Australia
In June 2026, Argentina, British Columbia (Canada), France and Luxembourg increased their minimum wage rates.
In May 2026, Turkey doubled the length of paternity leave from five to 10 days. In France, for children born on or after 1 January 2026, each parent (including mothers) is entitled to two months of supplementary birth leave, available from 1 July 2026.
In Turkey, maternity leave was extended from 16 to 24 weeks from 1 May 2026. In France, for children born on or after 1 January 2026, each parent (including mothers) is entitled to two months of supplementary birth leave, available from 1 July 2026.
Enhanced to include new information on India.
The Fair Work Commission’s Annual Wage Review 2026 is underway and builds on a new initiative reviewing degree‑qualified professional classifications. Further, junior pay rates will be abolished in certain sectors. Separately, New South Wales is the first Australian state to enact work health and safety legislation specifically regulating AI and digital workplace systems.
In April 2026, there have been important developments to gender pay gap reporting rules around the world. In Japan, there are additional gender pay gap disclosure obligations. In Australia, relevant private-sector employers must choose and declare their targets between 1 April and 31 May 2026. In the UK, employers with 250+ employees may produce and publish a voluntary action plan alongside their gender pay gap data.
In March 2026, the Workplace Gender Equality Agency published a report about gender pay, which provides benchmarks for employer gender pay gaps and identifies three key areas where employers can accelerate their progress.
Relevant employers are required to comply with statutory minimum standards in relation to gender equality indicators and must select three equality targets from the list and achieve (or at least improve) on the targets. These employers must choose and declare their targets between 1 April and 31 May 2026.
Updated to include additional information on leave requirements in Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, Switzerland, UAE, UK and US.
Updated to reflect new statutory protection against the cancellation or refusal of employer funded paid parental leave in the event of a stillbirth or neonatal loss, effective from 7 November 2025.
HR and legal information and guidance relating to Australia.