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.

› Ministers fail to agree on Pregnant Workers Directive revision

› European Commission announces review of employment legislation

› EU ministers agree equal pay action

› Council of the EU debates employment Directives and policy

NEW SERVICE LAUNCHED
Welcome to the first XpertHR international newsletter, announcing the launch of our new international service.

The core of the service is a set of guides to national employment law in countries around the world, providing concise details of the key areas of the law in a uniform, user-friendly format. The guides are kept up-to-date every month by experts in each country.

In addition to the seven guides already available, new countries are being added regularly. We aim to add seven more countries in 2011, including Spain (coming later in January), Belgium and Hong Kong.

Our service also includes reports on the latest legislative and related initiatives at EU level and other international developments of significance to HR practitioners.

This month, we take our half-yearly look at the state of play of draft EU employment legislation, as well as reporting the latest moves on key issues such as revision of the Pregnant Workers Directive.

Mark Carley
International editor, XpertHR