• On 10 December 2021, the Parliament passed the “Law to strengthen vaccination prevention against Covid-19".
• By 15 March 2022, employees in clinics, nursing homes, outpatient care services and similar facilities must present proof of being vaccinated or convalescent.

• Law no. 83/2021, published on 6 December 2021, introduces some changes to the remote work regime and sets a general duty on employers to refrain from contacting employees outside working hours.
• It will be enacted on 1^st January 2022.

• The New York City Council has recently passed six bills providing protections, and setting a minimum pay to food delivery workers.
• It makes New York City the first municipality in the United States to set baseline working conditions for services workers delivering food.

• Governmental Order No. 2021-484 of 21 April 2021 on the modalities of representation of self-employed workers using platforms is currently under the revision of the Parliament.

• The Portuguese Government approved a broad-ranging labour reform draft bill that also aims to implement a rebuttable presumption of employment specific for platform workers to to ease worker reclassification as employees instead of independent contractors.
• Such a proposal will still need to get the final approval from Parliament, depending on the results of the 30 January 2022 snap general elections. If passed by the Parliament, drivers for ride-hailing, delivery and other apps, would be treated as presumed employees rather than self-employed. 

• On 5 May 2021, the New York Health and Essential Rights Act (‘NY Hero Act’) was passed, which requires private employers to adopt workplace health and safety measures to protect employees against exposure and infection during a declared airborne disease outbreak. 

• On 10 August 2021, Colombia issued Law n. 2141, establishing the paternity protection against dismissal and amending Article 239 and 240 of the Colombian Labour Code.
• Law 2121, enacted on 3 August 2021, is the first Law in Colombia regarding remote work.

• Law no. 125 of 16 September 2021, converting the Law Decree n. 103/2021, introduced a series of urgent provisions for job protection.

• For 2021, ten million euros have been allocated to the activation of services for the professional outplacement of employees of companies that have been placed in bankruptcy proceedings, in extraordinary administration, or of workers who have been placed in redundancy fund for dismissal.

• It ensures hourly wages for California’s garment workers in lieu of piece-rate pay, which often amounts to wages well below the state’s $14 minimum wage.
• The new law makes California the first state to require hourly wages for garment workers.

• On 9 June 2021 Japan promulgated the "Act for Partial Amendments to the Act on Child Care Leave, Family Care Leave, and Other Measures for the Welfare of Workers Caring for Children or Other Family Members and the Employment Insurance Act.

• The Australian Federal government introduced broad changes to laws relating to casual employment, which included a requirement for employers to offer permanent employment to eligible employees. 
• As part of these new provisions, by 27 September 2021, employers had to identify all casual employees who have been employed since before 27 March 2021 and assess whether they were eligible for casual conversion.

• Employment law amendment cover minimum wage, working hours, protections for employees against wrongful disciplinary actions, new penalties for failure to adequately handle workplace harassment, new claim procedure and remedies for gender-discrimination and sexual-harassment claims, use of childcare leave during pregnancy and right to request working-hours adjustment during pregnancy.
• These measures will go into effect later in 2021 and 2022.

• Decree 493/21, published in the Official Gazette on 6 August 2021, provides for a benefit of reduction of an employer's social security contributions for the case of new hiring of personnel who participate, or have participated, in Educational, Vocational Training or Labour Intermediation Programs of the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security.
• The decree became effective on 1 September 2021, applying to labour relationships that begin during the following 12 months.

• On 10 August 2021, Senate approved Law Nº 19.978 that promotes and regulates the modality of teleworking.

• It is the first law that generally regulates this modality of work in Uruguay.

• On 12 January 2021, the Telework Law came into force in Mexico.
• For the application of the law, it is necessary the elaboration of the Mexican Official Norm (NOM) on teleworking.
• Many companies adopted telework to prevent them from ceasing production, especially services that can be performed remotely.

• On 2 September 2021, Australian Parliament approved the Bill, introducing changes to the Fair Work Act (FW Act), the Sex Discrimination Act (SD Act) and the Australian Human Rights Commission Act, which seeks to give effect to some of the key recommendations of the landmark Respect@Work Report in relation to workplace sexual harassment.
• The Bill expands the scope of existing sexual harassment prohibitions in Australia, promotes clarity for employers and workers and reduces procedural barriers for sexual harassment complaints.

• On 24 July, Law no. 106/2021 was published in the Official Gazette, turning into Law, with amendments, Decree Law no. 73(the so-called Support Decree-bis), which also includes the text of Decree Law no. 99 of 30 June 2021.
• art. 41-bis, the legislator has made significant changes to the discipline of the fixed-term contract.

• On 31 July 2021, a decree was enacted to amend and extend the terms provided for the implementation and compliance of the tax, labor, and social security obligations imposed to employers under the Outsourcing Amendment adopted last April.
• The decree extends the deadline by which employers must implement the provisions of the reform to 1 September 2021.

• Law No. 2021-1040 of 5 August 2021 on health crisis management covers two main measures: the extension of the health pass (‘passe sanitaire’) and the compulsory vaccination for certain categories of people working in the health sector.
• Failure by the employer to comply with the obligation to monitor compliance with the vaccination requirement is punishable by a fine of 1500 EUR.

• 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. 

• On 15 July 2021, Law 2101 of 2021 came into force reducing the working week from 48 to 42 hours
• This reduction will take effect gradually between 2023 and 2026.  
• Salaries and social benefits will not be affected or reduced under this new law.

• On 19 June 2021, Government Gazette A’ 101 publish the Law 4808/2021 (), which introduces crucial reforms on individual employment relationships in compliance with ILO Conventions 190 and 187, and transposes Directive (EU) 2019/1158.

• On 7^th June, the Swedish Minister of Labour, Eva Nordmark, presented to the Parliament/Government a proposal for a reform to the Swedish labour law.  

• The reform restricting the current use of outsourcing in Mexico has been enacted.
• The reform entered into force on 24^th April 2021.

• The “Riders Law” will enter into force on 12 August 2021.
• It is the result of a tripartite agreement, reached after 5 months of negotiation.

• The Government of Uzbekistan started reporting on compliance with workers’ rights, in line with international labour standards ratified in the country.
• It provided data on the last cotton harvest and the sharp decrease in forced labour.

• New Zealand has made advancements on the Fair Pay Agreement System, after we reported about the national debate surrounding it in this article.
• On 7 May 2021, the Government announced the design of the new Fair Pay Agreement system, but the draft Law is yet to be elaborated.  

• The draft European Directive aims at closing the gender pay gap through pay transparency and enforcement mechanisms.
• It clarifies the meaning of the expression of “equal pay for equal work or work of equal value” and the methodologies to assess it.
• It obliges companies with more than 250 employees to annually report in detail about the gender pay gap.
• It shifts the burden of the proof and foresees fines and remediation provisions in case of violation.

• The law and its implementing Regulation were strongly criticised by Argentinian social partners, mainly for the poor quality of prior consultation, that failed to take into account the input of the social partners, specially the comments introduced by the private sector. 
• The main issues concern the difficulty of implementation of the clauses of reversibility, right to disconnect, employees with special care responsibilities and contracts for non-residents.

• Violation of this law entails the transfer to another type of work or, if this is not possible, the suspension from tasks or duties that involve interpersonal contacts and the risk to spread the virus.

• It introduced Flexibility in the sanctioning of infringements, among others;
• The reform lacked proper consultation with the social partners, especially on the content of the regulatory Decrees.

• Employees that get Covid-19 vaccination have a justified leave of 4 hours from work

• The new legislative framework is in line with the ILO Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, as established in several trade agreements signed by Viet Nam;
• New laws and policies put greater emphasis on social dialogue at the workplace and collective bargaining.

• The Australian Parliament adopted a Bill that defines a casual worker as someone offered work without commitment of continuing and indefinite work.
• The Bill sheds light on the possibility to convert the casual work contract into a long-term full or part-time employment relationship.
• The Law also clarifies employers’ economic responsibility in case a casual worker is later on recognised as an employee.

• The Comprehensive Labor Policy Promotion Act (CLPPA) (No. 24 of 2019 (Reiwa)) aims at eliminating sexual harassment, harassment against women and workplace bullying (known as “power harassment” in Japan)
• This Act requires companies to put in place a policy to prevent harassment in the workplace, including taking measures to avoid recurrences
• Failing to comply with this Law entails reputational risks, as companies’ names may be disclosed

The Filipino House of Representatives approved a series of Bills related to the pandemic and having important repercussions on employers

• State Duma of Russian Federation adopted amendments to the Labour Code in December 2020
• The new legislation contains rules on employers’ and employees’ obligations in case of telework, as well as new regulation on the use of the electronic signature

• The free movement of persons between countries of the European Union and the UK ended on 31 December 2020. Complex rules and visa permit requirements apply. 
• The automatic mutual recognition of professional qualifications is no longer a reality. 

• The Resolution contains specific recommendations on the scope and content of a Directive
• The right to disconnect is defined as “the right for workers to switch off their digital tools including means of communication for work purposes outside their working time without facing consequences for not replying to e-mails, phone calls or text messages”.