11 Jan 2017 / Latest / Global: On the horizon for 2017 Global: On the horizon for 2017 By Sarah Hellewell / 15 Dec 2016 Regions & Countries Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, United States, Venezuela, Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, Bahrain, Israel, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates Areas of Law Employment Content Types Latest Languages English Employment Areas of Law Labor reforms Overview In this month's edition of Be Global, we bring you a summary of the most significant international employment law developments from the past 12 months, together with a look ahead at the key trends and changes expected to emerge in 2017. Contents ASIA PACIFIC China: Ministry of Human Resources issues 3 new regulations to strengthen enforcement of labor laws in 2017 The China Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security has issued 3 successive regulations aimed at strengthening enforcement of labor laws and regulations and ensuring companies' compliance with them. Contact Information Tim Marshall Global Co-Chair - EMEA and Asia Pacific at DLA Piper London +44 207 796 6617 tim.marshall@dlapip er.com Michael J. Sheehan Global Co-Chair of the Employment Group at DLA Piper Chicago
Hong Kong: Labor side compromises on standard working hours at 44 hours Following submission by the labor unionists of a proposal that standard working hours should be set at 44 hours each week, the deadline for the Standard Working Hours Committee to submit final recommendations has been extended. +1 312 368 7024 michael.sheehan@dl apiper.com Hong Kong: Minimum wage increase from May 2017 The Minimum Wage Commission reached a consensus to raise the current minimum wage from HKD 32.5 to HKD 34.5, an increase of 6.15%, effective from 1 May 2017. India: Labor Law reform in 2017 The Indian government is proposing to streamline 44 labor laws and make changes to maternity entitlements. Indonesia: Data protection law anticipated for 2017 There is no current regulation governing data security in Indonesia but a new law may be issued next year. Japan: Revision of the Child Care and Family Care Leave Act From January 2017, various changes will be implemented to child and family leave in Japan. Philippines: Enforcement of contingent worker rules New rules and greater enforcement of rules on the use of contingent workers are expected in 2017. Singapore: Support for employment of older workers Various measures will come into effect on 1 July 2017 to promote employment opportunities for older workers in Singapore. Singapore: Changes to family leave from 2017 In Summer 2016, the Government of Singapore announced various changes to maternity, paternity, parental and adoption leave that will take effect during 2017. Singapore: Increase in minimum salary for Employment Pass From 2017 the minimum salary is to increase from SGD 3,300 to SGD 3,600 per month. EMEA EU Wide: General Data Protection Regulation in force May 2018 New European rules on data protection will come into effect in May 2018. Employers should start to assess the impact of the new regime as soon as possible. EU Wide: Trade Secrets Directive adopted In May 2016, the European Council approved the Trade Secrets Directive which aims to harmonise the protection of trade secrets across Europe. Member states will be required to have implementing legislation in place by summer 2018. Austria: New paternity leave law from March 2017 From 1 March 2017 there will be new rights for fathers to take family time off at the same time as the mother.
Austria: New law on posted workers From January 2017 a new law will come into force to simplify and unify the existing rules on posted workers in Austria. Belgium: Employment reforms expected in 2017 There are several interesting changes in the pipeline for 2017 covering matters such as working time, salary freezes and part-time employment. France: El Khomri Law: key provisions entering into force on 1 January 2017 Various key points of the El Khomri Law (also known as the Labor Law) will come into force in January 2017. Among the provisions coming into force is the right to disconnect from workplace IT outside of working hours. Germany: Remuneration Transparency Act: A prospect The coalition committee set the outline for a Remuneration Transparency Act in October 2016, thereby affirming that the current gender pay gap between men and women is no longer acceptable. Germany: Changes to labor leasing laws in the New Year Changes to labor leasing laws are expected to come into force in April 2017. Italy: Smart working reforms The Government is considering making it easier for employees to work from home and remotely from other locations. This is currently rare in practice. Italy: Jobs Act proposals for freelancers The Government is expected to progress new legislation to govern freelance and other self-employment relationships. The particular aim of the proposals is to prevent employers from seeking to claim certain relationships are not an employment relationship. Lithuania: New Labor Code in effect from 1 January 2017 The new Code addresses issues such as notice periods and severance pay in "no-fault" dismissals; dismissal at will and employment contract arrangements. Netherlands: Delay to enforcement of new self-employed tax regime Dutch tax authorities have confirmed that they will not take enforcement action until at least 1 January 2018 in respect of the new tax regime for independent contractors which came into effect on 1 May 2016. Netherlands: Gender pay transparency A legislative proposal on transparency regarding equal remuneration is currently progressing through the Dutch parliamentary system. Poland: Minimum pay rate for work under civil law contracts from January 2017 Amended legislation in force from January 2017 will apply the minimum hourly pay rate to contractors as well as to employees.
Poland: Planned amendments to employment law in 2017 The Polish parliament is currently working on a draft bill that will introduce a number of changes to employment law Romania: Additional holidays proposed A draft law amending the Labor code is pending before Parliament. The new provisions set out an additional public holidays for 23 April (Saint George). Romania: New proposed rules for protection of trade union leaders and employees representation in collective negotiations An amendment to the Social dialogue law sets out a new protection regime for the trade union leaders and new rules regarding the representation of employees in the collective negotiation process. Russia: New rules on professional standards for certain regulated positions On 1 January 2017, new rules come into force in relation to professional standards required to be met for certain roles in Russia. Sweden: Increased protection for whistleblowers proposed New legislation has been proposed to provide special protection for employees blowing the whistle regarding serious offences. The proposal would give increased protection for whistleblowers facing disciplinary action by their employers. Sweden: Sustainability report The Swedish government has proposed that all companies of a certain size shall make an annual non-financial report on sustainability. UAE: Changes to Emiratisation A number of important laws come into force on 1 January 2017 relating to the employment of Emiratis with sanctions for employers who do not comply. UAE: Maternity leave developments considered In 2016, a government committee was set up to review and discuss maternity leave provisions. Progress is expected in 2017. UK: Brexit: EU Referendum On 23 June 2016, the people of the UK voted to leave the European Union. The employment and pensions law implications of this vote can be found on our Brexit pages. UK: Gender pay reporting regulations coming into force on 6 April 2017 In December 2016 the Government finally published revised regulations which will require employers employing 250 or more employees to published information about the gender pay gap in their organisation. UK: Termination payments: changes to tax treatment Following previous consultation, the Government has confirmed the changes which will be made in how termination payments will be taxed with effect from April 2018.
UK: Reforms to rules on industrial action by trades unions In May 2016 legislation was passed making provision for significant changes to the rules on industrial action. Commencement regulations which will bring the new rules into effect are expected during the course of 2017. AMERICAS Brazil: E-Social implementation postponed to 2018 Implementation of Brazil's new e-social programme has been postponed to 2018. However, businesses will need to start preparing for the new regime during the course of 2017. One aspect that remains to be clarified is what the penalties for non-compliance will be, but for now, rather than considering the penalty regime, companies are recommended during the course of 2017 to focus on preparing for compliance whether internally or through a payroll provider. Brazil: Significant Supreme Court decision on outsourcing expected shortly The Brazilian Supreme Federal Court is due to decide a very significant point of law shortly relating whether the existing rules on outsourcing in Brazil, based on a decision of the Superior Labor Court, are lawful. The Supreme Federal Court's decision could have major ramifications for clients and suppliers of outsourced services in Brazil. Canada: Supreme Court to consider scope of human rights protection in non-traditional employment relationships The Supreme Court of Canada will once again be looking at the issue of which members of the workforce should have the protection of human rights legislation. Mexico: New labor reforms proposed In April 2016, the Office of the Presidency exercised its constitutional powers to present an amendment initiative that proposes to change Mexico's current labor legislation (the Constitution and Mexican Federal Labor Law).The Senate approved the amendments in October 2016. US: Larger employers to be subject to greater gender pay transparency Employers with more than 100 employees file an annual EEO-1 report detailing the demographics of their workforce. Beginning with the 2017 report (which will be filed in March 2018), that report will require information about pay; unlike pay transparency laws elsewhere, this report is not public. US: Uncertainty over changes to overtime exemptions New government regulations doubling the salary level to just over USD 47,000 per year to qualify for overtime exempt status have been enjoined, but that injunctions is now on appeal. Regardless of the outcome in the appellate court, there will be a new Secretary of Labor under President-elect Trump in 2017 who may also wish to roll back those (and perhaps other) regulations.