Additional information
by Elvira Medici (Author), Linda J. Spievack (Author)
Recent years have seen a huge growth in European cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and considerable attention has been given to how such deals arise and are completed. A U.S. investor must understand the basic difference in the principle of individual labor law in the U.S. and how it compares with the laws of the target country in an M&A. In the U.S., under the employment at-will doctrine, the U.S. private sector employers can dismiss their non-unionized employees at any time for any reason or even no reason at all. In most European Union (EU) countries and Germany and Italy specifically, employees are presumed to have a basic right to keep their jobs indefinitely. One of the greatest labor cost disparity with the U.S. is not wages. It is the amount of paid time-off and other benefits. Employers in Germany and Italy will find it difficult to discharge employees without incurring substantial liability. For high-level, long-term employees, these severance payments can run into six or even seven figures.
Author Biography
Elvira Medici obtained her juris doctorate degree in 1997 and has been practicing law in the area of business and real estate. After completing LLM in employment law in 2014, she became inspired to write on the topic of international merger and acquisition. Elvira likes to travel and learn new languages. She can be reached at elviraesq@gmail.com
