Legal Global Employment

Function: Legal- Location: Paris, 75, FR- Work Arrangement: Hybrid**Position Title**

**Global Labor & Employment Director**

**Location**

**Paris, France**

**Reports to**

**SVP Legal**

**Direct Reports**

**Labor & Employment legal director**

**Scope / Brands**

**Global**

**ABOUT WELLA**

Together, WE enable individuals to look, feel, and be their true selves.

Wella Company is one of the world’s leading beauty companies, comprised of a family of iconic brands such as Wella Professionals, Clairol, OPI, Nioxin and ghd. With 6,000 employees globally, presence in over 100 countries, Wella Company and its brands enable consumers to look, feel, and be their true selves. As innovators in the hair and nail industry, Wella Company empowers its people to delight consumers, inspire beauty professionals, engage communities, and deliver sustainable growth to its stakeholders.

**THE ROLE**

The role requires:

- The individual to counsel on a broad spectrum of matters in the field of labor & employment law in a truly international and dynamic business environment
- An effective ability to provide clear and solution-oriented guidance, often in complex and rapidly evolving projects in a global environment, without always referring systematically to external legal advisors
- A good track record of successfully executing and driving results and providing legally compliant solutions in a fast-paced and demanding environment
- Strong social and communication skills together with the ability to build a network of trusting relationships with HR, other Legal colleagues, management and employees with various backgrounds and different styles

**KEY RESPONSIBILITIES**

The duties of the European Employment and Labor Legal Director will include:

- Provide expert legal advice and counsel to senior management and business teams as well as HR team members on a wide range of labor & employment law issues, including but not limited to employment contracts, terminations, discrimination, harassment, wage and hour compliance, and workplace policies
- Collaborate with internal stakeholders to develop and implement effective labor & employment strategies that align with business goals and legal requirements
- Partner with employee relations lead to provide legal and strategic guidance on workforce restructuring, including reorganizations, mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures (including matters giving rise to significant works council/TUPE exposure), to ensure compliance and minimize legal risk
- Advise the HR Leadership Team, senior management of the Wella Company and other business leaders regarding the European labor & employment legal aspects of strategic decisions as well as providing legal advice on the way to navigate compliantly among and through the employee representativeness
- Monitor and analyze changes in labor & employment laws globally, and proactively advise the organization on potential impacts and necessary adjustments, including in relation to new legislative trends for regions & markets to act compliantly
- Support local HR and teams for significant employment related legal questions /concerns including but not limited to the employee terminations, employee claims and work councils set up and management
- Manage and oversee employment-related litigation, and disputes, collaborating with external legal counsel as needed
- Conduct training sessions for European HR teams, managers, and employees to ensure understanding and compliance with labor & employment laws and regulations
- Provide legal advice (directly or through external counsel) to the HR lead for employee relations matters to ensure employee relations programs, policies and procedures are legally compliant
- Support the HR function for the development and enhancement of company-wide employment policies and procedures. Work with HR and all other functions issuing procedures, guidelines, and practices to ensure:

- those are defined, negotiated, and deployed in due respect of employee representativeness institutions (work councils, unions, employee elected representative) rights and obligations
- those are legally compliant worldwide (compliance with labor laws)
- Support M&A projects by advising on all labor law related aspects
- Create and maintain close relationships with Wella’s divisional and regional HR and Legal teams in various countries and guide them in employment law matters
- Collaborate with Compliance and HR for labor related investigations. Supports and advise on investigations of potential significance to identify the legally acceptable mitigation schemes or the required actions
- Collaborate with internal communication to ensure compliance with labor & employment laws for employee communications
- Act as the main legal point of contact for relevant leaders in the Human Resource department, liaising with local and regional in-house lawyers or external counsel when necessary
- Provide day to day advice and guidance to business and funct