Welcome to the first-ever Employment Yearbook from The Legal 500 and Legal Business.
This annual publication aims to provide a one-stop shop of interviews, insights, legal developments and data, looking at everything on the agenda for employment advisers and their clients.
In a frank and insightful ‘Perspectives’ interview, Clare Murray, founder of top-tier employment and partnership boutique CM Murray, looks back on the 1990s as the ‘golden age of employment law’, and reflects on how the market has changed over the intervening years, with employment lawyers in the spotlight as much now as ever before.
The focus on ESG and transparency means investigations into senior executives and how corporations are run are on the rise, as evidenced by recent high-profile investigations in politics and the media. So too are workplace discrimination claims, with workers more confident about coming forward with allegations of sexual harassment and racial or other forms of discrimination.
Meanwhile, with today’s high-interest, high-inflation environment already giving rise to redundancies and workforce restructuring mandates for lawyers, the cost of living crisis has also triggered a resurgence in trade union and industrial relations work.
Once perhaps viewed as old fashioned, widespread strike action in sectors such as the NHS, education and rail means this union work is very much back en vogue. And it isn’t just public sector companies needing to call in industrial relations expertise, with pay negotiations a newer feature for private sector companies to be aware of.
The Legal 500’s employment correspondent Ben Gray talks to experts about all of these key trends in employment law, before taking a deeper dive into the issue of senior investigations.
Elsewhere, we highlight the firms doing the best job in the eyes of their clients in the L500 View, as well as showcasing the firms with the most employment rankings across the UK. You can also find out what’s happening in employment law around the world in the articles from our partner firms in locations from Italy to Singapore.
We hope you enjoy our first Employment Yearbook, and we’d love to hear from readers about the burning issues you think we should be covering in future. Please do get in touch if you’re keen to contribute.
Employment Yearbook 2023
1. Can you provide an overview of the current employment law landscape in Bahrain, highlighting any recent legislative changes or notable court cases? The current employment law landscape in Bahrain is predominantly governed by the Labour Law. It is important to note that there have been no recent legislative changes to this law as of …
Employment Yearbook 2023
1. What are the key employment laws and regulations in India that both employers and employees should be familiar with? The most significant aspect of the Indian labour law regime pertains to the categorisation of workforce into workmen and non-workmen under the Industrial Disputes Act 1947 (IDA), with non-workmen, who are essentially senior managerial employees, …
Employment Yearbook 2023
In recent years, ESG (environmental, social, and governance) factors have been subject to a growing and constant evolution within the European Union and its member states, which has led sustainability to assume an increasingly important role in the economic and social context. Sustainability has become a competitive, strategic and organisational tool for creating added value, …
Employment Yearbook 2023
1. What are the key employment laws and regulations in Malaysia that employers and employees should be aware of? Employment in Malaysia is governed, primarily by contract, statute and collective agreements where there is a registered trade union at the employer’s place of work. The principal statutory provisions relating to employment may be briefly set …
Employment Yearbook 2023
Mental health in Singapore’s workplace is a growing concern, with a Straits Times article reporting that nearly seven in ten Singapore residents found 2021 to be the most stressful year at work, and more than half struggled more with their mental health at work in 2021 than 2020.1 This article sets out the existing legal …
Employment Yearbook 2023
With the global war for talent and ‘star’ employees being branded as assets, non-compete agreements have emerged as a contentious subject for most industries. Non-compete agreements are employment contracts that limit the ability of an employee to join or start a competing firm after a job separation.1 Parenthetically, these agreements limit the post-employment opportunities of …
Employment Yearbook 2023
Howard Kennedy, Dentons and Mishcon top the London employment client service score tables as Eversheds leads the way for UK-wide Legal 500 rankings
Howard Kennedy, Dentons and Mishcon de Reya have emerged as some of the firms doing the best job at keeping their London employment clients satisfied, according to new research from The Legal 500 that canvassed the opinions of hundreds of clients.
Employment Yearbook 2023
‘Your client may be someone who had 4,000 people reporting to them and, because of what’s happened, now they might only have you’: Clare Murray, founder of CM Murray, on navigating a career advising senior execs and the golden age of employment law
When you began your legal career, why did you choose employment law? The 1990s felt like the Golden Age of employment law – employment protections were expanding rapidly (thanks to Europe), opportunities for pushing the boundaries and progressing in employment law seemed limitless; even the Prime Minister and his wife were employment lawyers. All of …
Employment Yearbook 2023
The ‘Prevention of Sexual Harassment Law (5758-1998)’ was enacted in 1998 with the primary goal of safeguarding the individual’s freedom, dignity, and privacy, and furthering gender equality. This statute proscribes a range of actions which constitute Sexual Harassment, encompassing: Blackmailing someone into performing a sexual act; An indecent act (one act is sufficient); Repeated overtures …
Employment Yearbook 2023
1. What are the key labour laws and regulations that govern the employer-employee relationship in Brazil? In addition to the Federal Constitution, which provides an exemplary list of social rights in article 7, the main and most important regulation governing the employment relationship is the Consolidation of Labour Laws (CLT). In such law it is …