Global Employment Brochure

Employment GlobalGlobal Coverage, Local ComplianceNimbleOur human resources solutions are effective worldwide. Our lawyers work collaboratively across borders and practices to provide integrated solutions to a wide range of employment-related concerns. As a firm operating in 43 countries, we have firsthand insight into what it takes to successfully manage and nurture a diverse global workforce.With deep local roots in markets that account for 80 percent of the world’s GDP, we help you navigate complex labor and employment laws and regulations to facilitate seamless compliance at home or abroad. We can draft codes of conduct and CSR policies compliant with international labor and human rights standards, and complementary to corporate business objectives. While our first objective is to help you anticipate — and prevent — legal risks, we can also mount exceptionally effective defenses against damaging disputes whenever they arise. From individual or class actions, our lawyers bring to bear extensive labor and employment-related litigation experience, including successful defenses against many of the most powerful unions around the world. We have helped clients respond to complaints alleging violations of ILO, UN, and/or OECD standards and can guide compliance with Labor Side Accords under bilateral Free Trade Agreements.We help you deploy talent where it is needed, using suitable procedures to facilitate single or high volume transfers.We develop proper and timely employee communication strategies and procedures so that reorganizations and restructurings are executed efficiently, but with great sensitivity and care. YOUR CHALLENGE OUR FLUENCYIn many locations, employer and employee expectations are shifting.Corporate and personnel structures have dramatically changed in response to globalization, as well as to shifting economic conditions around the world. Maintaining a global workforce on a cost-effective basis and consistent with appropriate risk management guidelines requires sophisticated cross-border strategies and deep local knowledge. Managing disparate labor and employment laws, business practices and cultural expectations is critical.At Baker & McKenzie, we have the expansive reach and experience to help plan and implement globally effective, locally compliant labor strategies. Our Global Employment Practice is consistently ranked among the world’s best, with more leading lawyers in more countries than any other law firm. Drawing on extensive experience and effective delivery tools, our lawyers have helped some of the largest multinational companies achieve organizational efficiency over the past 50 years.Here are ways we help Did you know?We provide labor and employment advice to around 900 clients a year in 10 or more jurisdictions, including some that require assistance from each of our 70 offices worldwide.We have broad experience successfully defending clients against employee claims. In key North American financial centers, our lawyers have countered over 100 class action, collective action, administrative, agency enforcement and multi-plaintiff cases on behalf of employer defendants.Chambers Global 2012 top-ranks our Firm in the areas of employment and immigration.What others say “Baker & McKenzie was ranked by PLC Which Lawyer? Labour and Employee Benefits: Super League 2011, as the top global law firm with the widest breadth and depth of a labor and employee benefits practice. Baker & McKenzie was recommended in 24 countries, and was the absolute leader exhibiting a 199 score and having 40 Recommended Lawyers, more than twice that of the #2 Law Firm.”“Baker provides excellent value – quick, practical legal guidance with a global reach; there hasn’t been a single jurisdiction in which we needed support that Baker was not able to cover.”– Chambers GlobalWorkplace counseling and policies. We provide both domestic and international employment counseling to clients — from hiring to termination — on offer letters and employment agreements, independent contractor/consulting agreements, personnel policies, work rules and handbooks, protection of confidential information and trade secrets, wage and hour issues, bonus, commission and other compensation plans, discrimination, harassment and retaliation matters, workplace safety, workplace privacy rights, reductions in force and other cost-cutting measures, and any other labor and employment issues faced by domestic and multinational employers. Further, we provide preventive workplace training to avert employment disputes and help management recognize and counsel through employment issues.Workplace compliance. We understand that many global companies must not only comply with the law of their headquarters jurisdictions but also the laws of countries where their workforces operate. We also understand that our clients’ workforces cannot only be one of their primary assets, but also can be the source of significant compliance breaches if employees and managers are not properly trained and managed. We conduct or assist with internal workplace investigations relating to whistleblower and workplace misconduct allegations as well as representing clients in administrative and court retaliation claims. We advise on record retention and cross document productions, data privacy, global HR data banks, global hotlines and global codes of conduct and ethics, supply chain codes and audits, deemed export, workplace security breaches and other compliance issues.Employment-related litigation. We defend or prosecute national or multijurisdictional, class or individual, labor, civil and criminal claims of wrongful discharge, discrimination, harassment, wage and hour, whistleblower, employee benefits and equity awards, health and safety, fraud and damage caused by employees, torts, and others before civil, criminal and labor courts in various jurisdictions. We also provide assistance and representation in administrative procedures before labor authorities and administrative law courts.Labor relations. We advise and help with unionizing activities, dealings with works councils at all levels, collective bargaining, interpretation of work rules, industrial disputes, strike and lockouts. We also represent clients before labor authorities and other governmental bodies.Global immigration and executive transfer. We facilitate global management of migration and mobility compliance, including advising on expatriate assignments and third country national hires in each of our clients’ global locations. Our services provide end-to-end advice, from obtaining work and residency permits to sorting out employment agreements, social security requirements, benefit packages, tax equalization, multijurisdictional claims and other issues. We advise on negotiations for individual and group relocations and modification of working conditions.Employee benefits and executive compensation. We design, implement, and administer all types of employee benefits and executive compensation programs, including deferred compensation and other incentive or variable remuneration plans and profit sharing plans.Global equity services. We design, implement, and maintain equity-based compensation programs, including stock option plans, stock purchase plans, restricted stock/unit plans and  stock appreciation rights plans for their employees, consultants, and directors. Our  Firm is a recognized world leader in designing global equity programs and has helped numerous Fortune 250 companies plan and implement equity strategies across more than 130 countries. Pensions law. We provide practical counseling to employers, trustees and administrators of occupational pension plans on all aspects of legislative, regulatory and tax requirements.Workforce restructuring. We advise clients at all stages of reductions in force and plant closings, starting with the initial planning phase, continuing with the consultation with works councils and unions and ending with the implementation through separation agreements and notices.Transactions. We advise on all employment-related aspects of mergers and acquisitions, spin-offs and divestitures, post-acquisition integrations of newly acquired businesses, as well as outsourcing or other specific arrangements. We conduct due diligence for all types of corporate transactions; draft deal documents, such as asset and stock purchase agreements, joint venture agreements, merger agreements, transition services agreements, etc.; prepare employee transfer step lists and timelines; draft employee assignment, assumption, transfer and termination /rehire documents; advise on related reductions in force; and prepare compensation and change in control plans. In so doing, we work closely with the entire deal team, such as our corporate and securities professionals, international commercial colleagues, and tax advisers. www.bakermckenzie.com© 2012 Baker & McKenzie. All rights reserved. Baker & McKenzie International is a Swiss Verein with member law firms around the world. In accordance with the common terminology used in professional service organizations, reference to a “partner” means a person who is a partner, or equivalent, in such a law firm. Similarly, reference to an “office” means an office of any such law firm.This may qualify as “Attorney Advertising” requiring notice in some jurisdictions. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Baker & McKenzie Global Services LLC / Suite 4300 / 300 E. Randolph Street / Chicago, IL 60601, USA / +1 312 861 8800Baker & McKenzie has been global since inception. Being global is part of our DNA. Our difference is the way we think, work and behave – we combine an instinctively global perspective with a genuinely multicultural approach, enabled by collaborative relationships and yielding practical, innovative advice. Serving our clients with more than 3,800 lawyers in over 40 countries, we have a deep understanding of the culture of business the world over and are able to bring the talent and experience needed to navigate complexity across practices and borders with ease.