EU: Combating illegal employment of non-EEA migrants
Although all EU member states have measures in place to outlaw the employment of non-EEA nationals without work or residence permits, the sanctions lack consistency and many of them fail to act as a strong deterrent to employers. For this reason, the European Commission has drafted a directive to combat illegal immigration by third-country nationals. This puts the onus upon the employer to check all immigration papers before making a recruitment decision. It also applies criminal penalties for repeated and multiple infringements, exploitative working conditions, knowingly employing victims of human trafficking and illegally employing minors.

The latest version of this draft directive has recently been approved by the European Parliament and is expected to be finally adopted by the Council of Ministers this spring. EU member states will then have two years to transpose the directive into national legislation.

Germany: Confusion about time credit transfers
Under an amendment to German flexible working regulations introduced on 1 January 2009, employees may transfer time- credits built up with one employer to a new employer, provided that both employers agree to the transfer. In practice, this has proved difficult to achieve, largely because former employers are unwilling in the present economic climate to make the necessary financial transfers, and also because time-credit agreements differ between enterprises.

Although the latest legislative changes were clearly intended to encourage the creation of life-long time-banking arrangements, many employees find themselves obliged to use up or 'cash in’ their time credits. Their other option is to ask their employers to transfer the value of the credits to the German pension insurance system in order to improve their pension benefits.

Netherlands: Accords only avenue for variable pay

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