Lockdown 3.0 is upon us and once again schools are closed and working parents find themselves having to balance childcare and home-schooling whilst trying to manage their own work and responsibilities. For those who cannot reasonably work from home, or who may struggle with having to provide childcare at the same time as meeting the demands of their role, employers are able to consider offering furlough leave as an option ...
How does one resolve a dispute involving thousands of individual items where it is impractical to deal separately with each one? A recent decision in the Technology and Construction Court provides some guidance - but raises further questions. The case is Standard Life Assurance Limited v Gleeds (UK)(a firm) and Others (December 2020, TCC). Standard Life had engaged Costain as its main contractor for the development of a large residential and retail development in Berkshire ...
This article forms part of our ‘New How: Perspectives’ report: ‘Can real estate help solve the productivity puzzle?’. To access this free report, please click on the download link to the right of this page. Contrary to popular belief, the Covid pandemic has not destroyed real estate as an investment class; rather it has accelerated the rate at which it was already evolving ...
As employers adapt to the impacts of COVID-19, wage and hour compliance continues to present unique challenges. To help employers navigate these uncertain times, government enforcement agencies and legislatures have continued to issue new laws, opinion letters, and guidance all employers should understand and act upon ...
The president has signed into law the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2020, which includes several temporary special rules aimed at minimizing forfeitures and increasing the utility of health and dependent care flexible spending accounts (FSAs). Plans providing for one or both accounts can take advantage of these participant-friendly rules immediately ...
The Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act, recently passed as part of the “Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021,” has significantly extended the tax exclusions for employer-paid student loan repayment assistance introduced under the CARES Act. With this extension, employers can provide employees with student loan repayment assistance of up to $5,250 per year for 2021 through 2025 (up to $26,250 total) ...
Parliament has revised the federal telecoms legislation – in particular, the Federal Telecommunications Act (TCA) and its various implementing ordinances. These revised regulations entered into force on 1 January 2021. The revision of the telecoms legislation brings about several fundamental changes that affect consumers as well as telecoms service providers (TSPs) and telecoms operators ...
The Unemployment Insurance Fund (“UIF”) has shed some light on what will happen to existing and outstanding COVID-19 Temporary Employer-Employee Relief Scheme (“TERS”) applications and payments, particularly over the festive season. We discuss the must-knows for employers below ...
As we face a new period of lockdown, the memories of March come flooding back. However, it is useful to remember that, as a nation, we are better prepared this time, and our shared experiences of the last ten months will help to ensure we tackle the challenge ahead positively, constructively and from a more informed position than before ...
After what can only be described as a difficult year (an annus horribilis!) for employers and employees alike, we turn our attention to 2021 and look at some of the more significant legislative changes coming into force this year. Furlough continues The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme has been extended until 30 April 2021 ...
Kicking off our 2021 Tricky Issues Series, in this article we consider when misconduct is sufficiently serious to amount to gross misconduct. Misconduct v gross misconduct – why does it matter? Misconduct is one of the five potentially fair reasons an employer must have to dismiss an employee fairly. In this context, misconduct usually refers to two types of improper or unacceptable behaviour – ordinary misconduct and gross misconduct ...
In this article, Benedict Ngoh Ti Yang looks at the new section 17A under the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (“MACC”) (Amendment) Act 2018. INTRODUCTION Pursuant to the recent Legal Notification PU(B) 247/2020, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (“MACC”) (Amendment) Act 20181 has come into force effective 1 June 2020. The principal effect of the MACC (Amendment) Act 2018 is the introduction of section 17A under the MACC Act ...
Several new employment laws have taken effect as of January 1, 2021 in both Oregon and Washington. Below is a brief overview of the new laws impacting employers in the Pacific Northwest. Washington Increased Minimum Salary Threshold for Exempt Employees As of January 1, 2021, the state salary threshold for many exempt employees in Washington is higher than the federal salary threshold ...
Key Points Effective January 1, 2021, public colleges, universities, and governmental entities whose primary purpose is providing medical or hospital care are eligible for the employee retention and rehiring tax credit. The amount of the credit is equal to 70 percent of up to $10,000 in eligible wages per employee per quarter for the first two quarters of 2021. The tax credit is claimed as an offset to employment taxes otherwise payable by the employer ...
On 9 December 2020, the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training (“MLVT”) issued Notification 041/20 on Extending the Deadline for the 2021 Foreign Employee Quota Application (“Notification”). Through the Notification, the MLVT has delayed the submission deadline for 2021 foreign employee quota applications until 31 January 2021, being two months after the original deadline ...
Minimum Wage Increase The Act of 15 December 2020 amending article L.222-9 of the Labor Code comes into force on 1 January 2021.The new legal provisions increase the minimum wage by 2.8%: raising unskilled employees' minimum monthly wages from EUR 2,141.99 gross to EUR 2,201.93 gross; and raising qualified employees' minimum monthly wages from EUR 2,570.39 gross to EUR 2,642.32 gross. The index applicable to employees' wages (834,76) remains however unchanged ...
Did you know? The long-awaited draft of the Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL) was released for public consultation in October 2020. If enacted, it will be the first comprehensive law setting out the overall legal framework, as well as the obligations of different stakeholders throughout the entire lifecycle of personal data in China. Why does this matter to you? The data protection regime in China has developed rapidly in recent years and is stricter than one might think ...
In general, individuals admitted into Hong Kong under various types of visa may apply for extension of stay within four weeks before the date of expiry, and they must be physically present in Hong Kong at the time of submitting the application and the collection of visa label upon approval. Due to the ongoing pandemic across the globe, this restriction has brought extra hurdles to a lot of applicants who are employees of companies and/or members of families ...
The President recently signed into law the Criminal Antitrust Anti-Retaliation Act (S. 2258) (116th Cong. (2020)), which amends the Antitrust Criminal Penalty Enhancement and Reform Act of 2004. It grants stronger protections to employees who come forward with claims of antitrust violations. Specifically, the law prohibits employers from discharge, demotion, or suspension, as well as any discrimination against any employee who assists in a government antitrust investigation ...
On December 4 th , 2020, Supreme Decree No. 2,097 of the Ministry of Finance (hereinafter, the “ Decree ”) was published in the Official Gazette, which extends the enforcement of the benefits established in titles I and II of law No.21,227 (“ Employment Protection Act ”) and in law No ...
When the scope of the COVID-19 pandemic became apparent in March 2020, an avalanche of articles appeared in which many insurers took the position that there was no coverage for losses associated with the SARS-CoV-2 virus due either to a lack of physical loss or damage to property necessary to trigger coverage under most commercial property policies, or to the effect of virus exclusions found in many such policies ...
Happy New Year! Not surprisingly, the Hunton Insurance Recovery Blog’s top ten most read posts of 2020 are dominated by COVID-19 business interruption insurance issues, as these disputes monopolized media headlines throughout the year. While 2021 shows promise for gaining control over the disease, the resulting insurance disputes are certain to remain center stage and our team will continue to report on material developments involving COVID-19 and other insurance coverage issues ...
The City and County of San Francisco (SF) issued a COVID-19 surge-related travel and quarantine order (Quarantine Order) on Dec. 16, 2020, and an updated Shelter-In-Place Order (SIP Order) on December 9 (updated Dec. 30, 2020). Under those orders, every person who enters SF after having been outside the Bay Area within the last ten days must quarantine for 240 hours from the time of arrival in SF. However, two exceptions apply to those working on construction projects in SF ...
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (the “Act”), which was signed into law on December 27, 2020, includes several updates to the Paycheck Protection Program (the “PPP”) originally established by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (as modified by the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act of 2020, the “CARES Act”) ...
