The lawyers said these things at a conference held by the global law firm DLA Piper in cooperation with Herzog Fox Naman and the ACC – the umbrella organization of the internal legal advisors of companies.
The trend started in the USA and there the phenomenon is well felt. “Obviously this is a very common phenomenon, but I have very few clients who have indicated widespread concern regarding a quiet departure. This does not change the fact that issues such as employee retention, morale and productivity were and remain very important for clients, and investors put a lot of effort into them,” said attorney Daniel Torinsky from the USA.
Lawyers Vinita Aurora and Jan Colhoun from Great Britain admitted that “the working culture in the United Kingdom, especially in big cities like London or Manchester, is stressful, when people work beyond the hours stipulated in the contract. After the Corona, many re-examined their approach to work, and from an aspiration Finding a better work-life balance – the Quieter Leave movement has gained momentum. According to research by Gallup, only 9% of UK workers were engaged or passionate about their work, with the UK ranking 33rd out of 38 countries. The disappointing figures provide a fruitful for the expansion of the silent departure.”
In Israel, we also see the phenomenon of silent resignation, especially in the act of remuneration – Act your Wage, employees who decide to do what they think their salary justifies – and nothing more. “An Act your Wage situation can occur at all wage levels – that is, it is not a unique phenomenon for low-wage workers, and the phenomenon can also (and perhaps even mainly) occur for high-wage workers. From the point of view of Israeli law – there is no possibility according to the law in Israel for an employee to decide, Subjectively, how much he should invest in the job according to his assessment of the amount of salary paid to him. The employer hires the employee with the expectation that the employee will perform certain work in exchange for the salary offered to the employee, and from the employer’s point of view the employee must do the maximum required of him in exchange for the salary paid to him. As much as the employee believes Because the salary he is being paid is not high enough, he can negotiate with his employer regarding an increase in his salary or resign from his job. A situation in which an employee decides to stay at work, but work part-time or stop investing in his work is a situation similar to an Italian strike on the part of the employee, and the employer is not obligated to accept this. “If there is a decline in his performance, for example as a result of his deciding to invest less in work because he believes he receives a low salary, he may face disciplinary procedures that can even lead to termination of employment,” attorney David Moshe, an expert in labor law and a partner at Bn. Finberg & Co., told Calcalist.
Did you resign? Now you will pay
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Jeremy Lustman, head of the DLA Piper branch in Israel
(Photo: DLA Piper)
In Germany, on the other hand, it is more complex to require an employee who has left to pay for the training he has undergone. Lawyers Dr. Kai Bodenshadt and Nils Groenik explained that “this is strictly regulated in German law, and the charge for training expenses is only allowed if the employee leaves shortly after completing the training. In addition, the amount that the employer can collect must not be so high that the obligation to compensate the employer in the event of a development causes a heavy burden on the employee and actually prevents him from leaving his current position.”
Also in Italy and Spain, says lawyer Pascal Siciliani, “in most cases, training is in the employer’s interest or even recommended or required by law. In these cases, such clauses may not be enforceable in the courts.”
Attorney Filar Manor said that “in Spain, employers are not allowed by law to demand that resigning employees pay for the training they received during their employment. There is only one exception, in relation to permanent agreements: the workers’ law allows employers to enter into written ‘permanent agreements’ with their employees for up to a maximum of two years, when the employee benefits from dedicated training paid for by the employer in order to launch specific projects or perform certain work. If the employee resigns before the end of the aforementioned tenure period, the employer will be entitled to compensation for damages that are usually defined as the cost of the training. Beyond this exception, the Spanish law does not allow employers to collect from resigning employees a payment for the cost of training.”
Transparency in wages, for now only in New York
Attorney Ian Skinner from the United Arab Emirates explained that “in the United Arab Emirates there is no salary reporting obligation by gender or law regarding general salary transparency. At the same time, labor laws in the Emirates do require equal pay for men and women for the same work or different work of equal value. The world of labor laws in the United Arab Emirates has changed dramatically in the past year and continues to evolve with the government’s approach to ‘modernizing’ the labor market and promoting the Emirates’ status as a global business center. We can expect more changes and developments regarding gender equality as the UAE rises in the global gender equality rankings.”
In Germany, on the other hand, wage transparency of a different kind is already being led. According to the lawyers Dr. Kai Bodenshadt and Nils Gronik from the State, “The German Wage Transparency Law gives employees the right to receive data about their colleagues’ wages anonymously, subject to meeting certain requirements. We do not believe that this will change soon in a way that will require employers to specify a salary range for all advertised positions instead of providing such information upon request.”
The way they found in Italy to deal with the issue of salary transparency is also different from the usual in the US. The lawyer Pascal Siciliani explained that in Italy there is no obligation to pay the same salary to employees of the same rank as long as the minimum wage requirements are met, but there is new legislation that requires employers with +50 employees to send a report Every two years to the employment authorities regarding equal opportunities between the sexes in society. The authorities may issue a certificate of integrity based on the result of the two, and allow exemptions from payments, reputation benefits and additional points in public tenders.”
And in the UK, attorneys Vinita Aurora and Jan Colhoun explain that “as of today, legislators have mainly focused on pay equality and publishing pay gaps based on gender. For example, in the UK there are well-established laws for equal pay and large employers have been required to publish pay gaps by gender since 2017. To see if the obligations will be extended to the publication of specific salary data; however, this has not yet been discussed and seems unlikely given the recent government’s desire to reduce reporting requirements for businesses.”
Is the haggling economy legal?
In recent years, the number of companies that employ temporary workers or freelancers without an employee-employer relationship with the employer has increased dramatically. This phenomenon, which has been nicknamed the ‘reconciliation economy’ and even reached the Supreme Court in Israel in the case of the ‘Volt’ company, is also widespread in the rest of the world.
According to attorney Filar Manor from Spain, “According to Spanish law, an analysis must be conducted regarding the existence of hidden employment relationships between a client and a contractor in each individual case. Therefore, over the years there have been conflicting rulings on whether or not to treat contractors who provide services to delivery platforms as employees, even though the main trend has been to reclassify them as dependent employees. An example of this trend is the Supreme Court’s ruling of September 25, 2020 according to which Glovo’s delivery drivers must be treated as employees and not as independent contractors.”
In the US, explained attorney Daniel Torinsky, “conflicts regarding the classification of workers have been a significant issue for several years. The rule proposed by the US Department of Labor to define the standard for classifying workers as employed or independent contractors (freelancers) examines the economic reality in which workers are employed and is considered to facilitate the classification of Workers as employees (as opposed to freelancers). That is, if a large company uses workers classified as independent contractors as part of its business model, the new rule has a substantial effect and obligates the company to change the business model or face significant legal exposure.”
The UK is already dealing with the phenomenon, say lawyers Vinita Aurora and Jan Colhoun, but not yet at the level of laws and regulations. According to them, “the British government has tried to provide guidance to employers in this matter, but so far has refrained from passing new laws or imposing regulation on the matter.”