Tag Archives: Labor Law

International HR Forum Best of 2011

Author:
Warren Heaps – Birches Group LLC

As we reflect back on the 2011 year just completed, we have compiled a list of the most popular posts on the site during the past year.  Each of the posts listed below had more than 1,000 views during 2011.  If you did not have a chance to view these posts when they were first published, here’s a great opportunity to see what you missed.

Why Culture is Important in International Business
Ten Steps For Building A Salary Structure
International Employment Law “Quick Facts”: Brazil
How Top Companies Manage Talent Development
The Way To Identify Your Future Leaders (Part 1)
International Employment Law “Quick Facts”: India
Global Salary Grades or Global Salary Structure?
Global HR Issues That Keep Executives Up at Night – Part 1
International Annual Leave Rules — Or I Want to Live in Brazil!
The Way to Identify your Future Leaders – Part 2
Square Peg in a Round Hole: Balancing the Global Salary Budget
Base Salary – Not So Basic!
Reverse Culture Shock (or Why Do I Hate Being Back Home?)
Creating High Performance Teams
From Training Departments to a Company Academy Part 1

We have much to look forward to as we enter 2012. We will be adding some new regular contributors to the site, and will be revamping the entire site over the next few months. We appreciate your support and encourage you to add your comments on how we can make the site even more valuable for you. Also, let us have your suggestions for future posts and other ideas you think would be helpful in advancing the site as a resource for international human resources professionals.  Finally, if you are interested in submitting a post, we welcome your participation.  Please contact me to discuss your interest.

Ten Questions HR Should Ask When Your Company Expands Internationally

Author:
Warren Heaps – Birches Group LLC

Companies are increasing the pace of international expansion, constantly seeking new opportunities and new markets.  One of the most commonly asked questions through our Ask the Experts feature and on other sites is how to prepare, from a human resources perspective, for international expansion.  It might be opening a new office, or just hiring one or two sales reps, but either way, there’s work to do.  If your company is expanding to a new country, what questions should you ask (and answer) as an international HR expert to help prepare your firm?

Continue reading

Workplace Bullying: A Global Issue

Guest Author:
Ellen Pinkos Cobb – The Isosceles Group

[Editor’s Note:  We are pleased to feature this article on Global Workforce Bullying by guest author Ellen Pinkos Cobb.  Ellen is an attorney with many years of experience in the employment law field, and has spent the past two years extensively focusing on psychosocial workplace issues.  She is a Senior Regulatory & Legal Analyst for The Isosceles Group, a consulting firm specializing in Environmental, Health and Safety management services.  Ellen is based in the firm’s Boston office.] 

Think about sexual harassment.  It’s not done.  And yet, it was done, flagrantly, constantly, with a wink and a nod, until not that long ago.  It still happens, but less, and public perception has changed.

In the United States, workplace bullying has been found to be four times more prevalent than sexual harassment.  At the Work, Stress, and Health 2011 conference in May, bullying expert Staale Einarsen of Norway described the workplace bullying field as “exploding.”

Continue reading

Ten Tips for Managing Employment Contracts

Guest Author:
Joan Keston –  Keston & Associates, Ltd.

[Editor’s Note:  We are happy to welcome Joan Keston as a Guest Author.  Joan is an experienced attorney and Managing Principal at Keston & Associates, a consulting firm that helps companies achieve a stable international presence by providing a broad range of legal services for international corporate and employment law, and global governance.  She assists public and private companies, NGOs and non-profits, US and foreign entities.]

Employment contracts are a requirement in many countries.  Drafting employment contracts is a blending of the company employment policies and practices, usually based on employment law of the country where the company’s headquarters is located, and the employment/labor law of the country where the employee is working.

Jurisprudence varies greatly among countries, and this will affect basic contract law and corporate law, as well as legal principles.  Layered on top of these differences is employment/labor legislation, an area that is extremely nationalistic and specialized.  The differences are accentuated more so in developing countries.

Managing these contracts is a challenge.  Here are ten best practices to consider: Continue reading

Ten Frequently Asked Questions About China’s Labor Law

Guest Author:
Aaron Schindel – Partner at Proskauer

Editor’s Note:  This post was compiled by Aaron Schindel, a Partner in the Labor & Employment Law Department and co-head of the International Labor & Employment Group at Proskauer.  His career spans the full range of labor and employment matters for clients ranging from multinational corporations to small not-for-profit organizations, to large and small public sector entities.

The article originally appeared in the Proskauer law firm newsletter “International HR Best Practices Tip of the Month.”

With the explosive growth of the Chinese economy, many companies are opening offices in China. Hiring employees in China requires a detailed understanding of local laws and regulations. Ying Li and Lijuan Hou of Proskauer’s Hong Kong office have compiled this list of ten frequently asked questions about the laws affecting foreign employers opening offices in the People’s Republic of China.

Continue reading

Employment in France – A Quick Checklist for Employers

Guest Author:
John Tinsley – Compandben.com

Editor’s Note:  This post is written by John Tinsley, Managing Director and Owner of Compandben.com, a Geneva-based HR consultancy.  John is an HR practitioner with over 25 years of experience in Europe and the Middle East.  John’s company offers assistance to employers in finding reliable local payroll partners in over 100 countries.  He also provides consulting services in areas such as labor contracts, employee handbooks, benefits, and compensation.

Employment in France has some unique requirements and challenges.  For employers establishing businesses in France for the first time, the following checklist is a handy guide of what to consider:

  1. All employees in France are notionally attached to a “Convention Collective” or Collective Agreement for their industry. The agreements are very similar but there are variations between industry in terms of vacation, social charges, and termination indemnities, so employers need to define what their business is. As an example,”Telecoms” wouldn’t be detailed enough. “Provision and implementation of routers for wide area networks” would be ok.
    Continue reading

Are You Diligent with Your Due Diligence? (Part II)


Author:
Chuck Csizmar –
CMC Compensation Group

Anyone who has ever been involved in a merger or an acquisition team remembers their first time; how green they were, how much they didn’t know and how much of a challenge it was just getting up to speed.   They didn’t know what they didn’t know.  Most neophytes are shell-shocked by the complexities involved, the myriad moving parts – and when the business target is an international concern, or has a foreign footprint, then it’s often a case of “what do we do now”?

Provided below is Part II of a due diligence checklist for international M&A deals, one that I wish I had when I was thrown to the wolves for my first overseas acquisition.  Continue reading

Are you Diligent With Your Due Diligence? (Part I)


Author:
Chuck Csizmar – CMC Compensation Group

Anyone who has ever been involved in a merger or an acquisition team remembers their first time; how green they were, how much they didn’t know and how much of a challenge it was just getting up to speed.   They didn’t know what they didn’t know.  Most neophytes are shell-shocked by the complexities involved, the myriad moving parts – and when the business target is an international concern, or has a foreign footprint, then it’s often a case of “what do we do now”?

Continue reading

Ten Tips to Develop a Global Code of Conduct – Part 2

Author:
Mariana Villa da Costa – Littler Mendelson

A few weeks ago in the first post of this series, I provided five tips to get you started in the development of a Global Code of Conduct.  In this post, we are back with five more tips to help you finish your Code.

Continue reading

Ten Tips to Develop a Global Code of Conduct – Part 1

Author:
Mariana Villa da Costa – Littler Mendelson

What is a Global Code of Conduct?  Everybody talks about them, and they have become a necessity for global businesses in today’s environment, but truly, drafting one can be a big mystery and a lot of work.  Who should draft them? A lawyer? Human resources personnel? The CEO?  What content should be included? What language?

These questions, and many others, will be answered with my ten tips to develop a Global Code of Conduct.  The first five tips are in this post; the remaining ones will follow soon in a follow-up post. Here we go:

Continue reading