Of the 175 member countries of the ILO, an overwhelming majority have ratified most of the eight standards. More than 150 have ratified the four dealing with forced labour and discrimination in employment and wages. ePlex - Employment Protection Legislation Database contains information on employment dismissal laws in some 85 countries. The information is broken down to cover more than 50 variables that address all the key issues of employment protection legislation.
The database is updated annually to facilitate the analysis of impacts and trends over time by topic and by country. WageIndicator's decent work checks collect all the information in PDF files by country, easy to view, print and share. These documents are available both in English and in many national languages. Attacks against union members have been documented in fifty-nine countries, fueling growing anxiety about jobs and wages.
In most countries, the length of the notice period is related to the number of years of service. However, in most of these countries, they do not fully enjoy the same protection as regular employees, as they fall outside the scope of some specific regulations (for example, executives are often excluded from working time regulations). International labor law is often defined as the set of rules that are applied through public international law (that is, the law between different countries or states) and private international law (the law between individuals or companies living or operating in different countries). However, there are also some countries where courts have no authority to reinstate employees and can only resort to awarding (additional) compensation to the employee, compensating for damages resulting from dismissal.
Another form of international labor law is the set of rules that apply in a select group of countries. In approximately 30% of countries, executives can work under an employment contract or on their own account. Even in countries where courts can only impose compensation, exceptions often apply to various types of protected employees (such as union representatives) where courts can order their reinstatement. In any global expansion, compliance with international labor laws, as well as local labor laws, is crucial.
Even where countries have adhered to international labor standards, there are huge variations in compliance and enforcement between countries. These are established by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and must be voluntarily adopted by signatory countries to become part of the law. In most countries, specific rules apply when, in a relatively short period of time, several employees are laid off. Termination of employment (disengagement).
In approximately 20% of countries, employers are prohibited, or severely restricted, from firing employees while receiving some form of state-funded benefits (such as subsidies or reductions in working time) to deal with the COVID-19 situation. In most countries, reference and education checks are allowed with the individual's consent, taking into account data protection and privacy considerations. In some countries (for example, Hungary), parties can freely deviate from the mandatory provisions applicable to regular employees, but this must be expressly agreed in the executive's employment contract, otherwise the regular rules will apply.
