COVID-19 Q&A Partial unemployment Confronted with the outbreak of the COVID-19, in order to avoid massive contract termination, employers rely on the possibility to use the French partial unemployment scheme. Please note that the hereunder information is likely to be amended and adapted in accordance with current legislative and regulatory developments. Partial unemployment scheme Question 1: What is partial unemployment?   Partial unemployment is a solution available to private companies dealing with temporary difficulties, whatever…

Further to our prior blog post available here, the UK Government has published more detailed guidance on the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (“CJRS”). That guidance is available here and here. Here are some of the key questions the updated guidance now answers. What is the CJRS? The CJRS is a government scheme set up to support UK employers who have been affected by the coronavirus. Under the CJRS, UK employers are able to…

Over the past few days, the UK Government has announced various measures to assist employers/businesses protect jobs in these exceptional times. We have received a number of queries about the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme in particular. The Government has currently provided the following information about the scheme: Any UK employer can take part in the scheme, no matter their size or sector. Employers would designate employees as “furloughed workers” instead of laying them off or…

I proudly presented my new ENHANCED driver’s license to the TSA agent at Newark International Airport with the comment that I am now ready for October 2020 when the new rules go into effect requiring the presentation of a REAL ID license to board an airplane for domestic flight.  A regular license would no longer be acceptable, and without the REAL ID license, you would have to present a passport. Imagine my surprise when the…

Switzerland has joined the growing list of jurisdictions to introduce legislation to address the gender pay gap. Effective July 1, 2020, employers with 100 or more employees (including part-time and hourly employees) will be required to conduct an internal gender pay gap analysis every four years until June 30, 2032. Affected employers will be required to complete their first internal analysis by June 30, 2021. If the requirement to carry out the analysis is the…

New York partner Howard Robbins and London partner Dan Ornstein discuss how U.K. laws affect U.S. employers in the latest episode of The Proskauer Brief podcast. International businesses face several challenges of local requirements as well as dealing with U.S. employment law.  Tune in as we discuss many U.K. laws on discrimination, harassment, and retaliation, and their similarities to U.S. counterparts. Additionally, we will highlight what impact Brexit may have on U.K. employment law, including…

The legal definition of “workplace accidents” under French law does not normally make global headlines.  However, as many of you will have read, a recent decision of the Paris Court of Appeal (CA Paris, May 27, 2019, n°16/08787) did just that. The facts in this case were more salacious than most.  The employee died of a heart attack after having sex with a woman during a business trip.  The headlines were caused by incredulity that…