Developments In International Employment Law

Employment law is high on the agenda of many governments worldwide. This Today’s General Counsel article looks at these developments in three international jurisdictions: The United States, China and Europe. A key pending issue in the U.S. is wage overtime regulations, specifically the minimum annual salary threshold for workers to qualify for the white-collar exemption. Proposed changes could make more than one million additional U.S. workers eligible for overtime. In China, a slew of additional regulations pertaining to worker recruitment and promotion have been promulgated in response to the #MeToo movement. In Europe, key developments include a pending new set of rules pertaining to the gig economy in Italy; new regulations pertaining to foreign workers and the reduction of workloads for ageing workers in Belgium; and new rules pertaining to collective bargaining agreements in Spain.