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

EU: Non-EU national residence rights
The European Court of Justice has ruled that an EU member state does not have the right to deport a non-EU national whose marriage has been dissolved - if they had met residence requirements prior to their marriage. The case concerned a woman of Turkish origin who originally took up residence with her parents in the Netherlands on the grounds of family reunification. Her subsequent marriage to a Turkish man who was deported from the Netherlands did not remove her own rights of residence in the country.

EU: Maternity directive set to be shelved
A draft EU maternity directive approved by the European Parliament last October is set to be shelved by the Council of Ministers. The directive, which would have cost the EU economy EUR 6bn a year, would have given women the right to take a minimum of 20 weeks paid maternity leave on the birth of each child.

Corruption levels could block Schengen entry
As a first step towards tackling the growing level of corruption and organised crime - particularly in eastern Europe - the European Commission is establishing an EU anti-corruption reporting mechanism. This will publish comprehensive reports every two years, starting in 2013.

Such a mechanism has been in place for Bulgaria and Romania since their EU accession in 2007. Both countries have now met the technical criteria for entry to the Schengen border-free zone. However, their applications are being opposed by the French and German governments due to a concern that Schengen membership could give mafia organisations potential access to confidential databases used by EU police forces to monitor movements across country borders.

Russian Federation: Relaxation of formailities for highly qualified specialists
A number of amendments have been made to Russian immigration rules on the employment of foreign citizens and the residency/work rights of their family members. Most notably, the list of foreign citizens eligible to work in Russia without a work permit has been expanded.

Those invited to Russia for business or to perform teaching functions at scientific organisations or higher educational institutions no longer require a work permit. In addition, family members of foreign highly qualified specialists will from now be issued ordinary work visas for the same duration as the foreign specialist. This will permit them to work or study in Russia.

Switzerland: Employers face apprenticeship shortage
Swiss employers are facing the prospect of not being able to fill places on apprenticeship schemes. According to the Federal Professional Education and Technology Office, apprenticeship places outnumber school leavers by 4,000. The problem is mainly affecting German-speaking Cantons - with the supply of places exceeding demand in the more demanding technical trades.

Netherlands: Cabinet to abolish integration policy
The Dutch government is abandoning its integration policy and making it far harder for non-EU nationals who wish to acquire residence permits. The Cabinet has agreed to make forced marriage illegal and be far tougher on "immigrants who reduce their chances of employment by refusing to dress according to job requirements". Residence permits will also be withdrawn from non-EU nationals who do not pass the integration examination within three years of taking up residence in the Netherlands and mandatory Dutch language courses will no longer be paid for by the state.

UK: New business transfer obligation
The UK Agency Workers Regulations 2010 have introduced a change to TUPE information and consultation requirements.

From 1 October 2011, the transferor must provide employee representatives to the transfer with suitable information relating to the use of agency workers by the employer. This includes the number of temporary workers in the organisation, which area they are working in and what type of work they are carrying out. For many employers, this may require the introduction of a form of audit for the process of hiring agency workers.

The penalty for failing to comply with a TUPE information and consultation requirement remains an award of up to 13 weeks' pay to each affected employee.

Germany: The growing threat of cybercrime
The German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich has warned that the incidence of cyberattacks is on the rise and "could threaten the country's infrastructure". Germany's newly opened National Cyber Defence Centre is fully operational and is expected to deal with over 2,000 attacks on federal and local government computer systems during the next six months. The German government has also established a task force, "IT security in business," because most cyber attacks are still aimed at economic targets.

The incidence of cyber attacks one companies in Europe remains unclear, but one estimate puts the annual growth rate at 60 percentage. One problem is that many companies do not identify a security breach until well after it has taken place. In a recent report by Trustwave the average delay in detection was 156 days.

Spain: Quarter of all employees on temporary contracts
During the first quarter of 2011 24.8 percentage of employees in Spain were on temporary contracts. Such contracts are particularly used for the employment of young workers - with 78.9 percentage of employees under 20 and 56.6 percentage of those aged 20 to 24 hired on a temporary or fixed-term basis.

© Copyright: FedEE Services Ltd 2011