• The Federal Labour Court on 4 May 2022 confirmed that in overtime proceedings, according to the German Law, employees must prove not only that they have worked overtime, but also that this has been ordered or at least approved by the employer.

• The Protected Disclosures (Protection of Whistleblowers) Bill, introduced into Parliament in 2020, received royal assent on 13 May 2022 and will repeal and replace the Protected Disclosures Act 2000 (PDA) on 1 July 2022.  
• It enables a person, from any organisation or business, to make a protected disclosure direct to an appropriate authority at any time, instead of needing to disclose to their employer first. It also extends and clarifies the grounds where protected disclosures can be made.

• On 1 May 2022, Goldman Sachs introduced a new global “flexible vacation” scheme that allows partners and managing directors to take time off when needed, without a fixed vacation day entitlement.

• On 2 May 2022, the Executive submitted a draft law to Parliament to change the collective bargaining system in the private sector.

• 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.

• On 18 March 2022, South Africa’s Minister of Employment and Labour enacted the new Code of Good Practice on the Prevention and Elimination on Harassment in the Workplace.

• It provides a zero-tolerance approach to all forms of workplace harassment, whether it’s on the basis of sex, gender, sexual orientation, or race.

• Randstad published the Workmonitor 2022, the first full survey of 2022 that addresses issues such as job flexibility, work life balance, personal and professional growth and corporate social responsibilities (CSR) in the context of the recovery from the pandemic.
• The survey was conducted between 21 February and 13 March 2022 in more than 30 countries worldwide.

• On 7 May 2022, the amendments to the New York Civil Rights Law, introduced on 8 November 2021 by New York Governor Kathy Hochul, entered into force.

• New York employers are now required to explicitly notify employees if their electronic activity will be monitored and to obtain written acknowledgment from employees.

• On 24 March 2022, the England and Wales Court of Appeal addresses the issue of employer responses to employee industrial action other than dismissal.
• It stated that, while that type of dismissal is prohibited, the law does not prevent other types of sanctions that may be imposed by the employer.

• The District Court of Amsterdam stated that the dismissal of a teacher who refuses to be PCR-tested for the coronavirus is lawful.

• On 28 April 2022 Airbnb announced to adopt a new working model that allows employees to “live and work anywhere”.

• On 8 March 2022, the Chilean Congress enacted law n. 21.431 regulating digital platforms employees’ employment contracts.
• The law will enter into force on 1 September 2022.

• 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.

• On 28 March 2022 the Government released the first White Paper on Singapore Women’s Development, that outlines concrete actions to take collectively towards a fairer and more inclusive society. 
• It sets out 25 collective action plans in five main areas to advance women’s development, the first one concerning equal opportunities in the workplace.

• On 7 April 2022, the Government of Ontario passed Bill 88, the Working for Workers Act, 2022, that received Royal Assent on 11 April 2022 and is now in force.

• 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 May 2022, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) launched a new global report that highlights the role played by collective bargaining (CB) during the pandemic.
• In the first of a series of flagship reports on Social Dialogue, it presents the role of CB in the  advancement of equality and inclusion.

• 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 14 March 2022, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas reinstated the previous independent contractor rule under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

• The Social Division of the Supreme Court upheld the appropriateness of the installation, for the sole purpose of identifying and dismissing workers who had vandalised various vending machines, of hidden cameras in the canteen of a work centre.
• Even though the workers had not been previously informed of the installation of the cameras, the seriousness of the acts committed by the workers justified their disciplinary dismissal for breach of contract.

• On 9 February 2022, the High Court of Australia confirmed in two different decisions that, determining whether a worker is an employee or independent contractor, the most important elements are the written agreement and the contractual terms.
• It also confirms that the Court is overtaking the multi-factorial test applied in the past in this kind of decisions.

• UK’s NatWest Group will provide climate training to more than 16,000 employees by the end of 2024, in partnership with the University of Edinburgh Centre for Business, Climate Change and Sustainability.

• Decree of 17 March 2022 n. 86 regulates Law 19.978 of 20 August 2021 that promotes and regulates, for the first time, teleworking.
• It adds to the regulatory framework of this new way of working that spread rapidly because of the pandemic, clarifying certain aspects of the legislation.

• Between January 2019 and June 2021, Just Economy and Labour Institute (JELI), with support from the International Development Research Center Canada (IDRC) conducted action-oriented research on platform-based care workers including domestic workers and massage therapists in Thailand.

• A recent ruling from the Borgarting Court of Appeal has allowed dismissal by email upon delivery in the employee's mailbox to be accepted in some cases.
• The decision is a clear exception to the general principle that employers must send dismissal notices to employees in person or by registered letter.

• Digital investment platform Bitpanda enhanced its benefits policy, aiming to offer freedom and flexibility to its employees.
• Everyone will receive the same benefits, regardless of their role, level, or position.

• The report, published on 7 March 2022, aims to collect information about NDAs in order to provide a resource for policy-makers in their deliberations about any future regulation of the use of NDAs.
• It follows the introduction of The Employment Equality (Amendment) (Non-Disclosure Agreements) Bill 2021, that regulates the use of NDAs.

• On 23 March 2022 the National Assembly's Standing Committee adopted Resolution No. 17 “on employees’ monthly, annual overtime hours in the context of COVID-19 prevention and socio-economic development”, aiming to facilitate socio-economic recovery and development from the pandemic. 
• It increased, until 31 December 2022, the maximum monthly overtime limit and relaxed the annual restrictions on overtime currently provided for in the 2019 Labour Code.

• The Danish Government and social partners have entered into a tripartite agreement on how to combat sexual harassment in the workplace.
• It aims to encourage and support a cultural change on this relevant matter.

• In the report “Mental health and employers: The case for investment - pandemic and beyond”, published in March 2022, Deloitte analysed the effect COVID-19 had on employees' mental health, focusing on four groups: young people, key workers, people with caring responsibilities and ethnic minorities.
• It shows that investing in mental health to support the workforce is the right choice for employers, that can also make significant gains.

• The report, published on 7 March 2022 by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), provides global overview of national laws and practices regarding care policies (maternity protection, paternity, parental and other care-related leave policies).

• Most of European Member States failed to transpose the EU Whistleblowing Directive within the established deadline of December 2021.
• European Commission already sent a formal notice to 24 Members for the lack of transposition and to Sweden and Portugal for their delay in the application.

• On 9 February 2022, the 20th Labour Court of Montevideo ruled on the existing employment relationship between Uber and a driver.

• On 7 February 2022, Eurofound published the report “Collective labour disputes in the EU” (Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg).
• This study has shown that there is currently a deficit of reliable information about labour disputes in Europe, highlighting the importance of establishing clear definitions of what constitutes a labour dispute and collecting information on disputes that are not reported in the media.

• On 8 December 2021, the Federal Social Court stated that an employee who falls on his way, from bed to the home office for the first time in the morning, is protected by the statutory accident insurance.

• The dismissal based on inspecting private correspondence of the employee by using employer's power of surveillance authority violates privacy and freedom of communication rights of the employee, guaranteed by the Turkish Constitution.
• The decision confirmed the significance of informing employees about the employer’s right for inspection or getting consent for this when needed in case of internal investigation.

• On 28 December 2021, Legislative Yuan adopted the amendments of the Act of Gender Equality in Employment.
• Amendments came into force on 18 January 2022.

• It is the first Indian company that moved to a weekly salary regime, aiming to build a flexible and supportive working environment for its employees and to ensure them financial wellness.

• Freelancing is rapidly growing across Africa.
• African companies are working on the digitalization of their activities to meet the needs of the international markets, and this is increasing the use of self-employed workers.

• On February 2022, the government of Belgium proposed a package of measures to reform the nation’s labour market, aiming to increase flexibility and boost employment.