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:
Pandemic relief, taxes, income inequality, climate change, infrastructure, healthcare and civil rights: the new US administration is moving forward rapidly on President Joe Biden’s stated priorities. So how are these new policies affecting your business? We’re here to keep you informed!
McDermott Will & Emery’s multidisciplinary team of industry-leading lawyers are monitoring key legal areas to help you navigate and gain perspective on the most critical impacts of changing US policies. Access the latest updates in our new resource center.
There are three focal points in every successorship case: (1) notice to the purchaser; (2) continuity of the business; and (3) the ability of the seller to provide relief.
Reading the tripartite test for successor liability, it is enticing to conclude that a deal is safe. This is what the Greeks called hubris. Remember Oedipus, who also thought he could escape the prophecy of his fate? Even when it appears one of those factors ought to result in a buyer escaping successorship liability, any reading of those factors needs to be grounded in the case law because it sweeps more than a literal reading of those tripartite factors might suggest.
Even a quick look at the case law reveals the magnitude of the doctrine’s scope.
US businesses expanding abroad, and international businesses moving into the United States, can find the differences between employment laws both unexpected and costly.
Companies of all sizes are eager to expand their businesses, and their workforce, into new markets. US employers already know that operating in multiple states can feel like operating in different countries because of state- and locality-specific employment laws. But if operating in California versus Wyoming is comparing pools to puddles, then operating in the United States versus other countries is comparing puddles to oceans.
US-based companies looking to expand abroad, and foreign companies opening their first US locations, must proceed with caution before jumping in. One error can commit a business to employing its workforce until retirement, cost months and a small fortune to terminate the employment relationship, or keep it embroiled for years in class action litigation.
A significant judgment delivered on July 26, 2017, by the UK Supreme Court increases the likelihood of employment claims being brought in the future and is of significance to all organizations employing staff in the United Kingdom.
On September 10, 2014, California’s Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014 (California’s sick leave law) became law. The new law requires most employers to allow employees to accrue up to three days of paid sick leave per year based on an accrual of at least one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked. California’s sick leave law does provide for various accrual caps, in deference to employers that already have a paid time off (PTO) policy meeting certain standards, as well as various other exceptions. Employees may use the paid sick leave to care for themselves or other family members. Notably, the new law imposes notice, posting and record-retention obligations with which employers must now comply.
As the economy continues to rebound and the United States again starts to see more movement in the employment market, employers are once again revisiting their severance pay and retention policies and developing an underlying rational of whether or not to provide these benefits and if so, how broadly among their workforce. However, it has become apparent that not everyone really understands the difference between severance arrangements and retention agreements and when one should be used instead of the other. Each accomplishes a different purpose and understanding the fundamental differences between the two will allow professionals to make an educated decision regarding which option is best for a given organization depending on its existing circumstances.
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