As the turn of the year is fast approaching, it is a good time to summarize some key takeaways in the field of employment law from 2022 and look what we can expect from 2023. We hope that this high-level summary helps you to make plans for the coming year and to double-check that the recent developments have been duly taken into account in your organisation.
Like an anxiously awaited Christmas gift, the Finnish Whistleblower Protection Act implementing the EU Whistleblowing Directive has now been approved and comes into effect on 1 January 2023. This means that private sector employers regularly employing at least 250 employees and public sector employers regularly employing at least 50 employees must have an internal whistleblowing channel in place by 1 April 2023 at the latest. Private sector employers that regularly employ at least 50 employees will have to establish a whistleblowing channel by 17 December 2023.
The key objective of the Whistleblowing Directive and the national Act is to encourage persons who have become aware of suspected breaches against public interest in a work-related context to report their observations. Besides requiring organisations to establish confidential internal whistleblowing channels and prepare related instructions for the whistleblowers, the new Act sets forth specific protection for whistleblowers against retaliation regardless of size of the organisation in question.
Even though...
TOKYO - Videos falsely portraying foreigners as stealing metal from railway tracks in Japan have spread widely on the country's social media, apparently to suggest foreigners are a threat to public...