Getting the Deal Through is a series of annual reports that provide international analysis in key areas of law and policy for corporate counsel, cross-border legal practitioners, and business people. By consulting this book, employers and their counsel can quickly familiarize themselves with the essentials to guide them through all stages of the work relationship, from application to hiring, termination, and disputes, in multiple jurisdictions.
Morgan Lewis is a featured contributor on labor and employment issues for the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan (through TMI Associates), and the United States, as well as the "Global Overview" and this year's featured article, "Reducing the burden on business – changes to employment law in the UK?” available below. Country-specific chapters are available from the sidebar.
Global Overview
by Mark Zelek
American companies have gone increasingly global in recent years. Many US firms now have far-flung operations and employees (as well as customers) spread around the world. US-based multinationals often learn the hard way that they cannot deal with overseas employees in the same manner they do with their American counterparts because of the dramatic differences between the US and the rest of the world’s labour and employment laws. This overview highlights and summarises these principal distinctions and discusses recent reforms and proposals in some foreign countries to narrow that gap.
Reducing the Burden on Business – Changes to Employment Law in the UK?
by Matthew Howse and Emma Damiral
The UK labour market is one of the least regulated labour markets among developed countries, with only the US and Canada having lighter overall regulation. Nevertheless, the UK government is concerned to do more to encourage firms to take on staff and to have a labour market that is ‘flexible, effective and fair’ amidst fears that the economic downturn and an inability to compete globally have been exacerbated by debilitating regulation. With pro-employer labour law reforms being discussed in other European countries, it is conceivable that the economic downturn will trigger a change in approach in Europe.