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

Belgium: Deadline for alcohol and drugs policy
Employers in Belgium have until 1 April 2010 to establish an in-house alcohol and drugs policy in response to the mandatory national collective agreement no 100. The policy may only be implemented after consultation with appropriate employee representative bodies or, in their absence, directly with employees.

The agreement tightly regulates the use of alcohol and drugs testing. Individual tests must be carried out with the consent of the employee concerned, limited to methods that indicate whether the level of intoxication is above a certain limit. The tests will be administered by qualified personnel and used strictly for preventative purposes.

France: Changes ahead for staff representative bodies
Employers and trade unions in France have been talking for some time about modernisation of the social dialogue and the changing roles of staff representative bodies (IRPs).

The employers' body Medef would like to encourage individual companies to adapt IRPs to reflect their special circumstances and focus on issues such as the reconciliation of family and working life.

Unions, on the other hand want to establish a body of rights for all IRPs to uphold and for them to be guaranteed a strategic role in the operation of all enterprises. They are opposed to the mainstreaming of work-life balance questions because they believe that employers would just use "soft" policy concerns to "mix everything up" and prevent discussion about "hard" issues such as the treatment of subcontractors and pay determination criteria.

As a first step towards reform of workplace representation it has been agreed that employers will draw up a new "roadmap" indicating the avenues for future discussion. At the same time unions will work on an inventory of common rights and duties for IRPs.

Germany: Acquiring language skills may be a job requirement
The German Federal Labour Court has ruled that an employer may require written German language skills where this is a clear requirement in order to perform a job.

The case concerned a Spanish production assistant who had been hired on condition that they attended language courses funded by the employer. When, after two years, they discontinued the language training they were warned that they must resume the course programme or be dismissed. When their linguistic skills were subsequently tested they were discovered to be inadequate and the termination took place. The court found that the dismissal was for a legitimate reason and did not amount to indirect discrimination on grounds of
nationality or ethnic origin. (BAG: 2 AZR 764/08).

Spain: National pay deal to curb excessive pay trends
A three-year national pay agreement has been concluded between the leading Spanish employers' association CEOE and two principal union confederations CCOO and UGT. The deal provides for a 1.0 percent increase in basic rates this year, 1.0 percent-2.0 percent in 2011 and 1.5 percent-2.0 percent in 2012.

Although Spain's economy remains in recession and unemployment is twice the EU average, many employees have continued to enjoy significant wage increases.

According to the Bank of Spain the average collectively agreed pay increase in 2009 was 2.6 percent, whilst Spain's latest labour cost survey has revealed that the over the year to Q3 2009, wage cost for full-time workers increased by 4.1 percent. This is only 1.6 percent lower than at the onset of the present recession in Q3 2008.

OTHER EUROPEAN NEWS IN BRIEF

Belgium:
The Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme, has given employers and trade unions until early March to commence discussions about a new national agreement. Social partners in the private sector met in December 2008 when concluding the 2009/10 intersectoral accord.

Czech Republic:
The Czech Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs is currently working on a Labour Code amendment that would give labour inspectors the power to impose fines on employers found to be infringing the privacy of employee communications. According to a recent survey by consultants Ernst and Young, four out of five Czech employers monitor employees' online activities and 58 percent limit their internet access.

ECJ:
The European Court of Justice has ruled that the existing requirement in Germany that years of service prior to age 25 are not taken into account when determining notice periods amounts to discrimination on the grounds of age. The case involved the dismissal of an employee who has been with the company for 10 years. Her notice entitlement was based only on the three years she had worked for her company since her 25th birthday. This meant that she was entitled to just one month's notice instead of four months. (Case C-555/07).

Europe:
According to the official agency 'Statistics Iceland', the hourly pay differential between men and women narrowed between 2000 and 2007 from 24.8 percent to 15.9 percent. Across Europe, the average gender pay gap was 17.6 percent in 2007 - ranging from 2.4 percent in Malta to 30.3 percent in Estonia.

Germany:
The Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig Germany has ruled that the minimum wage operating in the postal sector is unlawful. The wage was set in January 2008 when Deutsche Post was privatised as part a liberalisation programme across the sector. However, the Court has decided that the German government violated the rights of other postal companies by failing to consult them about an amendment to the wage regulation limiting its scope to enterprises whose main business was the delivery of mail.

Germany:
New regulations on genetic testing by, or on behalf of, employers came into force in Germany on 1 February 2010. There is now a general prohibition against genetic testing, except in special circumstances where genetic characteristics may expose an individual to the risk of serious health problems in a particular job. The regulations also add genetic characteristics to those grounds already protected under anti-discrimination legislation. Moreover, employers may not penalise employees who refuse to undertake a genetic test.

Montenegro:
Employers in Montenegro are now subject to lower social security liabilities. Mandatory health insurance contributions have fallen from 5.5 percent to 3.8 percent, whilst pension and disability contributions have been reduced from 8.5 percent to 5.5 percent. The shortfall in funding brought about by these changes has been largely met through increased employee contributions.

Netherlands:
Board members of the government-controlled Dutch bank ABN-Amro have had their salary and bonus levels for the coming year set by Finance Minister, Wouter Bos.

Annual salaries are to be fixed at EUR 600,000, whilst bonuses will be 50 percent of salary if targets are met and 60 percent if targets are exceeded. However, the bonus will be withdrawn if the company experiences a loss or further capital injections are required from the government. The salaries of first reports to the board have been cut by an average of 35 percent with effect from the start of this year.

Portugal:
The Portuguese government has increased the subsidy for hiring a young worker on a permanent contract for their first job (or after 6 months unemployment) by EUR 500.

Employers hiring long-term unemployed workers aged over 40 on contracts of nine months or more now also qualify for a 50 percent reduction in social security contributions during their first year of employment and 65 percent thereafter.

Sweden:
The latest indices published by 'Statistics Sweden' indicates that labour costs in the private sector rose over the year to November 2009 by just 0.8 percent. The containment of Swedish labour costs has been partly achieved by the reduction in employer social security contributions for young workers effective in January 2009.

United Kingdom:
New UK sick pay regulations will come into force on 6 April2010. These will replace the current system of "sick notes" with "fit notes". Doctors will no longer be required to declare an individual "fit for work".

When stating that an individual is unfit they will be invited to choose one of four changes that may help get them back to work - phasing their return, altering hours, amending duties or workplace adaptations.

Furthermore, the maximum period that a medical statement may cover will be reduced during the first six months of illness to three months.

Copyright: FedEE Services Ltd 2009