Multinational Human Resource Management and the Law: Common Workplace Problems in Different Legal Environments

'This volume presents precisely the types of problems facing HR professionals in multinational corporations and reveals the many challenges of bridging across cultures and legal systems.'
- Howard Salazar, Manager of HR Operations, Harley-Davidson Motor Company, US

'In aligning human resource management with the legal requirements in different countries, multinational corporations have to simultaneously stay true to their corporate culture and honor the distinct cultures where they do business. This volume provides deep insights for navigating this terrain in the 21st Century.'
- Pat Canavan, Senior Vice President for Global Governance, Motorola Corporation (retired), US

'Leading a global HR function requires a deep appreciation of many cultures and laws, which are at the center of this important new book. Organizing the learning around tangible problems is a great approach - valuable for experienced practitioners and newly appointed HR professionals alike.'
- Cheri Alexander, Vice President, HR International Operations, General Motors (retired), US

'HR professionals at multi-national employers need to understand the legal and employment context of the countries that they do business in - particularly the differences. In this book, key issues are presented via case problems across five of the major global economies, building the comparative and critical thinking skills which are essential to an effective HR leader operating in any country.'
- Andrew Bartlow, HR Director, Apollo Group, US

'The great merit of this book is, in my view, the problem oriented approach which forces the authors of the different countries to focus on the same factual situation and put it into the legal context of each country. Thereby, it becomes possible to show that the legal instruments may differ very much in each country. . . In this respect the book not only fills a gap but provides an important innovation.'
- Manfred Weiss, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Multinational corporations face considerable complexity in setting the terms and conditions of employment. Differing national laws prevent firms from developing consistent sets of employment policies, but, at the same time, employees are often expected to work closely with colleagues located in many different countries and seek comparable treatment. This critical volume offers a comprehensive analysis of how these contradictory issues are dealt with in five countries - Australia, Brazil, Germany, Japan and the United States.

The authors identify six key areas that present the most typical challenges: employee voice (unionization and works councils), discrimination, privacy, wrongful dismissal, compensation and benefits administration, and global supply chain and labor standards. Working within these broad categories, legal experts from each country offer a detailed breakdown of twenty commonly confronted human resource problems and the ways in which national laws affect their solutions. Using a unique combination of primary sources, discussion questions and expert analyses, this pioneering volume provides readers with a new and intensive picture of human resource management across the world.

Human resources managers and other practitioners will find this book an indispensable resource. The structure and approach make it an ideal classroom text for students of business and management, labor law and other related fields. Instructors from other than the five countries can easily supplement analysis of the problems by reference to their domestic systems, which gives this work added flexibility and relevance.