working conditions

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The “Act on Proof of the Existence of an Employment Relationship” (Nachweisgesetz – NachwG) requires employers to set out the essential contractual terms of the employment in writing to their employees. The German legislature has now passed an amendment to the Nachweisgesetz, which comes into force on August 1, 2022, and has the effect of transposing the EU Directive (2019/1152) on Transparent and Foreseeable Working Conditions (the Directive) into national law. Accordingly, employers will be required to provide employees with more comprehensive information than before, either as part of the employment contract or in separate documentation. Failure to comply with the new requirements, can lead to fines for the employers. In this post, we summarize the most important legal effect of the amendments.

In a recent decision – Centre de services scolaire du Lac-Témiscamingue et Syndicat de l’enseignement de l’Ungava et de l’Abitibi-Témiscamingue, 2020 QCTA 641, an arbitrator was called upon to determine if a school board’s requirement that teachers undertake a dual teaching system of simultaneous in-person and online learning was contrary to their right to privacy…

Digitization and  technological advances are accelerating the flexibility of working conditions leading to a changed understanding of leadership. A key topic of debate is the “home office” which is currently used by approximately 12 per cent of employees in Germany for all or part of their working time. On this topic, the German government is…

For many employers, the arduous task of reviewing and revising an employee handbook may occur as infrequently as every leap year, or worse, only after a law suit has been filed. However, recent decisions by the National Labor Relations Board (Board) should cause employers to take a much closer look at their employee policies and…