International Employment Bulletin - June 2012

Welcome to the June 2012 edition of our Bulletin. Find out more about cross-border tele-working, redundancies in the absence of economic reasons in France, paid annual leave vs. periods of sickness in Germany, upcoming employment law reforms in Italy and post termination restrictions in cross border employment.

We hope that you enjoy our newsletter and welcome your comments or suggestions.

International: Cross-border tele-working: beware!

Modern information and communication technology mean that some employees can now work remotely from any location as effectively as they do from their employer’s office. As a result, employees are increasingly requesting remote working for some, or indeed all, of their working hours. Read more >

France: Redundancies which are carried out in the absence of economic reasons should be remedied by damages and not by reversing the decision to dismiss 

The French Supreme Court has put an end to a recent trend resulting from several decisions made by various courts of appeal in France which nullified dismissals made without economic grounds although the economic ground was the reason given at the start of the dismissal procedures. Read more >

Germany: Holiday carry over in potential sick leave disputes - Turn-around in Germany!?

The European Court of Justice ruled recently that national laws providing for an expiry of paid annual leave after a period of 9 months (commencing from the end of the holiday year) are not compliant with European law requirements if the employee was prevented from working by sickness and has therefore not been able to take the leave. Read more >

Italy: Employment law reform

Reforms to Italian employment law are under debate, but close to being fully approved.  Already announced by the Senate, they are likely to come into force by the end of September and will greatly change Italian employment law. Read more >

UK: Post termination restrictions in cross border employment 

Employers often face difficulties when trying to protect business interests and enforce post termination restrictions where an employee works in different jurisdictions. Read more >