Our country guides set out the key elements of national law as it applies to: recruitment and selection; pay and benefits; employee rights; contracts of employment; training and development; equal opportunities; industrial relations; health and safety; and termination of employment.

› Belgium: European Works Councils

› France: Employment of foreign nationals

› Germany: European Works Councils

› Greece: National minimum wage rate

› The Netherlands: National minimum wage rate

› Spain: Collective bargaining rules

› Spain: Informing and consulting prior to redundancies

State of play

Draft EU employment legislation state of play, July 2011
Our monthly update explains the current position on all significant items of employment-related draft EU legislation that are currently in the legislative pipeline, or due to be proposed in the near future.

In-depth

Draft EU employment legislation, review of developments July 2011
The first half of 2011 saw an impasse in talks on amending the Pregnant Workers Directive, but moves by EU-level trade union and employers' organisations towards possible negotiations on a revision of the Working Time Directive. Our six-monthly review looks at the main developments in draft EU employment legislation in the first half of the year and examines prospects for the remainder of 2011.

News

› EU ministers deadlocked on amendments to Pregnant Workers Directive

› Recast EWCs Directive takes effect

› EU ministers call for more action on work-life balance

In-depth

Allianz signs Europe-wide agreement on work-related stress
Allianz SE, the financial services multinational, signed an innovative European agreement on combating work-related stress with employee representatives in May 2011.

News

› ILO adopts Convention on domestic workers

REVISION OF PREGNANT WORKERS DIRECTIVE
Plans to amend the EU Pregnant Workers Directive have been controversial since the European Commission published its initial proposals for revision in 2008. The European Parliament strengthened these proposals in October 2010 and the version of the Directive currently on the table includes requirements for 20 weeks' maternity leave on full pay and two weeks' paid paternity leave.

The ball is now in the court of the Council of the EU, where national Governments are due to reach a common position among themselves on what changes should be made to the Directive, before referring the issue back to Parliament. As highlighted in our six-monthly review of EU employment legislation developments, a group of member states led by the UK and Germany are so strongly opposed to the Parliamentary proposals that in June 2011 they called for the Council's work on a common position to cease. This highly unusual step would shelve any amendment of the Pregnant Workers Directive indefinitely.

Whether the revision of the Directive will be blocked or some compromise can be found should become clear in autumn 2011, depending on whether or not enough other governments back the UK and German position to prevent further progress.

Another highly contentious issue on the EU agenda is revision of the Working Time Directive. In response to a request from the European Commission, EU-level trade union and employers' organisations said that they were willing to negotiate over an agreement on amendments, which would be given EU-wide legal force. However, given the gulf between unions' and employers' positions, doubts remain that meaningful negotiations will occur.

Mark Carley
International editor, XpertHR