13 January 2022
As the resurgence of Covid-19 and its Omicron variant makes teleworking once again mandatory in Germany for all employees for whom this form of working is possible, Hubertus Heil, German Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, has announced his intention to establish this system within everyday working life on a long term basis, by introducing a ‘right to telework.’ For the Social Democrat Minister, it is a question of drawing lessons from the “large-scale teleworking experiment” that the coronavirus crisis...
15 November 2021
The CCOO de Industria and UGT FICA trade unions and the employer federation Confemetal have ratified the fourth national collective agreement for industry, new technologies and services in the metal sector, which creates a framework for collective bargaining for a period of three years (2021 to 2023). The document, signed on 3 November, will serve as a guide for all branch or company negotiations and all regional agreements at provincial level.
9 November 2021
On 05 November 2021 the text amending the 2003 law on telework was approved and included a number of significant changes, including employer coverage of telework expenses, and the right to respect rest periods and holidays. The notion of an agreement between both parties (employer and employee) has been maintained and must be the subject of a written contract.
20 September 2021
With France set to take over the rotating European Union Council Presidency in the coming months, Nicolas Schmit, the European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, made a trip to Paris to meet with meet ministers and social partners. Interviewed by members of the association of social news journalists (AJIS) on Friday 17 September, Schmit gave an update on the EU’s plans in the social sphere: minimum wages, vocational training, platforms and regulation of remote work. According to the Commissioner, these...
25 March 2021
On 23 March on the occasion of its second reading in Senate plenary, almost unanimous approval was given to a bill regulating working at home ‘telework’ under ‘ad hoc, extraordinary or special’ circumstances, and as distinguished from existing legislation that regulates traditional ‘telework’. Having already passed the House of Representatives it must now go before before a committee comprising representatives from both chambers before being enacted. The bill, which maintains the same level of rights...
2 March 2021
Following President Volodymyr Zelensky’s promulgation of Law No. 4051, Ukraine now has a legal framework for the practice of teleworking. Passed in early February by the Verkhovna Rada parliament, the law came into force on 27/02. In signing an amendment to their employment contract, the law allows employees to freely determine how to distribution their teleworking working hours and workplace for ‘remote work’, which the law distinguishes from ‘working at home’ that has no on-site presence. In addition,...
28 January 2021
On 27 January, Austria’s Council of Ministers promulgated new rules and tax incentives that will now govern the practice of teleworking. While the Ministry of Labor and the social partners had already reached agreement on several points (c.f. article No.12133), everyone was waiting to see how the Finance Ministry would manage the issue of tax incentives. In the end the Ministry decided that each employee will be able to deduct up to a maximum of €300 per year for teleworking related purchases of equipment and...
28 January 2021
On 26 January 2021, Belgium’s National Labor Council (a joint employer-employee representative body that negotiates inter-professional collective agreements), together with trade union bodies and employers’ organizations concluded an inter-professional collective agreement on telework that is ‘mandatory or recommended by the public authorities as part of the measures taken to combat the spread of the coronavirus.’ Valid until the end of 2021, it has been drawn up as a framework agreement that defines...
19 January 2021
On 15 January 2020, Ireland’s government published its first national remote work strategy (here), the goal of which is to ensure home and remote work becomes the norm after the pandemic ends. This strategy includes adopting legislation to provide employees the right to request remote work (Q3 2021) along with the introduction of a code of practice (Q1 2021) with Ministerial approval....
17 December 2020
On 08 December, President Putin promulgated Federal Law 407-FZ on telework. The text, which was adopted on 26 November after its 3rd reading in the Duma, (Parliament), alters the labor code to better take into account issues surrounding telework and to ‘protect workers and preserve jobs,’ says its authors. It establishes a framework for implementing telework whereby (i) employees are able to choose this working arrangement, except in exceptional circumstances, (ii) workers’ salaries can be maintained,...
