'green card' approach.

If the bill is backed by the Senate and the Czech president, from January 1st 2009 a Czech employer unable to fill a job vacancy within 30 days of it being advertised will be able to put it on a central registry. In parallel with this process, nationals of approved non-EEA countries will be invited to apply for two-year green cards through the Czech embassies in their home countries. If successful, they will be entitled to apply for vacancies posted on the new central register. The green card will entitle them to take up any job from the register offered to them. Employers will then only have to inform the immigration authorities that the job has been filled and supply the green card number for the immigrant to legally begin work and take up residence in the Czech Republic.

Greece: Tax blow for employee shareholders
A financial reform package has been approved by the Greek government that introduces a new 10 percent tax on capital gains from share sales and also a further 10 percent tax on share dividends. Capital gains are currently taxed at 0.15 percent and dividends are tax-free. If approved by the Greek parliament, these tax changes will come into effect on January 1st 2009.

This decision comes at a time when stock prices are already depressed and improved market confidence will be a critical prerequisite for economic recovery. It will also hit executives and other employees currently participating in share ownership and share option schemes. Although the Greek government plans to reduce the middle band of income tax by one percentage point each year from 2009 - 2014, this will not offset the new tax liability for those with a substantial stake in their enterprise.

Russian Federation: Work permits hit quota limits
The Federal Migration Service (FMS) has stopped accepting applications for the employment of foreign workers in the Russian administrative areas of Moscow, St Petersburg (including the whole surrounding Leningrad region), Voronezh, Tula, and the Ivanovo regions, as well as in Karelia, Komi, and Dagestan.

These areas have reached their annual quotas and therefore many companies are currently being prevented from bringing in foreign workers. The problem seems to have arisen from the failure of some companies to submit their future foreign labour forecasts for 2008. This led to lower quotas being set than were actually required.

A revision to the quota for migrant workers has been promised by the FMS as soon as a government decree has been drafted and approved. This is likely to raise the annual quota for the whole of the Russian Federation from 1.8 million to 3.1 million workers. In the meantime, the Ministry of Social Development
(MSD) has ordered that top company executives and administrators should not be subject to existing quotas. It remains uncertain, however, whether the FMS will follow the MSD order.

United Kingdom: Employers to keep pay rises under 4pc
A new survey carried out by Deloitte in the south-west of England has found that half of the planned pay increases for the coming year are in the 1 percent to 3 percent range and half in the 3 percent to 4 percent range. 60 percent of employers taking part in the survey said that they had recently reviewed bonus schemes to ensure they are getting value for money, whilst the survey showed that the proportion paying profit-related bonuses has fallen during the last year from 73 percent to 45 percent.

Company cars continue to be an important benefit for managerial staff, but the proportion of employers offering status cars has fallen from 54 percent last year to 20 percent this year. Private healthcare and life insurance have also declined in popularity, but 50 percent of respondents have introduced salary sacrifice schemes to allow employees to switch cash income into benefits such as pensions or holiday entitlement.

Other European news in brief

Cyprus:
A new minimum monthly wage has been announced for the Turkish enclave of northern Cyprus. The increase from 1,060 lira (EUR 605.59) to 1,190 lira (EUR 680.45) becomes effective on September 1st 2008.

Denmark:
Denmark's prime minister, Fogh Rasmussen, has revealed that the government is to establish an equal pay commission to examine differences in remuneration between women and men.
Although the principal focus of the commission will be on the public sector, it will be compiling data from private sector companies to establish how equal pay principles can be reconciled with systems to reward individual and corporate performance.

France:
The French prime minister, Francois Fillon, has invited employers and trade unions to a meeting next month to discuss the introduction of commuting allowances for French employees.

Although a transport subsidy has been a mandatory requirement in the Ile-de-France area for many years, employers in the rest of France are generally opposed to the introduction of such a premium, even though the government has indicated that it could be paid free of tax and social security contributions.

Germany:
According to the German investors' association, DSW, executive board members of Germany's 30 largest DAX-listed companies increased their remuneration by 7.8 percent last year. Total gross earnings for CEOs ranged from
EUR 13.98 million for Josef Ackermann at Deutsche Bank to EUR 1.53 million for Wolfgang Klein of Postbank.

Irish Republic:
According to a report published this week by the Irish Small Firms Association, the national average rate of absenteeism is 4.6 percent (10 working days) for large firms and 2.8 percent (six working days) for small firms. Back injury and stress are the most commonly cited reasons for absence on doctor's certificates.

ITtaly:
Although the favourable tax treatment given to share options that met certain criteria has now been abolished in Italy, a late amendment to Decree 112/2008 means that such proceeds remain exempt from both employer and employee social security contributions. This concession applies to options exercised after June 24th 2008.

Norway:
Since 2006, a total of 199 public companies (ASA) in Norway have re-registered as private limited companies (AS). The principal driving force for this change has been the wish of some company boards not to comply with the equal representation regulations that were introduced on January 1st 2006 and became fully effective at the beginning of this year.
The regulations require the boards of ASA companies to consist of at least 40 percent men and 40 percent women, but these rules do not apply to AS companies.

Slovak Republic:
At a recent meeting with the Slovak trade union confederation, the Slovak prime minister, Robert Fico, pledged to press the Cabinet to increase the monthly minimum wage from 8100 koruny (EUR 267) to at least SKK 8900 (Slovak koruny) (EUR 294) next year. Under the current formula, the minimum wage must rise to at least SKK 8,690 (EUR 287).

Sweden:
Employers in Sweden have until the end of the year to prepare for the introduction of changes under the Anti- Discrimination Act (2008). This measure establishes age and 'transgender identity and expression' as new grounds for claiming workplace discrimination and extends protection to trainees and temporary workers. It also increases the amount of damages payable to victims of unequal treatment or harassment in the workplace. The government has merged four ombudsman roles and appointed Katri Linna to head up a new anti- discrimination authority. Linna was formerly the deputy ethnic discrimination ombudsman.

United Kingdom:
The number of individuals from the new EU states in central and Eastern Europe registering to work in the UK fell from 48,000 in Q12008 to 39,000 in Q2 2008. However, it is estimated that almost one million nationals from these countries have taken up residence in the UK since May 1st 2004.


Copyright: FedEE Services Ltd 2008.