News brief

Italy: DHL Express experiments with smart working
A national framework agreement signed on 23 February by DHL Express Italy and the Filt-Cgil, Fit-Cisl and Uiltrasporti trade unions, sets out a smart working trial period that will start...
2 March 2022
Portugal: government creates a jobs vacancy website for Ukrainian refugees
On 28 February and in a move to support Ukranian refugees, Portugal’s government launched an online jobs platform to channel company job vacancies towards them. In just one day, the...
2 March 2022
Hong Kong: refusal to get the Covid-19 vaccine may result in employment dismissal
In early February 2022, the Hong Kong government announced that it would amend the Employment Ordinance in order to prevent labour disputes arising from the new social distancing measures. The...
1 March 2022
Italy: energy group Enel to train 5,500 technicians for its network of supplier companies
Launched by Italian electricity and gas group Enel, in partnership with the training body ELIS, the “Energie per Crescere” (Energy for Growth) programme will offer five weeks of...
Norway: due diligence Transparency Act comes into force on 01 July 2022
While on 23 February the European Commission finally presented, a draft directive on due diligence, in June 2021 the Norwegian Parliament adopted a Transparency Act (Åpenhetsloven), which...
24 February 2022
India: Tata Steel augments its transgender employee base
On 21 February, Indian steel giant Tata Steel announced it has recruited 12 transgender crane operator apprentices at its Kalinganagar plant in the western state of Gujarat. The apprentices will...
23 February 2022
Great Britain: nearly 40% women on FTSE 100 boards
On 22 February, the UK Government-backed FTSE Women Leaders Review – revealed that the boards of companies in the FTSE 100 stock market index now include 39.1% women, compared with 36.2% in...
23 February 2022
U.S.: Amazon doubles the base salary cap for its corporate employees
While the maximum base salary for Amazon’s corporate employees was previously capped at $160,000 a year (€141,000), the company has now decided to more than double this to $350,000...
France: a Diversity and Inclusion Index is now available for use by companies
On 17 November 2021, Élisabeth Moreno, Minister Delegate for Gender Equality, Diversity and Equal Opportunities at the Prime Minister’s Office and Amélie de Montchalin...
22 February 2022
EU: collective bargaining in decline in many countries (study)
Between 2000 and 2017, the level of collective bargaining coverage in European countries declined from 70% to 60%, a report published on 16 February by UNI Europa reveals. According to the report...
18 February 2022
Great Britain: free health check screening and salary increases at Marks and Spencer
On 16 February, the UK retail chain announced its intention to enhance its employees’ health and wellbeing benefits by offering a Virtual GP service, free health check screening, and advice...
17 February 2022
Denmark: rules on remote working are changing
Employees are now allowed to use their own work equipment (desk, chair, private computer…) when they are teleworking, as long as it complies with current standards (e.g. adjustable chair...
16 February 2022
Nestlé announces global plan to tackle child labour
Identified in early 2021 along with several other major chocolate manufacturers as using child labour in Côte d’Ivoire (c.f. article No.12367), Nestlé, the Swiss transnational...
15 February 2022
United States: arbitration no longer the sole and mandatory recourse for employees in workplace sexual harassment cases
US President Joe Biden is expected to quickly sign into law a bill that after five years finally passed through Congress on 10 February 2022. The long-awaited legislation allows victims of sexual...
15 February 2022
EU: disabled workers unable to do their job must be reassigned provided it does not constitute a “disproportionate burden” for the employer
In a judgment passed on 10 February 2022, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that “where a worker becomes permanently incapable of remaining in his or her job because of the...
14 February 2022
India: e-commerce platform IndiaMart to pay staff on a weekly basis
B2B e-commerce firm IndiaMart announced on Sunday 6 February that it will now pay its employees on a weekly basis rather than a monthly one. “With an aim to build a flexible work culture and...
Most viewed articles of the month on mind HR
What readers clicked on the most last month.
What readers clicked on the most last month.
1
France: austerity measures proposed in social security financing bill for 2026
Limits on sick leave, the end of social security exemptions for apprentices, and the introduction of additional birth leave: the 2026 social security financing bill, presented to parliament on 14...
16 October 2025
2
Netherlands: ING cites AI as it plans to cut around 950 jobs
Dutch bank ING has informed the employment agency UWV that it may cut around 950 jobs by 31 December 2026. In its notification on 20 October, the lender said the planned reductions stem partly...
30 October 2025
3
Romania: collective agreement extended to entire insurance sector
On 3 November, Romania’s National Tripartite Council for Social Dialogue approved the extension of the collective labour agreement signed on 23 May by the Confederation of Employers in the...
4
United Kingdom largely retained within scope of EWCs despite Brexit, study shows
A study published this month by the Institute for Economic and Social Research, the French trade union research organisation, examined how the involvement of British representatives in European...
5
Germany: legal battle at Tesla ahead of works council election
The Frankfurt/Oder labour court has postponed a mid-November hearing in the case between the IG Metall union and Michaela Schmitz, employee representative and head of the works council at the...
6
France: generative AI and older workers central to BPCE’s skills management strategy
On 17 July 2025, BPCE and its trade unions signed a second agreement on jobs and career management within the banking group. The text places generative artificial intelligence at the core of its...