International Employment Laws

One of the most important areas of global context for IHR is the area of
employment law. Even though there is only limited employment regulation
developed by international organizations, that is, employment law
developed by bodies with global reach and/or jurisdiction, and what
international development there has been involves quite limited ability of
enforcement, every rm that operates in the global economy must
contend with the varying employment laws in every country in which they
operate, as well as abiding by whatever international standards also
exist.1 Typically, these foreign laws and practices differ drastically from
what MNEs are familiar with at home. Thus there can be considerable risk
of making mistakes, pursuing risky strategies, and putting the enterprise
at considerable potential liability for not understanding adequately what
these laws, standards, and codes require of the MNE.
Every countrys employment laws vary signicantly from every other
countrys employment laws, making this area of the IHRM environment
very complex. In addition, as more and more rms operate in countries
outside their original home borders, judicial systems within many
countries are beginning to take into consideration laws from the parent
countries of the MNEs that now operate within their jurisdictions, in
addition to their own laws, making it increasingly difcult for MNEs to
ignore either their own home-country laws in their foreign operations or
the laws in their host countries.
Human rights
Businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally
proclaimed human rights Businesses should make sure they are not
complicit in human rights abuses

Labor standards

Businesses should uphold the freedom of association and the effective

recognition of the right of collective bargaining

Businesses should uphold the elimination of all forms of forced and

compulsory labor
Businesses should uphold the effective abolition of child labor
Businesses should eliminate discrimination in respect of employment
and occupation

Environment

Businesses should support a precautionary approach to environmental

challenges
Businesses

environmental responsibility
Businesses should encourage the development and diffusion of

should

undertake

initiatives

to

promote

greater

environmentally friendly technologies the fundamental rights which are

the subject of those Conventions, namely:
(a) Freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right of
collective bargaining;
(b) The elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labor;
(c) The effective abolition of child labor; and
(d) The elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and
occupation. Terminations and reductions in force
In most countries, employment is protected by a contract that denes the
terms and conditions of employment and that cannot be ended
unilaterally by the employer. The concept of employment at will, as
practiced in the US (where the employer, with a few exceptions, has the
right to terminate an employee for any, or no, excuse) does not exist in
most countries.

Discrimination, harassment, and victimization

Around the world, countries are passing legislation to protect the rights of
employees and job candidates to be free from discrimination and
harassment based on their gender, race, color, religion, age, or disability.
The laws in place, in some countries, such as the US and now in the EU,
are pretty well developed, although, within the EU, there has been a
distinct lack of uniformity in many of these areas, with the possible
exception of sex discrimination
Privacy protection
With the advent of the internet and the ease of global communication,
allowing information to be shared and distributed quite readily, concern
over the protection of information about individuals (for example,
employees and customers) has become of increasing concern in many
countries.

MNE employment policy and practice

One of the most visible and important pressures for IHRM and MNEs to pay
attention to the international employment law aspect of the global
environment is the increased pressure of litigation risks. As described in
this chapter, these risks focus on activities in foreign jurisdictions and in
dealing with overseas employees. In recent years there has been a
signicant trend toward holding MNEs accountable in litigation forums for
their human rights and employee protections in foreign countries.

Immigration law
Every country exercises control over its denition of citizenship and the
immigration that it allows into its territory. Some countries, such as Japan,
allow very limited immigration. Others like the US, even though they may

exercise control over who is granted immigration rights, admits large

numbers of immigrants every year. Indeed, in many years, the US admits
more immigrants (legal and illegal) than the rest of the countries of the
world combined