How does a pandemic workplace plan raise special concerns for a multinational company?
A multinational will need to implement a pandemic plan across its worldwide operations. However, local laws, including labor, employment and health laws, could impact the plan’s legality on a local basis—both in terms of the plan’s content and its implementation. Failure to take into account those local laws could create local legal liability for the multinational. Q: So how does a multinational best address these local legal concerns? A: A best practice is to draft a global pandemic response plan template that accounts for legal compliance internationally, and then adapt that template in each local jurisdiction accounting for local law. As a practical matter, a comprehensive pandemic policy will be drafted to account for swine flu, but will be broad enough to account for other pandemics, and perhaps for emergencies beyond pandemics. Q: What are some of the local legal concerns concerning how the plan is created? A: In much of Latin America and Europe, employers must appoint health and
