A selection of the latest European HR news from the Federation of European Employers (FedEE).
Belgium: Allowance for child sickness leave
The Belgian National Council for Work (CNT) has just published its response to a proposal put forward by the president of the Senate on the granting of paid leave when the child of a worker requires hospitalisation for a serious health problem.
Currently, employees have the right to take up to 10 days' unpaid leave each year to deal with pressing personal matters.
This proposal seeks to provide a special allowance (equal to 75 percent of lost remuneration) from the mandatory sickness and disablement insurance scheme for workers when they take leave to deal with sick children requiring urgent hospital treatment.
In the view of the CNT, this right should be limited to one week's leave in the first instance, but extendible for one further week (and a further two weeks without payment). The report recommends that the definition of a serious medical condition should be left to the attending physician, but that leave should be available for any cohabiting person with primary care responsibility for the child. Employees should be required to give employers seven days' notice of the work suspension, but a note from an attending physician stating that the situation was unforeseeable would permit the employee to take immediate leave, provided they informed their employer 'as soon as possible' thereafter.
France: Employers must draw up plan for older workers
From 1 January 2010, companies in France with 50 or more employees will have to pay a 1 percent payroll levy if they have not concluded an agreement or established an action plan concerning the employment of older workers.
The agreement/plan must operate for a maximum of three years and must set out targets for retaining employees aged 55+ and recruiting people aged 50+. Employers are obliged to draw upon at least three measures from a list contained in the enacting decree and also to set out follow-up methods for achieving the objectives. In companies with less than 300 employees, it will be possible to meet these requirements by compliance with an industry-wide collective agreement.
Next >
Twitter
LinkedIn
Facebook
Flickr
General rating: Not rated yet
Rate article:
Add my rating