As most employers know, the federal wage/hour law under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) includes the requirement to pay “non-exempt” employees time and one half of their “regular rate” for work in excess of 40 hours in a work week. The U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) is charged with enforcing the FLSA through its Wage and Hour Division ...
The Comelec promulgated Resolution No. 9615 on 15 January 2013. This Resolution implements the provisions of Republic Act No. 9006, more popularly known as the Fair Election Act, for purposes of the 2013 national and local mid-term elections ...
Since year 2008 Nicaragua has been modernizing the administration of labor justice. The Ministry of Labor started the modernization with the implementation of an oral process for the fulfillment of certain formalities required before such institution, such as termination of employment contracts for justified cause, collective suspensions and business closures. The implementation of this oral process has been successful because it reduces and simplifies processes ...
The National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) began 2013 as it began 2012, facing questions regarding whether a quorum of its members had been constitutionally appointed. As we noted in our February 3, 2012 NLRB Roundup, President Obama made three controversial “recess” appointments to the Board to restore its quorum. Now, a year later, the D.C ...
On February 12, 2013, in conjunction with the release of the Executive Order on Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity (the Executive Order), President Obama signed a Presidential Policy Directive/PPD-21 on Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience. The PPD revokes the 2003 Homeland Security Presidential Directive-7 (issued by President George W ...
On February 12, 2013, the Obama Administration released an executive order, Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity (the "Executive Order"), which is focused primarily on government actions to support critical infrastructure owners and operators in protecting their systems and networks from cyber threats ...
Haynes and Boone, LLP’s Immigration Practice Group reminds employers with a need for Cap-Subject H-1B petitions - those petitions that are subject to the annual numerical limit - that the filing window for Fiscal Year 2014 is about to open. Over the last three years, the cap has been reached at an earlier and earlier date: June 11, 2012 (FY 2013), November 23, 2011 (FY 2012) and January 27, 2011 (FY 2011) ...
The Equality Tribunal (the Tribunal) has directed that an employer pay €52,000.00 in compensation to a former employee after it held that she had been discriminated against on the grounds of gender and victimised1. The Tribunal awarded €26,000 in respect of the discrimination and €26,000 in respect of the victimisation. The award is equivalent to one year's salary. The claimant was employed as a business development manager for a branch of the business ...
Pending consideration by Congress is Senate Bill No. 3371 which seeks to amend Section 5 of Republic Act No. 7277, as amended, otherwise known as the “Magna Carta for Persons With Disability”. A counterpart measure in the House of Representatives is House Bill No. 5475. Senate Bill No. 3371 proposes that Section 5 of Republic Act No. 7277 be amended to read as follows: “Sec. 5. Equal Opportunity for Employment ...
Pending consideration by the Congress is House Bill No. 3591, otherwise known as the “Alien Social Integration Act of 2010”, which aims to grant legal residency status to certain aliens in the Philippines under certain conditions. The proposed legislation covers all aliens whose stay in the Philippines is otherwise illegal under existing laws, and who have entered the country prior to 30 June 2000, excluding those who already availed in good faith the benefits of Executive Order No ...
Some amended/new provisions introduced by the NLRC En Banc Resolution No. 11-12 adopted on 16 November 2012 are: · Section 6, paragraph g, Rule III ...
The Courts have considered the concept of constructive dismissal on many occasions. Generally, the expression “constructive dismissal” refers to situations in which an employee does not agree to a substantial change made unilaterally by his employer to one or more essential terms of his employment contract, and leaves his employment for this reason. In the case ofSt-Hilairev.Nexxlink inc ...
In July 2012 the Croatian Parliament abolished the rule that had enabled employees to receive salaries and other benefits as agreed in collective bargaining agreements (CBAs), years after the CBAs had ceased to be in force.For decades companies with a large number of employees, through the CBAs, were establishing a minimum level of employees’ rights, such as vacation bonuses, Christmas bonuses and loyalty bonuses ...
Some favourable news on the global economic front has been trickling in. Markets around the world rallied as the US avoided the fiscal cliff-dive by a nanosecond; China's economy is showing signs of renewed strength, with the powerful manufacturing sector now performing at its best levels in almost two years; and share prices in most of Europe, Britain and even Japan have been trading solidly higher over the past few months ...
In September, the National Customs and Tax Authority - DIAN - presented the third draft of the new Customs Statute, which will regulate most of Colombia’s customs law. Although scholars and business associations have presented their comments to the project, the draft seems to be definitive for the most part ...
The Iran Freedom and Counter-Proliferation Act of 2012 (IFCPA), enacted this week by Congress as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013, further ratchets up U.S. economic sanctions against Iran. U.S. persons or entities (hereafter "persons"), including their foreign subsidiaries, or persons in the U.S., are already prohibited from virtually all transactions involving Iran. Under IFCPA, U.S ...
Although only tangentially related to oil and gas operations, the recent pipeline rupture and resulting fire near Charleston, West Virginia highlights the importance of safety inspections and the costs incurred when accidents occur ...
In a Federal Register notice dated December 26, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the Dept. of the Treasury updated its regulations to include prohibitions on foreign subsidiaries of U.S. corporations from doing business with Iran. 77 F.R. 75848. The amended regulations also make clear that penalties for trading with Iran by a foreign subsidiary can be imposed on its U.S. parent. Such penalties will not be applied if the U.S ...
On 17 December 2012 Treasury released a Consultation Paper on minimum governance standards for entities registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC), as well as draft Regulations and an Explanatory Memorandum on financial reporting obligations and annual information statements for such entities ...
Yet again, this year has been a busy one for employers, HR teams and their lawyers: employment law changes and decisions from the Courts have kept us all on our toes! Here is a reminder of some of the most significant cases and legal developments of 2012.1. The unfair dismissal qualifying period increased to two years for those employed on or after 6 April 2012. The qualifying period for employees whose employment started before this date remains 12 months.2 ...
The Government has confirmed it plans to increase the lower earnings trigger for automatic pension enrolment from £8,105 to £9,440 from April 2013, keeping the figure in line with the income tax threshold. Only workers with an annual salary above the earnings trigger will have to be automatically enrolled into a workplace pension scheme by their employer ...
French at work, at school and in the Civil Administration - Protection and bolstering of the official language. The title of this newsletter gives a good summary of the explanatory notes that serve as an introduction to Bill 14, entitled "An Act to Amend the Charter of the French Language, the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms and other Legislative Provisions" ("The Bill"). The Legislature is concerned that English is being used systematically in certain workplaces ...
By a decision of 18 October 2012 the Danish Board of Equal Treatment found that it was okay to dismiss an employee shortly after her return from maternity leave as it was not until that time that the outlook of the organisation had been established. The matter involved an employee who was dismissed shortly after the expiry of her maternity leave. The employee argued that the decision to dismiss her had been made, while she was on maternity leave ...
In two decisions of 18 October 2012 the Danish Board of Equal Treatment found that it is not permitted to use criteria in job advertisements that indicate that the advertisement is targeted at younger applicants. In the first case a 57 year old job applicant had complained that an industry association in a job advertisement had stated that emphasis was placed on the applicants having "a few years' experience or were newly graduates" ...
The question raised in the case was whether a previously concluded agreement on salary cuts could be set aside in the event of the employer's bankruptcy to the effect that an employee could receive salary from the Employees' Guarantee Fund as if no agreement on salary cuts had been entered into between the employer and the employee some months before the employer went bankrupt ...
