- Spain Introduces Paid Climate Leave
- Office Leases Are Forcing Companies’ Hands on Return-to-Office
- Tokyo Government Offers Four-Day Workweek to Employees
- Boeing Lays Off Workers in Washington and California
- Staffing Firms Ordered to Pay $2.4M in Back Wages, Damages
Spain Introduces Paid Climate Leave
Following deadly October floods that killed more than 200 people, Spain has adopted a paid climate leave of up to four days a year for workers. The Guardian reported that several companies were criticized for making employees work despite a red alert issued by the national weather agency.
Spain’s labor minister Yolanda Díaz told public broadcaster RTVE that the new measure aims to “regulate in accordance with the climate emergency” so that “no worker must run risks.”
If emergency authorities raise the alarm about a risk, “the worker must refrain from going to work,” Díaz explained. Employees can also opt for a reduced work schedule beyond the four-day period.
Office Leases Are Forcing Companies’ Hands on Return-to-Office
Career tool website Resume.org recently surveyed 900 business leaders at companies that went remote during the pandemic but have since implemented a return-to-office (RTO) policy. The results may be an indicator of where the workplace is headed.
The study found that by the end of 2025, 73% of surveyed companies that already have an RTO policy in place will require employees to work three or more days in the office. Twenty-eight percent of those companies will mandate five days on site. Only 2% of companies plan to enforce in-person attendance once a week or less.
Lease agreements may well be driving many organizations’ RTO policies. Two-thirds of surveyed companies currently lease office space, with nearly half of these contracts extending to or beyond 2028. A smaller percentage of leases (2% in 2024 and 12% in 2025) are set to expire soon.
Sixteen percent of surveyed companies report lease terms are having a major impact on their RTO policy, while 38% say those contracts play at least some role.
However, for some, these RTO mandates may be somewhat temporary. When their current lease expires, 23% of surveyed companies plan to decrease the amount of office space they rent. Of these companies, 32% will reduce the number of required days in the office and 8% will stop requiring employees to go into the office.
Tokyo Government Offers Four-Day Workweek to Employees
Starting in April 2025, Tokyo government employees will have the option to take three days off each week, reported NBC News.
The new policy is designed to encourage Japanese couples to have children at a time when the country’s fertility rate is at a record low. Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike also announced an additional policy allowing parents with children in elementary schools to trade off a bit of their salaries for the option to clock out early.
“Now is the time for Tokyo to take the initiative to protect and enhance the lives, livelihoods and economy of our people during these challenging times for the nation,” Koike said.
Only 727,277 births were recorded in Japan last year, according to the country’s Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry. NBC News stated that may be in part because of Japan’s overtime work culture, which often pressures women to choose between having careers or families.
Boeing Lays Off Workers in Washington and California
Boeing is preparing for a second wave of layoffs affecting its Washington and California workforces, according to the Associated Press. Nearly 400 Boeing employees were laid off in Washington state and more than 500 in California, news outlets reported Monday, Dec. 9. The planned cuts will eventually reduce the company’s workforce by about 17,000.
In November, the aerospace company started notifying workers who would be laid off. Notices filed with state employment agencies showed the first round of cuts impacted about 3,500 people around the country, The Seattle Times reported.
Those cuts included people in roles from engineers to recruiters to analysts and impacted Boeing’s commercial, defense and global services divisions.
Boeing has said most laid-off employees remain on payroll for about two months and will receive severance pay, career transition services and subsidized health insurance benefits for up to three months.
Staffing Firms Ordered to Pay $2.4M in Back Wages, Damages
The U.S. Department of Labor announced on Dec. 3 it had obtained a consent judgment and order in federal court that recovers more than $2.4 million in back wages and liquidated damages from healthcare staffing agencies in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania that denied 341 employees overtime wages, including employees misclassified as independent contractors.
The department’s Wage and Hour Division found Gate Solution Systems Inc. of Malden, Mass., misclassified housekeeping, laundry and dietary workers as independent contractors. The employees in this case provided services at healthcare facilities in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont. Healthcare Services Group of Bensalem, Pa., was listed as a joint employer that supervised workers at various identified facilities. Employees were not paid the required overtime rate when they worked more than 40 hours in a workweek.
“Misclassification of employees as independent contractors remains a serious concern for the Department of Labor,” said Wage and Hour administrator Jessica Looman. “Preventing and combating misclassification is a priority for the Wage and Hour Division as it deprives workers of their rights to full wages, health and safety protections, unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation, and tax protections.”
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