Our regular human resources management news roundup from across Europe from the Federation of European Employers (FedEE). Includes France: Accord to reduce workplace stress, Norway: Employers could face costly workplace refits, UK: New discrimination and harassment rights.

France: Accord to reduce workplace stress
Employers' organisations and trade unions in France met earlier this week to discuss the transposition of an EU framework agreement on stress at work into a national collective accord.

Both parties accepted that amendments to the original text would be necessary to define stress more clearly and set out guidelines on how it can be detected. But a number of fundamental disagreements emerged at the meeting, with trade unions wanting to place the principal cause of stress onto the organisation of work in a company, whereas employers wanted to focus on the conflict between private life and the demands of work. One trade union asked for workplace stress to be categorised as an occupational disease, whilst another proposed that the accord also covers the concept of moral harassment (bullying).

Further negotiations are scheduled for May 5th and June 4th 2008 with the target for achieving a final consensus set for July 2nd 2008.

Norway: Employers could face costly workplace refits
Employers could face costly workplace refits Norway's minister for family and equality issues, Anniken Huitfeldt, has proposed a new disability discrimination law to improve accessibility to transportation and buildings - including company vehicles, shops, offices and other workplaces. 

A major problem in implementing such a law in Norway is that the Working Environment Act places a general prohibition on the collection of health information about employees or prospective employees. Although there is scope for claiming 'just cause' when a particular working environment is inherently dangerous for employees with certain individual conditions, such as the implantation of heart pacemakers, this data sensitivity restriction makes it difficult for employers to accommodate the majority of physical or mental health problems on a case-by-case basis.

The new law will circumvent the restrictions regarding employee privacy by requiring employers to introduce ramps and lifts of sufficient size to carry wheelchairs, and to optimise other workplace features (such as lighting and signage) even if they do not currently employ people with disabilities.

UK: New discrimination and harassment rights
On April 6th 2008, new regulations come into force amending the UK Sex Discrimination Act (SDA).

In future, a woman will only have to establish that she has been treated less favourably because of her pregnancy or because she intends to take (or has taken) maternity leave. It will no longer be necessary for her to compare her situation to that of a woman who is not pregnant or on maternity leave. The new regulations also amend the definition of harassment to enable sexual harassment claims to be made by someone who is not themselves the direct subject of unwanted conduct, but who is nonetheless affected by the act of harassment to the point where it violates their dignity or creates an intimidating workplace environment. Furthermore, employers will be liable for all forms of sex-related or sexual harassment from third parties (customers, suppliers, or other business contacts), but only where the employer is aware of at least two previous acts of harassment by the third party and fails to take reasonable steps to prevent further employee harassment.

A third set of amendments to the SDA means that women who continue to receive benefits-in-kind during their initial period of ordinary maternity leave will become entitled to continue receiving them during their period of additional maternity leave (AML). Employers will thus not be able to ignore the period of AML when calculating length of service, especially when this is linked to the receipt of benefits such as extended holiday entitlements. Women will also gain the statutory right to claim discrimination when discretionary bonus payments ignore the period of compulsory maternity leave (two or four weeks immediately after the birth) for pro-rata calculation purposes. These latter changes will apply to woman whose expected week of childbirth begins on or after 5 October 2008 (SI 2008 No 656).

Other European news in brief

Austria:
Austria's coalition government has reached agreement on a number of measures to reduce the impact of inflation on workers with low incomes. The package includes exempting employees earning less than EUR 1,100 per month from paying unemployment insurance contributions and bringing next year's pension increases forward by two months.

ECJ:
In a recent case heard by the European Court of Justice, it was established that a survivor's pension under a German occupational scheme must be classified as pay and therefore be subject to the EU Equal Treatment Directive (2000/78/EC). It was further noted by the court that Germany had established 'life partnerships', the conditions of which had gradually been made equivalent to those applicable to marriage. Consequently, a same-sex registered 'life partner' should enjoy equivalent rights to a widower's occupational pension as a married person. The fact that the scheme in question gave a right to surviving spouses that it denied to life partners amounted, in the court's view, to direct discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation(C-267/06). 

Germany:
A new 15-month pay agreement has been concluded covering German employees of Europe's fourth largest retailer, the Rewe Group. The deal gives 90,000 workers a general increase of 3 percent, backdated to January 1st 2008, plus EUR 50 for every month worked in 2007 (when no agreement was in force) and a bonus payment equal to 12.5 percent of monthly remuneration. In return, employees will no longer receive premium payments for working up to 6.30 pm on Saturdays, although they will remain entitled to premium payments for working after 6.30 pm.

Netherlands: Service and construction driving job growth
The number of jobs in the Netherlands during Q4 2007 was up 170,000 from one year earlier, representing an annual increase of 2.2 percent. Although the number of jobs in manufacturing and public administration was stable, job growth occurred in most other sectors of the economy. It was particularly marked in business services (+6.2%), hotels and restaurants (+3.6%), commerce (+ 3.0%) and construction (+2.5%).

Russian Federation:
The official cost of living (subsistence) rate in the Russian city of Moscow rose to 6,624 roubles (EUR 179.83) per month at the beginning of March 2008. In an attempt to reduce poverty, the city authorities are planning to raise the current local minimum wage to 7,500 roubles (EUR 203.60) per month in September 2008 and also to increase unemployment benefits to the minimum wage level from their current range of 720 to 2,880 roubles (EUR 19.55 to 78.18) per month. Companies employing disabled people would also enjoy improved tax concessions and new city funding schemes to assist workplace training.

Spain:
The Spanish government is currently offering grants under the EU's Leonardo programme to promote internships for graduates of Spanish universities. Internships may be arranged in companies with headquarters in any EEA country (including Turkey) apart from Spain and may run for 3-12 months. During this time interns are insured for accidents, civil liability and travel assistance and receive a grant to cover their food and accommodation, plus a round trip to the country concerned. Additional financial support from the user company is normally provided, but is not obligatory. Further details about the scheme are available on the Argo website. 

Http://www.becasargo.es

FedEE news

Pay in Europe 2008
The 2008 edition of our annual Pay in Europe Report has just been published and is now available in the member's area of the website. The report provides pay charts for 49 countries and territories and each chart contains breakdowns into median gross hourly pay levels for 32 standard job categories as at February 1st 2008.

Denmark continues to be the European country with the highest median hourly pay, but the gap between Denmark and Moldova, the lowest paying country in Europe, has narrowed significantly over recent years. In 2006 we found that median hourly pay in Denmark was 70 times that in Moldova, but this year, the ratio between the two countries has narrowed to 33 times. The five top-paying countries below Denmark in 2006 were Norway, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Germany. This year, the top five countries are the same, but their order has changed to Switzerland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Germany, Luxembourg.

http://tinyurl.com/4a4es4
 

Copyright: FedEE Services Ltd 2008