GETTING THROUGH THE DEAL Labour & Employment Labour & Employment Labour Contributing editors Matthew Howse, Sabine Smith-Vidal, Walter Ahrens and Mark Zelek 2017 2017 © Law Business Research 2017 Labour & Employment 2017 Contributing editors Matthew Howse, Sabine Smith-Vidal, Walter Ahrens and Mark Zelek Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP Publisher Law The information provided in this publication is Gideon Roberton general and may not apply in a specific situation. [email protected] Business Legal advice should always be sought before taking Research any legal action based on the information provided. Subscriptions This information is not intended to create, nor does Sophie Pallier Published by receipt of it constitute, a lawyer–client relationship. [email protected] Law Business Research Ltd The publishers and authors accept no responsibility 87 Lancaster Road for any acts or omissions contained herein. 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Printed and distributed by First published 2006 Encompass Print Solutions Dan White Twelfth edition Tel: 0844 2480 112 [email protected] ISSN 1750-9920 © Law Business Research 2017 CONTENTS Global overview 7 Greece 99 Mark E Zelek Theodoros Skouzos and Aikaterini Besini Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP Iason Skouzos & Partners Law Firm Global gender pay equity – an achievable aim? 9 India 108 Matthew Howse and Lee Harding Rohit Kochhar Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP Kochhar & Company Afghanistan 11 Indonesia 115 Ghazi Khan and Muhammad Ismail Johannes C Sahetapy-Engel and Anissa Paramita Legal Oracles Arfidea Kadri Sahetapy-Engel Tisnadisastra (AKSET) Australia 16 Italy 121 Joydeep Hor and Therese MacDermott Valeria Morosini People + Culture Strategies Toffoletto De Luca Tamajo e Soci – member of Ius Laboris Austria 23 Japan 130 Thomas Boller Motoi Fujii and Tomoko Narita BLS Rechtsanwälte Boller Langhammer Schubert GmbH TMI Associates Belgium 31 Kazakhstan 141 Emmanuel Plasschaert, Evelien Jamaels and Alex Franchimont Klara Nurgaziyeva, Marat Mukhamediyev and Asset Nakupov Crowell & Moring Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP Brazil 37 Korea 147 Fabio Medeiros Sun Ha Kweon, Matthew F Jones and Sung Il Yoon Machado Associados Advogados e Consultores Kim & Chang Bulgaria 44 Luxembourg 154 Maria Drenska and Maya Aleksandrova Guy Castegnaro and Ariane Claverie Pavlov and Partners Law Firm in cooperation with CMS Castegnaro – member of Ius Laboris Reich-Rohrwig Hainz Rechtsanwälte GmbH Malaysia 165 Chile 50 Selvamalar Alagaratnam Enrique Munita, Paola Casorzo, Marcela Salazar and Skrine Paula García Huidobro Munita & Olavarría – Ius Laboris Chile Mexico 171 Humberto Padilla Gonzalez China 57 Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP Todd Liao Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP Monaco 176 Sophie Marquet and Florence de Guzman de Saint Nicolas Denmark 64 PCM Avocats - Pasquier Ciulla & Marquet Associés Morten Langer Norrbom Vinding Norway 182 Tore Lerheim and Ole Kristian Olsby Ecuador 71 Homble Olsby advokatfirma AS Patricia Ponce Bustamante & Bustamante Law Firm Portugal 188 João Silva Pereira Finland 77 Barrocas & Associados – Sociedade de Advogados, RL Seppo Havia, Suvi Knaapila and Valtteri Tapala Dittmar & Indrenius Puerto Rico 195 Melissa C Rodriguez France 84 Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP Sabine Smith-Vidal and Charles Dauthier Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP Russia 204 Bela Pelman and Dmitry Dmitriev Germany 91 Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP Walter Ahrens Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP 2 Getting the Deal Through – Labour & Employment 2017 © Law Business Research 2017 CONTENTS Singapore 212 Thailand 261 Ian Lim, Jamie Chin and Nicholas Ngo Pisut Rakwong and Nalanta Tonghorm TSMP Law Corporation Pisut and Partners Slovakia 224 Turkey 267 Pavol Rak and Petra Krajčík Rıza Gümbüşoğlu, Pelin Baysal and Beril Yayla Sapan Noerr s.r.o. Gün + Partners Slovenia 232 United Arab Emirates 272 Darja Miklavčič Charles Laubach and Tara Jamieson Odvetniki Šelih & partnerji, o.p., d.o.o. Afridi & Angell Spain 239 United Kingdom 278 Iñigo Sagardoy and Ricardo García Fernández Matthew Howse, Sarah Ash and Nicholas Hobson Sagardoy Abogados – member of Ius Laboris Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP Sweden 247 United States 285 Robert Stromberg and Jonas Lindskog David A McManus and Michelle Seldin Silverman Cederquist Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP Switzerland 254 Venezuela 293 Roberta Papa and Thomas Pietruszak John D Tucker, Pablo Benavente and María Elena Subero Blesi & Papa Hoet Peláez Castillo & Duque www.gettingthedealthrough.com 3 © Law Business Research 2017 PREFACE Preface Labour & Employment 2017 Twelfth edition Getting the Deal Through is delighted to publish the twelfth edition of Labour & Employment, which is available in print, as an e-book and online at www.gettingthedealthrough.com. Getting the Deal Through provides international expert analysis in key areas of law, practice and regulation for corporate counsel, cross-border legal practitioners, and company directors and officers. Throughout this edition, and following the unique Getting the Deal Through format, the same key questions are answered by leading practitioners in each of the jurisdictions featured. Our coverage this year includes new chapters on Monaco and Thailand. Getting the Deal Through titles are published annually in print. Please ensure you are referring to the latest edition or to the online version at www.gettingthedealthrough.com. Every effort has been made to cover all matters of concern to readers. However, specific legal advice should always be sought from experienced local advisers. Getting the Deal Through gratefully acknowledges the efforts of all the contributors to this volume, who were chosen for their recognised expertise. We also extend special thanks to the contributing editors, Matthew Howse, Sabine Smith-Vidal, Walter Ahrens and Mark Zelek of Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP, for their continued assistance with this volume. London April 2017 www.gettingthedealthrough.com 5 © Law Business Research 2017 Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP GLOBAL OVERVIEW Global overview Mark E Zelek Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP US companies have gone increasingly global in recent years. Many protections to obtain relief. Aggrieved employees simply file claims US firms now have far-flung operations (as well as customers) spread that their terminations were without ‘cause’. around the world. US-based multinationals often learn the hard way that they cannot deal with overseas employees in the same manner Employment contracts they do with their US counterparts because of the dramatic differ- In the United States, employees rarely have written employment con- ences between the United States and the rest of the world’s labour and tracts. Employment contracts are generally reserved only for high-level employment laws. This overview highlights and summarises the prin- executives, and, in the absence of a written employment contract for a cipal distinctions and discusses recent reforms in some foreign coun- fixed term, US workers’ employment is at-will. tries to narrow that gap. By contrast, in most of the rest of the world employment contracts are either statutorily required for all employees or highly recommended Employment-at-will versus job stability as best practice. Moreover, the minimum terms that employment con- The United States regulates its labour market significantly less than tracts must contain are often outlined in statutes. In the absence of a other countries do. Unlike much of the rest of the world, there is no written employment contract, it is very difficult for employers to win if comprehensive statutory labour law governing individual employ- disputes with foreign employees arise. ment relationships or constitutional recognition of labour rights in the United States. The terms of employment relationships are determined Managing termination exposure risk largely by employers and accepted or rejected by workers rather than Although discharged employees in most parts of the world are entitled imposed by the government. This is generally designed to encourage by law to generous severance payments, the potential exposure can be business development, job creation and the movement of workers from quantified and can be budgeted and saved. Typically, the severance declining sectors of the economy to expanding sectors. The result is formula is set out in a statute and includes a base payment plus a mul- that the United States has a historically lower unemployment rate than tiple based on seniority of final pay for a specified period. Unlike in the that of most other nations. United States, compensatory and punitive damages, jury trials, and The basic principle of individual labour law in the United States class and collective actions are also generally unavailable for employ- is the employment-at-will doctrine. Under employment-at-will, US ment claims. This greatly reduces the risk of an unexpected or runa- private-sector employers can dismiss their non-unionised employees way result. at any time for any reason or even no reason at all. Thus, non-union US private employers do not have to demonstrate ‘just cause’ to termi- Unionisation nate an employee without paying severance or providing notice. They Only 6.7