International Employment: Where Is It Best To Work And Why?

WorkingWorld

Our world is more open and accessible than ever before. With rapid technological advances, agile working is not just about working from home, but working from anywhere - including overseas. However, employment laws are far from international and it is well worth considering the rights that you can rely on in different countries when choosing where you want to live and work.

Here four of our international employment lawyers give you a guide to employment rights in four Withers locations.

United Kingdom

Once upon a time, UK employment law was all about the master-servant relationship and children cleaning soot-filled chimneys. However, if you are based in the UK today, you will enjoy far better employment rights than your historic counterparts.

Particularly for those coming from the US, the most unusual concept in UK employment law will be unfair dismissal, which runs contrary to the US idea of 'at-will' employment. This means that if you have more than two years' service, you can only be fired for a fair reason following a fair process - or will be entitled to compensation. The potentially fair reasons are capability (which may include ill-health or underperformance), misconduct (either gross misconduct which warrants immediate dismissal or repeated misconduct following warnings), redundancy, and breach of a statutory requirement (e.g. loss of immigration rights). From an employee's point of view, probably the most interesting and unusual fair reason for dismissal is 'some other substantial reason' that would justify dismissal ('SOSR'). Do be aware that it has been held by the courts that a SOSR dismissal can include personality clashes between colleagues that become so severe that the business is being disrupted.

We all know that relocating for a job can be an expensive business but what you might not know is that many employers will assist you, particularly where an international relocation is required. In the UK, employers can cover up to £8,000 in respect of certain removal expenses and benefits for new employees without liability for income tax or National Insurance (the UK's social security regime). There are certain restrictions and conditions on this, notably that the relocation expenses must be incurred before the end of the tax year following the one in which you start the new job, but it is a helpful tool to put tax-free money into your pocket.

Finally, to compensate for the fact it is always raining in the UK (!)...