New legislation
COVID-19 and social movements such as MeToo and Black Lives Matter, have helped put social issues on the agenda. The employment law landscape adapts to how employees want to balance their professional and personal lives and the continuing importance of diversity and inclusion. As a result, more legislation has been drafted, which means today’s employers are expected to do more. Dutch employment law sees a continued focus on employee-friendly legislation; parental leave has been extended for fathers, new legislation has been proposed on flexible workplaces (the ‘Work from anywhere Act’) and the Whistleblowing Directive is currently implemented across the EU; all employers in the EU with over 50 employees should be aware of the new legislation introduced across EU jurisdictions to ensure compliance with local laws, while aligning their approach internationally.
In addition, the obligation for large companies to be transparent on equal pay for equal work is one step closer to becoming reality. On 30 March 2023, the European Parliament adopted the EU Directive on pay transparency to ensure that women and men in the EU get equal pay for equal work. The directive sets out pay transparency measures, such as pay information for job seekers, a right to know the pay levels for workers doing the same work, as well as gender pay gap reporting obligations for companies with more than 100 employees (both public and private companies).
