Labor law examples can help shine a light on how different countries treat employment issues, covering anything from benefits and compensation to the rise of using freelancers to augment traditional teams.
Looking for a simpler way to manage a growing number of freelancers who work globally? Fiverr Enterprise is a Freelancer Management System (FMS) that covers all of your bases from sourcing, hiring and onboarding, to management and payments.
In the meantime, keep reading to learn about labor law examples globally, and why they matter to your business.
What Are Labor Laws?
Labor laws are rules that lay out the relationship between workers, employers, and the government. These laws are set by the government, and govern how businesses need to treat their employees and other workers for their company, and protect the rights of workers when taking on a role for any business.
They also protect national interests, for example governing the amount of tax that governments receive, or ensuring that employees pay into a pension to provide for them in their retirement.
Global Examples of Labor Laws
Labor laws vary from one country to another. Here are some examples of labor laws around the world.
United States: Labor laws you may be familiar with in the US include the Fair Labor Standards Act, which requires employers to pay overtime if their employees’ working week exceeds 40 hours, and the Family Medical Leave Act, ensuring medium-large sized businesses in the private-sector provide up to 12 weeks of leave for medical or family-related matters. The US also has nuances between different states. For example, while the Federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, individual states can have their own labor laws that vary greatly.
European Union: Similarly, the European Commission provides labor laws that cover working conditions and informing workers about certain elements of the business, but individual countries within the EU can provide higher levels of protection if they choose. As a result, there are variations between countries. A working week in France is 35 hours for example, whereas in Greece, working hours can be as many as 41 per week.
Asia: In Asia, many countries have the convention of 13th month pay, which is also seen in other countries around the world. For example, China pays a 13th month salary usually around the Lunar New Year, while Japan pays the 13th month as a bonus in the Summer. Vacation days are also a varied topic. In China, if an employee has worked for the company for less than one year, they are not entitled to any vacation days at all.
Of course, there are many other regions with their own specific labor laws to consider. Belgium offers employees a career break option where staff can leave their roles for a limited period of time and ensure a guaranteed job on their return, Australia has an overtime penalty enforceable if businesses do not keep to the national working week, and in Italy – poor performance is not a legitimate reason to terminate an employee!
Impact of Labor Laws on Employees and Employers
Labor laws have a serious impact on both employees and employers. First up, they are how we govern and maintain the rights and protections afforded to workers. Workers should be able to take jobs for companies, and know that they are not going to be taken advantage of, and will be entitled to a fair minimum standard of protection.
This has a knock-on effect on employers, who need to understand their obligations and compliance regulations so that they can provide fair treatment to workers. If they don’t keep up with changing regulations and laws, they could quickly become non-compliant, and find themselves subject to fines, penalties, and even legal action.
Of course, every business needs to think about balancing employer needs with employee rights. A company needs to provide sick pay for example when employees are unwell. But offering unlimited sick pay may become prohibitive to the company who needs to keep costs under control and have staff in place.
Complying with Freelancer Misclassification Laws through Fiverr Enterprise
One huge area of labor law that impacts all companies that work with freelancers is misclassification. All employers need to be sure that they have classified freelancers correctly, and that they are not really hiring employees under a different name. If freelancers are actually employees, and businesses are not providing benefits, and withholding the right taxes – this can lead to hefty fines and serious penalties.
At Fiverr Enterprise, we know that businesses need to make sure taking care of compliance isn’t slowing down the pace of business. And yet, they also need to make sure that the freelancers they are onboarding are fully compliant and don’t open them up to the risk of misclassification. It’s therefore really important that businesses know how to correctly classify their external workforce according to local laws and regulations.
Unfortunately, these laws and regulations can be totally different from one region to another. Onboarding freelancers needs to include vetting them in the first instance to ensure they can compliantly work for your business, as well as managing the relationship on an ongoing basis to make sure that it remains compliant. This can be a full time job in and of itself.
That’s where Fiverr Enterprise comes in strong. A complete Freelancer Management System (FMS), Fiverr Enterprise automates and customizes the legal and tax compliance process to your specific business needs, so your teams aren’t weighed down by paperwork. When it comes to compliance with misclassification, we automatically monitor your relationships with your freelancers, including the validity of legal documents, and will alert you when risk arises, so you can take action and mitigate the risk of worker misclassification.
Simply put, if they’re no longer compliant for your business, they’re no longer working for you.
Check out the platform for yourself with a 30-min call with one of our workforce experts, and see how misclassification can be one labor law you check off your to-do list for good.