Industrial Relations and Labour Law

• The Transparent and Predictable Employment Conditions Bill, for the transposition of European Union, has been passed by the House of Representatives.
• The legislative amendments will enter into force on 1 August 2022, following approval by the Senate.

• On 7 June 2022, the European Parliament announced a new agreement for adequate minimum wages in the European Union (EU).
• The agreement provides that:

           - minimum wage should be adequate to ensure a decent standard of living;

           - workers, their representatives and trade union members can seek redress if rules are violated;

           - collective bargaining needs to be strengthened in countries where it covers fewer than 80% of workers;

           - EU rules have to respect the powers of national authorities and social partners to determine wages.

• Since 2022, achieving company’s ESG (Environmental, Social and Corporate-Governance) goals will now factor into bonus calculations for all employees at Mastercard.
• Incentive pay will be in part tied to progress towards the company’s ESG priority areas of carbon neutrality, financial inclusion, and gender pay parity.

• During August 2021, the Firm interviewed board members, senior executives and younger employees (aged 25-40) from over 2000 of the world’s leading companies.
• The final report explains the current thinking of board members and senior managers and checks its alignment with the thinking of their workforce.

• On 5 April 2022, the EP decided by 403 votes in favour, 166 against and 58 abstentions to enter into negotiations with EU governments on a Commission proposal for a Pay Transparency Directive.

• On 7 July 2021, the Minister of Labour, Filomena Tassi, announced that the Government will bring the Pay Equity Act into force on 31 August 2021, and that the final Pay Equity Regulations are available in Part II of the Canada Gazette.
• Federally-regulated employers with 10 or more employees will have three years to develop and implement their proactive pay equity plans.
• The governments of Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut and Indigenous governing bodies are currently exempt from the application of the Act.