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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

HR 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.

France: Move to control executive pay
The French government has issued a decree on the remuneration of top management in companies receiving state financial support.

This measure places a moratorium on stock options and share issues until 31 December 2010. Bonus payments will also be severely limited and must be made wholly transparent. No bonuses will be payable in companies declaring mass redundancies and in companies with 50 or more employees consultation must take place with works councils (comités d'entreprise) about the nature of the state assistance, conditions of payment and its impact on employment.

Companies not in receipt of state financial assistance will be expected to comply with a voluntary remuneration code drawn up by the French employers' association MEDEF. A committee is to be established to monitor compliance with the code and report on companies that reward senior executives disproportionately to other employees, especially when operating their business on a short-time basis or during the course of drawing up social plans as part of a proposed redundancy programme.

Netherlands: Framework for remuneration policy
The Dutch finance minister, Wouter Bos, has reached an agreement with leading companies in the financial sector. This places a number of limitations on remuneration policy:
  • Executive pay increases will not exceed those for other employees.
  • Variable payments will be based on long-term results.
  • Companies receiving support from the government may not pay any bonuses to their management board during 2009.
  • Severance packages will be limited to a maximum of one year's salary.
This week the Maas Commission is expected to publish its recommendations on bank remuneration policy. It will be followed by further recommendations from the DNB and AFM regulatory bodies.

Belgium
Women taking maternity leave in Belgium now have the right to return to work and save the last two weeks of their leave to be used any time within the following eight weeks. If employees wish to stagger their leave arrangement in this way they must give adequate notice to their employer. This change will extend the period of protection against dismissal by a further eight weeks after a women returns to work - meaning that the post-natal protection period is now at least 21 weeks.

Czech Republic
The number of days off work due to sickness or injury fell in the Czech Republic from 2.72 million in 2007 to 2.22 million in 2008. This year, the level of absenteeism can be expected to fall still further because, since 1 January 2009, statutory sickness benefits during the first three days of illness have been completely abolished.

Finland
National talks between the Finnish government, employers and trade unions have resumed following a stand-off between the government and unions over a proposal to raise the retirement age to 65. At this month's meeting, employers called for zero pay growth during the rest of 2009. This view was supported by Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen, who indicated that the income tax system would be used to encourage pay freezes or to keep pay increases at a minimal level. The next tripartite meeting has been scheduled for the middle of next month.

France
The French government announced on 15 April that it has established a new 'fund for social investment' to finance short-time working and to assist redundant workers in acquiring new skills so that they may secure employment.

Germany
Germany's Federal Labour Office is currently considering the establishment of state-financed 'transfer companies' to take employees temporarily off the payrolls of companies in economic difficulties. Transfer companies would provide training and would pay employees 67 percent of their net normal salary for a period of up to 24 months.

Hungary
The average gross monthly earnings of full-time employees in Hungarian companies (with five or more employees) rose by 5.4 percent over the year to January 2009. The increase for non-manual workers was 5.6 percent, but for manual workers it was just 1.1 percent.

Lithuania
Under new government proposals, the Lithuanian state social insurance fund (Sodra) will no longer be responsible for providing financial support to employees on sick leave during the first three days of absence. If the proposed bill goes ahead, employers will be obliged to remunerate employees for the first two days of absence, followed by one unpaid 'waiting day' before Sodra steps in with sickness benefits at 85 percent of the average remuneration level.

Norway
In Norway, the NHO employers' group has reached a pay deal with the LO trade union confederation providing for a general increase of one kroner (EUR 0.11) per hour for all workers and an additional one kroner per hour for those earning less than 90 percent of the average industrial worker's wage. This deal will increase payroll costs by around 2,000 kroner (EUR 226.49) each year.

Portugal
A revised code of labour court procedure is currently being drawn up in Portugal. This will reduce the time limits for making claims against an employer in respect to dismissal without 'just cause' from 12 months to 60 days. Employers will also be released from the obligation to institute an investigation at an employee's request when they have been accused of a disciplinary infringement, except in cases where the employee is pregnant, on parental leave or breastfeeding.

Slovenia
A bill is being rushed through the Slovenian parliament to impose limits on management pay. Once introduced, this measure will establish a marginal income tax rate of 90 percent on incomes above EUR 12,500 a month. This super-tax rate will apply to managers in state-owned enterprises and companies in receipt of state aid, and will be enforced retrospectively from 1 January 2009 until 31 December 2010.

Ukraine
The Ukrainian government has introduced tighter restrictions on the issue of work permits for foreign workers.
 From May 1st 2009, the bureaucratic procedures for applications will increase and work permits will be limited to one year for non-managerial workers and three years for managers. Sanctions for violating work permit restrictions will be substantially increased and will include deportation at the company's expense.

FedEE news
Employment in law programme
Seven audio-visual presentations in our employment law programme have now been fully revised and updated. These are available to FedEE corporate members online.

Copyright: FedEE Services Ltd 2009


1 reaction to this article

Joksu posted: 2011-03-16 17:37:54

The True Finns are a really nasty lot, and I do mean really. Regligious fanatics, alcoholics and their campaign manager was actually convicted of rape not more than five years ago. You shouldn't just ignore them, you should shout the truth about them from the rooftops!

http://truefinns.blogspot.com/

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1 reaction to this article

Joksu posted: 2011-03-16 17:37:54

The True Finns are a really nasty lot, and I do mean really. Regligious fanatics, alcoholics and their campaign manager was actually convicted of rape not more than five years ago. You shouldn't just ignore them, you should shout the truth about them from the rooftops!

http://truefinns.blogspot.com/

Add a comment

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