HR Management & Compliance

Danger Zone—Crossing and Recrossing Borders to Refresh Visas

Last Week! Pay Budget Survey—Who’s Doing What?

It’s post-recession and pay is going up … but how much? Let’s find out! Participate in BLR’s Pay Budget Survey—free copy of the results to all participants.



In yesterday’s Advisor, we featured consultant Stuart Buglass’s take on mistakes HR managers can make when going global. Today, more pitfalls, including the dangers of gaming the system.

Avoiding Costly Workarounds that Can Lead You Astray

Some companies try to cut corners by using contractor agreements to replace local employees, thus doing away with Social Security costs and payroll systems. Yet regulators in places such as Argentina and Brazil require contractors to provide information about their engagements with an overseas company in an attempt to identify a permanent establishment (PE)—which, if proven, will generate local corporate taxes that are often much higher than they would have been had you established a local employment relationship.

Buglass, today’s guest columnist, is Vice President of Human Capital Consulting for Radius. He is an expert on global employment law compensation and benefits, stock options, expatriate tax, and immigration-related issues. Find out more about Buglass and international consultancy Radius here: https://www.radiusworldwide.com/about/executive-team/stuart-buglass.

Another shortcut involves the extended use of business travelers as overseas employees to avoid hiring local workers and their associated tax and Social Security costs. However, playing the system where travelers cross borders to refresh their visas is fraught with danger and likely to expose the individual to immigration violations, tax residency issues, and PE risks.

Note that local officials have been quick to catch on to these activities. Many see business travelers as a soft target to increase their tax coffers, because such foreign executives are well paid and, more crucially, they’re nonvoting in the local electorate.


FMLA—HR’s #1 hassle, year after year. BLR’s popular “FMLA Bible” is ready to help now. Click here to find out more about FMLA Complete Compliance.


Budgeting for Leave and Termination Costs

It’s important to realize that costs for annual leave, sick pay, and termination can also vary greatly from country to country. For example, workers in the Netherlands are guaranteed a vacation bonus of 8 percent of the annual base pay per leave year, along with their basic salary when taking a day off.

The cost of termination is another thorny area, because most countries recognize an employee’s right not to be unfairly dismissed. The evidential bar to prove a “just” termination is often very high. Therefore, in addition to paying out the notice periods detailed in an employment contract, employers will often pay large severance sums in return for a release of an employee’s statutory rights.

The appetite to pay out rather than run the risk of a claim can be further fueled by shortcomings in the local legal system, such as in Japan, where a successful claimant is entitled to back pay covering the period between termination and court judgment—and it can take a number of years for a case to be heard.

In territories where “just cause” to terminate is a factor, it makes sense to understand whether the attainment of such rights is contingent on a threshold event, such as the employee’s length of service (such as 1 year in Australia or 2 years in the UK) or head count thresholds (such as 10 employees in Germany), and then timetable your terminations accordingly.

Obviously, HR professionals have a duty to understand the legal landscape and potential problems when moving into new global markets. But, sometimes the local rules and regulations can be opaque and not so obvious. That’s why it makes sense to seek out expert advice to address any problems before your low-cost overseas bargain turns into a high-risk overseas failure.

Unfortunately, going global doesn’t eliminate headaches at home. And one of HR’s biggest headaches year over year is the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). It’s an almost overwhelming task to keep up with the FMLA, let alone to get in compliance with the far-reaching changes. You’re going to need a helping hand. Good news! BLR’s editors have gone into overdrive to get your comprehensive compliance guide ready.

BLR’s FMLA Complete Compliance simplifies the frustrating and confusing complexities of the FMLA, so you know exactly how to comply in every situation.

It contains practical answers to all the FMLA questions you are asking—and the ones you haven’t thought of but should be asking.


A whirlwind of changes has hit the FMLA—are you in compliance? Order BLR’s comprehensive resource and find out what you need to do. You’ll get expert FMLA guidance, forms, and concrete examples. Find out more.


This comprehensive resource contains:

  • FMLA.HRLaws.com, the website – for fast answers, policies, HR community, and more
  • The 600+ page manual
  • Quarterly issues of FMLA Policy, Practice & Legal Update

You’ll get information on:

  • Leave law overview;
  • All the new forms and advice on how to use them;
  • Practical guidance on implementing all aspects of the new rules;
  • Analysis of federal and state laws, what they require, and how they interact;
  • Leave circumstances, coverage, and eligibility—for FMLA, ADA, workers’ comp, and military leave;
  • Recordkeeping and reporting requirements;
  • Reasonable accommodation; and
  • Sample policies and forms.

Get more information or order your copy of FMLA Complete Compliance today.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *