Employment, Labour & Pensions
Your trusted global partner in the ever-evolving world of employment law
Latest
Successful businesses in every sector know that employment terms, conditions and benefits are key competitive weapons in today’s changing and increasingly mobile markets. The challenge of attracting and keeping talented employees has intensified, as employment relationships adapt to the age of the platform worker and the emerging impact of automation and digitalisation.
To ensure the odds are on your side, you must manage your employees and their benefits, as well as your employee representatives, such as works councils and unions. Yet most HR matters – from executive contracts and equal opportunities to restructurings, transfer of business issues and restrictive covenants – can be complex and contradictory. Your management team may have to deal with employment and pension law in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America, and face issues like European directives, court decisions, national laws, local cases and precedent. Our 450 sector specialists can help you navigate the maze of HR regulations, policy documents and legal complexities confronting you on a daily basis.
If your business crosses borders, you will face additional hurdles. With a global network covering over 40 countries, the CMS Employment team advises on employment law issues affecting cross-border business including:
- The effects of mergers, acquisitions, outsourcing, offshoring, nationalisation and privatisation
- Works councils’ co-determination rights at international, national or individual company level
- Compliance (including remuneration) with national and international laws and standards
- Behaviour at work, misconduct and discrimination
- Individual and collective dismissals and severance agreements
- The EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
- New forms of employment and ways of working
- Employee stock ownership schemes and pension schemes
- Wage taxes, fringe benefits, social security matters, expat regulations and cross-border secondments
- Dispute resolution, litigation and mediation for employment and pensions matters, including labour law and trade union issues and disputes
- Employee competition and confidentiality
- Employment contracts, policies, shop agreements and collective agreements.
Because they are so complex, employment issues require expertise in other areas, such as corporate law for restructuring cases, or tax law relating to senior management contracts and international mobility. To provide the best possible advice, the CMS Employment group works closely with experts from other practice areas and specialist CMS groups.
At CMS, we aim to guide our clients through evolving business environments and to ensure they make the most of opportunities.
Read more about Employment & Pensions
Legal experts for Employment, Labour & Pensions
.jpg "Mirko Daidone")
Highlighted experience
Case studies
Asterion Industrial Partners, a Spanish infrastructure investor, has acquired STEAG GmbH, an energy company based in Essen, Germany, for €2.6 billion.
The deal is set to close in December this year. STEAG, which includes both renewable energy (through its subsidiary Iqony) and fossil fuel operations, had been owned by Kommunale Beteiligungsgesellschaft (KSBG), representing six municipal utilities in the Ruhr district, since 2014.
A significant aspect of the sale involved employment law and pension-related matters. Out team played a key role in advising on these issues, covering strategic HR and pension concerns, both in Germany and in international jurisdictions such as Botswana, Brazil, Türkiye, and India. Prior to the sale, the company was restructured, dividing the coal and green energy divisions, with the restructuring process addressing complex employment concerns such as harmonising collective pay agreements and creating new supervisory board structures.
The Trustee of Balfour Beatty Pension Fund (the Trustee) relied on the CMS multidisciplinary team to advise in relation to its £1.7 billion longevity transaction with SCOR and Zurich Assurance. The transaction aims to secure the Pension Fund against the risk of rising costs from pensioner members and their dependants living longer than expected. The members from CMS’s Pensions, Finance, Tech & Media, and Tax departments, worked closely with the Trustee and their actuarial adviser, Aon, to secure a favorable outcome for the scheme members.
Tom Scott, partner at Aon, added: “We were pleased to support the Trustee with the successful execution of this transaction, which marks a further step in the fund’s de-risking journey. The transaction is further evidence of a vibrant insurance/reinsurance market which is offering commercially attractive pricing and terms to pension schemes.”
This longevity transaction adds to CMS’s market-leading reputation in advising pension schemes on de-risking transactions. In 2021, the firm advised on 23 de-risking transactions, with a combined value of over £15bn. Some of the firm’s notable transactions include advising the Trustee of the WH Smith Pension Trust on a £1bn residual risks buy-in with Standard Life and the Trustee of De La Rue Pension Scheme in relation to its £320m buy-in with Scottish Widows.
Employment, Labour & Pensions Insights
_600x600.jpg?v=1)
How can we help your business?
Thank you for your message. We will get in touch soon.
In the meantime, this might be helpful
Local market knowledge. Global outlook
We provide future-facing legal advice to help your organisation thrive. Combining local market knowledge and a global perspective, and with lawyers in locations worldwide, your organisation benefits from the expertise it needs, even across borders.
About CMS