Employment law continues to evolve, and it can be a challenge amid an ever-changing landscape of local employment laws for human resources executives and employment counsel at multinational businesses to maintain a consistent global corporate culture.
McDermott’s Global Employment Law Update brings you the key highlights from across Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin and North America. Developed in collaboration with peer firms operating in more than 50 countries, this resource guide contains summaries of the laws and significant court decisions that impacted employers and employees all over the world. It includes:
As governments lift COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, employers are turning to artificial intelligence tools to accelerate their hiring processes.
However, these AI-based tools can open businesses up to discrimination claims if they are not careful, according to McDermott partner Brian Mead.
“[The technology] could decide that certain words [are] unlikely to [yield] successful candidates, and then it’s prescreening out members of protected classes and categories of applicants in a discriminatory way,” Mead said in a recent Law360 article.
When the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) relaxed its mask guidance in May, the news caught many people—especially corporate America—off guard.
In this Forbesarticle, McDermott partner Michael W. Peregrine argues that companies need to provide stakeholders with clear health and safety messaging in light of mandates from state and local governments.
“Companies can ill-afford to drift in the wind of confusion and controversy, and they can’t be blindsided by further guidance change should there be an increase in reported cases or should variants, like those first found in India, surface in the United States,” Peregrine writes.
As more businesses reopen in the wake of COVID-19, many employees are seeking to continue their remote work arrangements indefinitely.
In this Los Angeles Times article, McDermott partner Michelle S. Strowhiro suggests employees share their wishes with their employer sooner instead of later.
“Now is the time to help shape those policies,” Strowhiro notes.
The telework explosion ushered in by the COVID-19 pandemic has created new opportunities—and challenges—for employers’ workplace sexual harassments trainings.
In this Law360 article, McDermott partner Maria C. Rodriguez argues that the benefits of virtual and in-person trainings are easy to identify when they’re done right.
On May 18, 2021, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued much-anticipated Notice 2021-31 (the Notice) regarding the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) premium subsidy provisions of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA). Under ARPA, a 100% COBRA premium subsidy and additional COBRA enrollment rights are available to certain assistance eligible individuals (AEIs) during the period beginning on April 1, 2021, and ending on September 30, 2021.
The US Department of Labor (DOL) has previously issued model notices and a set of FAQs regarding the COBRA premium subsidy. The IRS has now issued additional FAQs in the Notice that apply to employers and plan sponsors.
The German federal cabinet recently approved the draft law on the digital modernization of healthcare and nursing care. The draft has been criticized for not taking into account lessons learned from the implementation of the 2019 digital health applications (DiGAs) law.
In this International News article, McDermott Will & Emery partner Dr. Stephan Rau and McDermott alumna Dr. Karolin Hiller provide insight into the planned German regulations on DiGAs and digital care applications (DiPAs).
One of the COVID-19 pandemic’s most insidious harms has been the impact on employee health, morale and productivity arising from the erosion of home/work boundaries. In this Forbesarticle, McDermott partner Michael W. Peregrine argues that the mitigation of such harms is a board’s business.
The Protecting the Right to Organize Act (PRO Act) passed the US House of Representatives for a second time this March. If it’s signed into law, the legislation would eliminate state right-to-work laws, increase the number of workers eligible for collective bargaining and ban mandatory arbitration agreements.
In this video, McDermott partner Ron Holland breaks down the PRO Act’s most significant changes to employment law.
The question of whether or not to make vaccinations mandatory for workers is being considered by employers globally, particularly those in the healthcare sector. In this video, McDermott Will & Emery partner Carole A. Spink outlines some of the most common employer-related vaccine questions, including incentives and data privacy concerns. Spink and McDermott partner Paul McGrath recently also wrote for McDermott’s International News about this topic.
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