Tel Aviv Conference Focuses on Labor Law and Remote Working

Last week, a conference was held in Tel Aviv by the Association of Corporate Counsel, international law firm DLA Piper’s Israel Group and the Herzog law firm.

The focus of the conference was the innovations made in labor laws globally and in Israel, termination of employment as well as remote working.

The conference

Many global companies and organizations are struggling with the task of managing employees, which means their lawyers are troubled as well.

Therefore, Herzog law firm collaborated with the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) and the law firm DLA Piper for holding a conference attended by the legal sector’s senior officials.

Some of the experts who attended the conference were from DLA Piper who came from the Netherlands, Spain, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, the UAE, the United States and China.

There were different panels and those participating highlighted the phenomena taking place in Israel and also shed some light onto the major global trends.

The chief of the labor law department and the Managing Partner of DLA Piper Hamburg, Adv. Kai Bodenstedt said that several countries had integrated work from home into law.

However, he added that it was apparent that they had not reached any consensus where work from home is concerned.

Work from home

He said that employers have to pay for the expenses associated with working from home, such as the internet, electricity bills, water and even contribute rent.

The chief of the labor law department at DLA Piper Beijing, Adv. Johnny Choi said that the opposite was true in China.

He stated that work from home is not the norm in the country and it is only acceptable for those who are in quarantine and have to work from outside the office.

The partner from DLA Piper New York, Adv. Daniel Turnisky said that remote working had become quite established in the US and is likely going to stay.

He said that many companies have opted for hybrid or remote options because it is now a recruitment tool, rather than due to COVID.

Different laws

He went on to say that global employers need to remember that there will be different laws in different countries and they have to comply with all of them.

In fact, he added that there can be different laws for cities that are in the same state. He said that employers have to take the location of the employee into consideration.

This will determine their health and safety requirements as well as hourly wage.

As far as Israel is concerned, Adv. Abigail Borowitz from Herzog law firm said that that employees do not have the right to demand their employers contribute in the expenses associated with remote working.

But, the partner said that this could change, depending on the bargaining power of the employee. Already, there is a practice in place of employers buying equipment for their employees who are working from home.

Therefore, it is likely that this trend could pick up.