International Employment
Our International Team at Birketts has expertise and experience to guide you through all the legal requirements of employing personnel from abroad, whether you are based here in the UK, or abroad employing UK workers.
While contracts are not obligatory, although recommended, employers do have to provide workers with a written statement of terms of employment. We can also help with fixed-term contracts and advise you on all the obligations around these and matters of employees’ health.
We can also advise you on requirements regarding pay, sick pay and annual leave, as well as working conditions such as break times, discrimination and termination of employment.
Some employers need to be aware The Modern Slavery Act 2015 which places an obligation on organisations with a turnover of £36 million or over (which are either incorporated in the UK or carry on a business in the UK) to ensure that their business, and the supply chains used by the business, are free from modern slavery.
Such businesses must produce an annual “modern slavery statement” in each annual report setting out the steps that they have taken to ensure that slavery and human trafficking are not taking place in their own business or supply chain.
Examples of international employment work include:
• Advising several Dutch clients re: their UK workforces (e.g. a Dutch employer how to performance manage and ultimately dismiss an under-performing UK sales manager).
• Drafting terms and conditions for UK employees of numerous Dutch employers, ranging from junior employees to director level appointments.
• Advising a Dutch oil and gas company on TUPE relating to two takeovers and the subsequent restructure (some redundancies) and harmonisation of some terms and conditions.
• Advising whether the law of England and Wales would apply to a UK based employee of a Dutch employer whose time was split across the client’s European business, but who lived and predominantly worked in England.
• Advising on a contract for a UK sales agent, who worked on a pan-European basis.
• Advising another oil and gas supply group headquartered in the UK but with bases all over the world on many and various issues relating to their internationally based workforce.
Key contacts
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Partner, Head of Corporate Services
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Partner, Head of Commercial Litigation
