Key employment law developments expected in 2017

A significant amount of new employment legislation is expected or is already in place for 2017. Key changes will be in the hiring of temporary workers through an agency (referred to as “personnel leasing” in Germany), employee protection and equal treatment.

Reform of laws regarding personnel leasing

One of the main developments in 2017 will be the long expected reform of the German Act on Temporary Employment (Arbeitnehmerüberlassungsgesetz – AÜG), as well as other related laws, with effect from 01 April 2017. Aiming to reinforce the rights of temporary workers during personnel leasing and in particular to prevent … Continue Reading

What rights and protections are there for part-time workers?

By Stefanie Radina on November 7, 2016 Posted in Contracts, Europe, Germany

This post was also contributed by Dimitri Schaff, Trainee, Norton Rose Fulbright LLP (Munich).

Currently, about one quarter of all employment relationships in Germany are based on part-time models, the proportion of part-time to full-time employees having increased by about 12 per cent since 2001. Furthermore, as a result of the implementation of the EU Part-time Workers Directive 97/81/EC into German law in 2001, an enforceable right for current full-time employees to switch to part-time work exists in Germany. Besides this, employees with children (under the age of eight) may additionally claim the right to part-time parental leave.

Although employers … Continue Reading

Protecting the vulnerable: Rights and protections for part-time employees

By Karen Ainslie (ZA) on November 1, 2016 Posted in South Africa

This article was written by Jonathan Arumugam , a Candidate Attorney at Norton Rose Fulbright South Africa

Managing a workplace and employees is a lot different nowadays than it used to be two decades ago. Today, many employers struggle to recruit and retain employees by offering a strict nine to five work day. Your typical staff complement is multigenerational and has access to technology allowing them to work outside the office. Couple this with the bigger focus on work/life balance and many employees are attracted to non-traditional employment arrangements such as working part-time or flexi time.

Historically, part-time employees and … Continue Reading