Last year, the House of Representatives Member Susana Prieto presented a Bill to constitutionally amend working hours from 48 to 40 hours a week.
In November 2023, members of the Board of the Chamber of Deputies made a series of recommendations and changes to the Bill that returned to the Constitutional Points Committee.
On 15 December, the Mexican Congress closed its final ordinary session for 2023. The Bill will be discussed when the next ordinary session opens in February 2024.
As we reported last May, British Colombia adopted the Pay Transparency Act, which addresses systemic discrimination in the workplace and aims to reduce pay gaps affecting women, people of colour, people with disabilities, and non-binary people.
According to the Act, employers can no longer ask job applicants about what they were paid in previous positions.
From 1 November 2023, all employers in British Columbia must include pay ranges in job postings, prepare reports identifying systemic pay discrimination, and disclose pay information to employees and applicants upon request.
The Pay Transparency Regulation (BC Reg 225/2023) was released on 23 October 2023 and is now in force. It provides details on the mandatory contents of the remuneration transparency reports.
On 19 October 2023, the Court of Justice of the European Union, in Case C-660/20, stressed that only objective reasons can justify treating part-time and full-time workers differently.
The Court ruled that domestic legislation that requires part-time employees to work an extra number of hours equal to that required of full-time employees to obtain a pay supplement is contrary to EU law.
That provision is discriminatory as it unfavourably treats part-time employees, who must perform more extra hours of service than their full-time colleagues to receive the same additional remuneration.
On 4 July 2023, Brazil enacted Law n. 14,611/2023 on equal pay for equal work between women and men.
It is part of a package of gender equality measures announced by the government in March 2023 to tackle discrimination and inequalities in the workplace.
French unions and employers have agreed on a draft collective agreement on value sharing that facilitates profit-sharing, incentive schemes, and tax-free bonuses in all companies.
The agreement will be included in an employment bill which the government is expected to present in spring 2023.
On 23 February 2023, the Australian Workplace Gender Equality Agency reported that the national gender pay gap has dropped to 13.3% and, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), women earn, on average, 87 cents for every $1 made by a man.