The House of Representatives recently voted into law an amendment to the Income Tax Law which extends the 20% deduction previously available to expatriates who earned an annual gross employment income of less than €100,000 for an additional five years. Additionally, a provision has been inserted to ensure that the relief will apply to qualifying persons for five years from the start of employment.

Under the latest Level 5 restrictions, employees in Ireland must work from home unless they are classified as essential workers and their work cannot be done at home. The government has updated the list of essential workers to provide that it does not include workers who perform administrative or other support activities for businesses, unless these constitute essential administrative and support activities and the physical presence of the administrative or support worker in the workplace is required.

A recent Jersey Employment and Discrimination Tribunal judgment is believed to be the first employment decision relating to the restrictions imposed on businesses due to COVID-19. Although the claimant was unsuccessful in his claim, the tribunal chair expressed sympathy, saying that he was the victim of an unreasonable and unsustainable interpretation by the respondent of a clear and plain term in the government's COVID-19 payroll co-funding scheme.

In a recent press conference, the government announced details of a revision of the Wage Supplement Scheme, under which COVID-19 business aid will no longer be calculated on the basis of an entity's Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community classification code, but rather on loss of turnover. This is a key change in approach and will likely affect many businesses.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the Norwegian employment and immigration world, particularly with respect to ways of working and the legal tools which employers can use. Looking ahead, the increased focus on environmental, social and governance requirements should lead to a greater focus on diversity and inclusion, equal pay and human rights abuses in supply chains. This video examines these matters and the potential impact that they may have on companies in Norway.

At the beginning of each year, the minimum wage, severance payments and administrative fines prescribed by the Labour Act are revised. On 1 January 2021 the changes for 2021 came into effect. Among other changes, the monthly minimum wage rate has increased from TL2,943 (gross) to TL3,577.50 (gross).

Employers must immediately review their homeworking practices in light of both the new national lockdown and continually changing government advice. In the longer term, this will also mean reviewing homeworking policies and arrangements on a more formal basis. These FAQs summarise the government guidance on work under the current lockdown and a range of other considerations that employers must take into account in relation to homeworking.

The Home Office has confirmed that there will be no change to the right-to-work (RTW) check procedure for EEA nationals who start work in the United Kingdom between 1 January 2021 and 30 June 2021 (the post-transition grace period). However, it has left unanswered the question of what to do when an EEA national has no RTW.