Global Courts Tighten Scrutiny of Employer Practices in Landmark Rulings
Published on 07/28/2026 at 09:07 | Redaktion boerse-global.de
A wave of court decisions across multiple jurisdictions is reshaping the landscape of employment law, with judges increasingly demanding that employers follow fair and transparent procedures in performance reviews, terminations, and contract enforcement.
Performance Reviews Under the Microscope
In Singapore, a court has awarded S$30,000 to a woman dismissed for poor performance after finding that her employer’s appraisal process was fundamentally flawed. The ruling concluded that the company had failed to conduct a proper assessment before terminating her employment.
The decision comes as Singapore’s employment claims hit their highest level since 2019. Last year, the city-state recorded 13,083 claims, including 2,168 for wrongful dismissal and 10,801 related to salary disputes. Authorities recovered approximately $22 million in unpaid wages and $2.71 million for wrongful dismissal cases during that period.
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Across the Atlantic, an arbitrator ruled on July 24 that the US Department of Health and Human Services violated a collective bargaining agreement involving thousands of staff. Arbitrator Kathleen Jones Spilker found that the agency improperly terminated around 3,495 probationary employees on February 14, 2025, and another 1,600 on May 8, 2025. The ruling stated that HHS failed to follow required reduction-in-force procedures and relied on a regulation not yet in effect at the time.
In a separate development, Meta clarified its layoff procedures in a sworn court filing, stating that artificial intelligence was not used to select employees for redundancies in May 2026. Instead, human managers made the decisions based on organisational criteria and performance ratings, reportedly without considering employees’ leave status.
Contractual Breaches Prove Costly
Legal disputes over notice periods and fixed-term contracts have resulted in significant financial penalties. On July 28, a Singapore court ordered manager Low Eng Wah to pay Aerospace Solutions Enterprises S$36,000 plus interest for breaching his contract by serving only two months of a required six-month notice period.
In the media sector, Warner Bros Discovery has launched legal action against Amazon over the hiring of senior marketing executive Pia Chaozon Barlow. The lawsuit alleges that Amazon induced Barlow to breach a fixed-term contract running until October 31, 2027. She was hired by Amazon in June 2026, and Warner Bros Discovery is now seeking damages and an injunction.
A case involving Ontario-based ProRich Seeds highlighted the complexities of constructive dismissal. A court found that a seed salesman had been constructively dismissed and awarded him $56,000.70 based on a 21-month notice period. However, a successful counterclaim regarding overpaid advances meant the former employee ultimately owed the company $3,333.49.
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Worker Rights Expand for Casual and Remote Staff
Recent rulings have also strengthened protections for casual and remote workers. On July 28, the Kenya Court of Appeal ruled that workers continuously engaged in permanent roles cannot be classified as casual staff. This follows a June 11 ruling in Mombasa that granted outsourced and casual workers the same terms and benefits as permanent employees under collective bargaining agreements.
In the United States, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on July 24 in favour of Mimi Weiss, a remote worker dismissed by Kaiser Permanente after refusing a vaccine mandate on religious grounds. The court characterised the company’s investigation into her faith as illegal and intrusive.
Further protections were upheld in Colorado, where the Court of Appeals ruled on July 23 that the state’s Equal Pay for Equal Work Act allows for retaliation claims regarding wage discussions regardless of whether gender-based discrimination is involved. Separately, the National Industrial Court ordered NICON Insurance to refund unlawfully deducted salaries to three former employees and remit outstanding pension contributions within 30 days.
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