With Administrator Scott Pruitt at its helm, cooperative federalism is the frequently recited principle underlying recent EPA enforcement efforts. As the Environmental Protection Agency’s regulatory oversight in areas like the Clean Water Act is delegated to the states, the agency is relying more upon state and local authorities to enforce the laws. There are shortcomings associated with this approach, which were raised in the recent U.S ...
A common question we receive from school systems relates to whether certain employees (both service personnel and professional personnel) recapture their seniority if there has been a break in their employment with the school system but they later return to employment. Often a break in employment is the result of a voluntary break or unfortunately a reduction in force ...
By this time next year, Singapore will have a rather different employment regime from any it has had since independence. One aspect of this needs to be carefully thought through. About ten years ago, a distressed Norwegian client consulted me. His company’s Singapore office had a toxic employee who not only performed poorly and shirked responsibility, but was also habitually insubordinate to management and offensive to his peers ...
On April 30, 2018, the California Supreme Court rejected a delivery company’s challenge to a trial court’s decision to certify a class of delivery drivers in a wage and hour class action case, embracing a standard that presumes workers are employees instead of independent contractors. The high court’s ruling adopts a much broader definition of the term “employ,” which as a result expands the meaning of the term “employee ...
On April 30, 2018, the California Supreme Court in Dynamex Operations West Inc. v. Superior Court (Case No. S222732) modified the test for determining whether a worker is an independent contractor for purposes of California wage orders. The Court expanded the definition of "employee" and rejected its long-standing independent contractor test ...
On April 24, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” or the “Commission”) announced its first enforcement action against a public company for failing to disclose a data breach. In a settled cease-and-desist order, the SEC imposed a $35 million civil penalty against Altaba Inc., formerly known as Yahoo! Inc ...
Earlier this year, Prime Minister Theresa May said the government wanted to, “secure broad energy cooperation with the EU”, including by, “exploring options for the UK’s continued participation in the EU’s internal energy market” ...
In March 2018, the new Serbian Law on Foreigners was adopted, replacing the 2008 version of this law- in force until recently without any amendments. The new law will enter into force on 3 October 2018 ...
The Eleventh Circuit’s recent decision in United States ex rel. Hunt v. Cochise Consultancy, Inc., has further complicated the answer to what should be a simple question: What is the statute of limitations in qui tam action when the government declines to intervene? There are currently three different answers to that seemingly simple question depending on the forum in which a case is filed ...
Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (“OCIE”) released a Risk Alert covering the most frequent advisory fee and expense compliance issues identified in over 1,500 deficiency letters sent to registered investment advisers during the past two years. The alert highlighted six categories of compliance risks frequently observed by the OCIE ...
Artificial intelligence is a burning topic in many sectors today and the legal industry is no exception. Recently, at the World Services Group’s annual employment law1 conference held in February, AI was heavily debated along with its’ impact not only on the legal profession, lawyers, clients, the way business is done, but also our traditional understanding of concepts such as “law” or “justice” ...
Personnel Season is nearly over for county boards of education. Now that Personnel Season is coming to an end, a common question we often see relates to W. Va. Code 18A-4-7a(k)(2) and how to handle the statutory provision of reserving vacancies for individual professionals subject to release (i.e. reduced in force) ...
An increased number of corporate transactions and mergers have been observed in the oil and gas sector on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) in recent years. Several oil majors and traditional utilities and downstream companies have reduced their presence and, to some extent, been replaced by smaller companies, including start-ups backed by private equity ...
Employers in New York City and New York State will be required to conduct mandatory sexual harassment training and take other steps designed to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace in response to new legislation passed by the City and the State. New York City On April 11, 2018, the New York City Council passed the Stop Sexual Harassment in New York City Act, which is expected to be signed promptly by Mayor de Blasio ...
On April 12, 2018, the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage Hour Division released three opinion letters regarding the legality of certain arrangements under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), and Title III of the Consumer Credit Protection Act (CCPA). The first letter addresses a question commonly faced by employers—whether an employee is entitled to compensation for time spent traveling away from the employee’s home community ...
Guatemalan respected Judge Erika Aifan issues a historical ruling in a criminal case brought against construction companies. A plea bargain was reached under an abreviated process allowed under Guatemala´s Criminal Law where senior executives for the companies accepted making facilitation payments to the ex-Minister of Construction in order to accelerate backed payments owed for previous construction deals ...
In our GDPR for Employers guide, we look at the key areas where employers will need to implement change and how to manage the impact of these regulations on the business ...
Due in part to the #MeToo movement, employers have experienced an influx of workplace sexual harassment claims. More than ever, employers have been reminded of their legal and ethical duties to create harassment-free workplaces. These duties involve preventing foreseeable sexual harassment including proactively training employees about discrimination and harassment. This also entails properly investigating sexual harassment claims and immediately correcting known harassment ...
The decision in National Education Health & Allied Workers Union on behalf of Sinxo & others and Agricultural Research Council is important primarily for two reasons. Firstly, it deals with when an employee can claim that he or she has been discriminated against on an arbitrary ground as envisaged in section 6(1) of the Employment Equity Act, 1998 (the “EEA”) ...
A modern, technologically driven society generates large amounts of information about members of that society. Think, for example, of the information regarding statuses and activities that banks, credit card providers, medical aid schemes, cell phone networks and employers have in their possession. Think further of the information that Google, Facebook, Uber and Amazon have in their possession ...
The relationship between the periods set for pursuing unfair dismissal claims in terms of the Labour Relations Act, 1995 (“LRA”), and the prescription periods set in the Prescription Act, 1969 (“PA”) has been the subject of some confusion and debate. At the heart of the debate is the interpretation and application of section 16(1) of the PA ...
Effective January 1, 2018, California employers are prohibited from asking an applicant about their salary history. Now a Ninth Circuit decision, Rizo v. Yovino, (9th Cir. 16-15372 4/9/18), has made it clear that employers are prohibited from making a salary determination based on the applicant’s prior salary history ...
Increase in merger and acquisition deals notified in Ireland In recent months there has been 27 merger deals notified to Ireland's Competition and Consumer Protection Commission ("CCPC") which is up 42% from the 19 notifications as of the same date last year.This increase is following a pattern of sustained increases, for example, there had been 72 notifications across the whole of 2017 which was an increase on 2016's total of 67 ...
Hiring an employee is exciting — it’s an opportunity for both employer and prospective employee to develop a mutually beneficial and profitable relationship. However, when done incorrectly, hiring can create liability. To avoid turning a potentially promising encounter into a problematic one, VARs and MSPs need to adhere to a few best practices. Ask the right questions. Candidates should be asked similar questions geared toward determining if they can perform the job ...
