News

Publication of the “equal treatment” directive
The directive on "the implementation of the equal treatment principle and that of equal opportunities between men and women at work (recasting)", is published in the OJEU. The text must now be...
French and German employers call for the construction of a more effective Europe
The French MEDEF and two German employers' organizations, the BDI (Industry-Confederation of German industry) and the BDA (Confederation of associations of German employers), who met July 18 in...
The European Council adopts its common position on the “services” directive
The European Council has adopted on 24 July its common position on a draft on services in the internal market. The common position, which looks a lot like the first reading of the European...
EU: Commission proposal on reduced rate of VAT for services with high level of labor
The European Commission proposed, on July 25, to allow 17 Member States to apply or maintain a lower rate of VAT until 31 December 2010. This proposal implements the provisions of directive...
Great Britain: the result of wage negotiations is below inflation
The wage increases negotiated during the second quarter of 2006 -an average rate of 3%- are lower than inflation, according to Industrial Relation Services (IRS), specialized in employment issues...
Spain : the government plans to grant unemployment benefits to self-employed workers
The new law envisages to grant temporary subsidies to self-employed workers who are out of work. But the government lays down two conditions: this category will have to be mostly favourable to the...
Germany: adoption of a law on the working hours of lorry drivers
The Parliament adopted, on July 7th, a law setting new working time rules for lorry drivers and bus drivers. The maximum work week is now 48 hours and can go up to 60 hours on average over a four...
Credit Agricole group : a European work’s council will soon be created
The French banking group plans to launch a negotiation in order to set up a European work's council. A first meeting of the special group of negotiation is envisaged at the end September. (Réf...
The first European Cooperative society has been established
Just a few weeks before the deadline for the transposition of the directive on workers' involvement in European cooperative societies (ECS), the first ECS was established in Italy on 6 July. (Ref...
Belgium: a bill on the refund of training courses paid by the employer
The Council of Ministers of July 21 adopted a bill amending the law of July 3, 1978 relating to employment contracts, which frames the so-called "schooling" clauses . These clauses allow the...
Great Britain: a bill on corporate manslaughter
The government has submitted to Parliament, on Friday July 21, its long-expected bill on fatal accidents at work. The text, called "Corporate manslaughter and corporate homicide Bill", introduces...
Netherlands: employees’ rights during the heat wave
In a country where the average temperature usually reaches a maximum of 17 degrees in July, the heat wave which is prevailing since July 11 is becoming worrying. (Réf. 06754)
EU: the Commission announces its work program for autumn
Whereas European institutions have started their summer break, the European Commission departments published a forecast diary of the main events of next autumn, with especially a green book on the...
Germany: the SPD puts pressure in favour of a minimum wage
In an interview to the German weekly magazine "Der Spiegel", an SPD executive, Ludwig Stiegler and a labour market expert, Klaus Brandner, propose a mechanism of minimum wage. (Réf. 06751)
Netherlands : the project to put “assisted” people back to work proves highly controversial
The proposal made by Henk van Hoof, the Secretary of State for social Affairs and Work, to put back to work the long-term recipients of social assistance (see article 06737) is being severely...
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
EU: Commission launches consultation with social partners on quality jobs
On 4 December, the European Commission launched the first phase of consultation with social partners with a view to a European directive on jobs, which is scheduled for the end of 2026. It could...
4 December 2025
2
EDF bans alcohol on all its sites
From 1 January 2026, French energy giant EDF (180,000 employees) will prohibit alcohol consumption at all internal and external corporate events, from social gatherings to seminars. The policy...
26 November 2025
3
United Kingdom: government scraps plan to introduce ‘day one’ protection against unfair dismissal
The UK government announced on 27 November, in a statement, that it would not be introducing the right to challenge unfair dismissal (without cause) from the first day of employment in its...
3 December 2025
4
Poland: bill adopted to amend definition of psychological harassment
On 27 November, the Polish cabinet adopted a draft amendment to the labour code aimed at simplifying the definition of psychological harassment at work, or “mobbing” (Article 94 3)...
4 December 2025
5
EU: MEPs demand directive on algorithmic management
Members of the European Parliament have called for a directive on algorithmic management. Such legislation would introduce obligations for companies to inform employees, assess health and safety...
17 December 2025
6
Austria: European rules on wage transparency expected to cause a cultural shock
With the gender pay gap in Austria being the second largest in the European Union (18.3%), the Austrian government has promised to introduce a bill next spring to transpose the European directive...
27 November 2025