CMS On Your Radar - Key employment issues worldwide

By CMS

September 7, 2021

It is heartening to see a variety of developments reported in this edition, as we start to see a reduction in COVID-19 related developments.

Several countries report new or extended systems of family leave. If your organization has employees working in these countries, then now is a good time to review your policies and check for international variations. Colombia is introducing shared parental leave, a new flexible time parental leave system, and extending the period of paternity leave. Childbirth leave for fathers has come into force in Ukraine. In France, paternity leave has been extended and Belgium has increased the number of days of bereavement leave for workers. Of particular interest is the update from Switzerland that 14 weeks of paid leave for parents of a child with a serious illness was brought into force on 1 July 2021. EU employers will be familiar with the concept of employees using parental leave to deal with this very difficult situation, but this is normally unpaid.

Back to COVID-19 developments, our Norwegian colleagues discuss the preferential re-engagement right which applies to certain employees who are dismissed for COVID-related reasons, which now applies for two years post-termination. In Russia, a sectoral approach to mandatory vaccination has been adopted; workers in the service and trade sectors will be required to be vaccinated against Covid-19. In contrast the UK Government is so far, only requiring workers in care homes to be vaccinated, and the question of introducing mandatory vaccinations will no doubt remain a contentious one in many countries.

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