Payroll doesn’t just follow a gross-to-net formula, as viewers learned in the Global Payroll Management Institute’s (GPMI) virtual class “Global Employment Law—Payroll Implications.”
When it comes to processing payroll on a global scale, payroll professionals need to be adaptable when their business crosses into a country where they haven’t had employees working before. Everyday tasks such as time reporting, family leave, and even employee terminations can be tremendously different between countries, and due diligence is key. Attendees learned how careful planning, communication, and documentation positively affects payroll operations and keeps companies in compliance with global employment laws.
Instructor Tim Kelsey, MCIPP, AIPA, owner of Kelsey’s Payroll Services, led the two-hour virtual course and provided practical examples in the following areas:
- Collective bargaining agreements
- Minimum wage requirements
- Pay slip reporting requirements
- Premium rate calculations
- Vacation and public holiday pay calculations
- Parental leave reporting and payments
- Leaving documentation
Starting the session with European employee registration requirements, Kelsey stressed how dissimilar payroll operations can be from the start of employment.
“Some countries will focus on registering as part of employment status checks,” Kelsey said. “You might find that a country requires registering an employee the first day that they actually start working for the company.”
In Europe, the Posted Workers Directive (PWD) is part of the compliance regime that Kelsey says is a particular issue in registration.
“The European economic area is a grouping of 32 areas that potentially allow the nationals of all the other countries in the group to work freely in their country, and we have quite different countries in that group,” Kelsey said. “If you compare salaries and wages in Germany and Bulgaria, there are massive, massive differences.”
The webinar covers not just European employment law, but also countries such as the U.K., Japan, Australia, Singapore, and the Philippines and how these countries are similar and dissimilar in their practices and policies.
When covering employment law in Japan, Kelsey addresses the culture of long working hours and the reality of Japanese employment laws.
“It might surprise you to know that the national law in Japan actually sets a maximum working week of 40 hours a week and no more than eight hours a day,” Kelsey said. “If your business wants to vary that, they have to apply and submit an Article 36 Agreement to the local Labour Standards Inspection Office.”
Attendees can earn 2.0 Recertification Credit Hours (RCHs), 0.20 Continuing Education Units (CEUs), or 2.0 Continuing Professional Education (CPE) credits when attending this webinar with no advanced preparation or prerequisites required.
“Global Employment Law—Payroll Implications” is currently available on demand.
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Felicia DeInnocentiis is Editorial Assistant for Membership Publications for the APA and GPMI.