The past year has demonstrated that an ongoing conflict is not an obstacle to development and investment. Despite infrastructure being targeted by shelling, Ukraine’s real GDP grew by 4% in the first nine months of 2024, with expectations that this figure will reach 4.3-4.6% in the coming years. To maintain this growth, Ukraine must actively engage private investments to rebuild its damaged infrastructure and assets.

As Ukraine continues to resist the Russian Federation’s invasion, its M&A market in 2024 demonstrates both resilience and adaptability. While the early months of the full-scale war in 2022 likely represented an all-time low for dealmaking, today’s landscape appears far more dynamic. Although reaching and surpassing pre-war levels of activity will take time, the market is showing clear signs of recovery.

Montenegro’s real estate sector is undergoing significant transformations due to recent legislative changes and proposed reforms, particularly in the tourism sector. These novelties will impact investors, developers, and most certainly the entire economy of Montenegro, but it remains debatable if the impact will be positive.

From September 2024, the Montenegrin Parliament passed a series of tax legislative amendments aligned with the country’s Fiscal Strategy for 2024-2027. Set to take effect on January 1, 2025, these reforms aim to increase budget revenues to offset recent reductions in labor taxes and improve the business environment. The changes affect the Corporate Income Tax Law, Personal Income Tax Law, VAT Law, Law on the Write-off of Interest on Outstanding Tax Liabilities, and Excise Law, focusing on modernizing the tax system and stimulating investments primarily in the agricultural sector.

Keeping employees motivated and engaged, and retaining the brightest talent can be an effortful task for businesses. Employers agree that fixed net income and mere compliance with basic employment standards are not sufficient and, thus, promote incentive programs as a recognized instrument to navigate this challenge. While worldwide trends in incentivizing employees are similar, each country has developed a set of its own legislative rules and market practices – and Ukraine is no exception.

The Polish competition authority – Urzad Ochrony Konkurencji i Konsumentow (UOKiK) – is actively investigating potential collusion in the labor market.

In a constantly changing economy, companies often face the need to adjust their workforce, sometimes resorting to drastic measures such as the collective dismissal process. According to Romanian labor legislation, the process of collective dismissal entails following a rather laborious procedure, aiming to protect both employers and employees in order to prevent abuses and ensure a smoother transition in restructuring situations.

In M&A transactions, there is often a transfer of activities and a subsequent transfer of rights and obligations under employment law within the meaning of European Directive 2001/23/EC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States on safeguarding employees’ rights in the event of transfers of undertakings, businesses or parts of undertakings or businesses (TUPE transfer). As a result, the seller’s employees who worked in the transferred establishment will transfer to the buyer. If the buyer has existing employees, the working conditions of the original and new employees may differ. These differences can pertain to salaries and benefits. Are they permissible?

According to the National Employment Service’s study on foreign workers, at the end of 2023, there were a total of 87,661 work permits in force, a figure that has increased significantly in the last two years, with only 34,000 valid permits at the end of 2021 and slightly more than 51,000 in 2022.

In recent years, accelerated by the COVID-19 crisis, the Austrian landscape of work has shifted, with remote working becoming a staple in the modern employment environment. In Austria, this development is reflected in the so-called 2021 “Home Office Act” which formalizes fundamental aspects of labor, tax, and social security law. However, the Home Office Act applies only to work performed from home.

The topic of violence and harassment at work has become increasingly important in Greek employment law. In recent years, Greece has made significant steps by adopting legislative measures aiming at ensuring an equal and healthy working environment for all employees. However, the new framework raises certain complex legal concerns regarding the implementation of the legislation on violence and harassment by the employer.  This article provides an overview of these issues within the context of Greek employment law.

Non-competition (non-compete) clauses came into the spotlight this year as the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) decided to impose a broad ban on their use. The underlying motive for this is the perception that the non-compete clauses, in the words of FTC Chair Lina Khan, keep wages low, suppress new ideas, and rob the American economy of dynamism, including from the more than 8,500 new start-ups that would be created a year once non-competes are banned. However, this rule quickly faced challenges, including a lawsuit from the US Chamber of Commerce, which argued that it was unfounded and that the FTC exceeded its authority.

Competition clauses are found in a number of European jurisdictions. Slovak legislation on post-employment non-compete clauses is characterized by: the obligation to agree on a non-compete clause in an employment contract, the possibility to agree on it only with a certain type of employee, time limitation, and remuneration.

The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations (TUPE Regulations) were incorporated in their current form into the laws of the European Union (EU) with Directive 2001/23/EC of March 12, 2001 (TUPE Directive), with Croatia ensuring its transposition in its legal system via the Labor Act (albeit with a few missed opportunities). Although TUPE Regulations are relatively simple to comprehend, with the main goal being the protection of employee rights in the event of a transfer of an undertaking, business, or part of an undertaking or business as a result of a legal transfer or merger, their application in practice raises many questions to which statutory provisions of Croatian law do not provide an answer.

Over the summer, numerous major employers in Lithuania had either terminated or tightened their hybrid work policies, mandating employees to be present in the office for at least three days per week. This shift is in line with global trends, particularly among technology companies, which have largely abandoned remote work arrangements. Since the pandemic ended, many companies have gradually moved their workforce back to the office, citing decreased productivity and employee engagement as primary reasons for this shift.

The question of who owns intellectual property (IP) rights in the workplace has gained significant relevance, especially given that employees are involved in extensive creative activity nowadays. The Moldovan legal framework has well-defined rules on this subject, providing insight into the important question: who holds the rights over the creations, inventions, industrial designs, and utility models created by employees?

Recent rulings of the Slovenian Supreme Court on the permissibility of including contractual penalties in employment contracts highlight that when assessing the permissibility of applying the concept of a contractual penalty, one must consider the subordinate and dependent position of the employee relative to the employer both when concluding the employment contract and during the employment relationship.

Private employment agencies in North Macedonia emerged relatively recently, beginning in 2006. These agencies play a key role in two primary areas: facilitating temporary employment in the labor market and acting as intermediaries in the hiring process. By connecting employers seeking workers with job seekers, these agencies help streamline employment coordination, leading to a more efficient labor market.