On Monday the White House announced that the COVID-19 travel restrictions imposed on passengers from the UK and most of the EU would be eased, allowing fully vaccinated passengers to enter the country from early November. This will be welcomed by families that have been kept apart as a result of the ban first imposed by President Trump 18 months ago. The UK moved to end similar restrictions on US travellers in July, and both sides of the pond are once again open for business ...
In a recent appeal by a pharmacy, Doorstep Dispensaree Limited (“Doorstep”), against a Monetary Penalty Notice and an Enforcement Notice issued against it by the Information Commissioner’s Office (the “ICO”), Doorstep was partially successful, specifically against the level of fine imposed by the ICO under the Monetary Penalty Notice ...
Covering employee wages since 1 March 2020, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme ("furlough") is set to end on 30 September 2021, with a deadline for final claims to be made by 14 October 2021. Employers still using the scheme should be engaging with employees about its end, and may now need to make some tough decisions that have been postponed while furlough continued ...
The shift to flexible working has never been more pronounced than now as we make a steady return to the workplace following the pandemic. National headlines recently highlighted the risk for employers of failing to properly consider requests for flexible working. The case of Thompson v Scancrown Ltd t/a Manors resulted in the claimant, Mrs Thompson, being awarded just over £180,000 for indirect discrimination following the rejection of her flexible working request ...
The government has announced a series of measures to tackle ongoing shortages of heavy goods vehicle (HGV) drivers and poultry workers in the UK. This includes relaxing immigration rules to offer over 10,000 temporary visas in the run up to Christmas. Brexit, the Coronavirus pandemic, tax changes and additional factors such as an ageing workforce have all contributed to a shortage of food processing workers and HGV drivers in the United Kingdom ...
The UK government has announced proposals to make flexible working requests a ‘day one’ right for employees, as part of reforms to the Flexible Working Regulations 2014. Over the past 18 months, the pandemic has been a catalyst for increased flexible working. Although this has meant ‘working from home’ for most, flexible work can include other arrangements such as flexitime, job-sharing, condensed hours and part-time work ...
Recent cases provide a timely reminder that employers still make costly slip-ups when managing pregnant workers and those returning from maternity leave. We highlight some useful lessons from those cases on how to avoid discrimination claims. When a worker announces their pregnancy to their employer, the employer becomes subject to additional obligations until the end of the protected period when the worker returns from maternity leave ...
On 29 September 2021, the Hong Kong Legislative Council passed a bill to reform the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (Cap. 486) (PDPO) by introducing a two-tier offence to criminalise doxxing acts, conferring new enforcement powers on the Hong Kong Privacy Commissioner to prosecute doxxing offences and issue cessation notices with extra-territorial effect to demand the removal of doxxing contents by both Hong Kong persons and non-Hong Kong service providers ...
The window to apply for the 2022 foreign employee quota is open until the end of November 2021. Enterprises employing or intending to employ foreign employees in 2022 are required to apply for a foreign employee quota from the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training (“MLVT”) ...
September 29, 2021 By: Jennifer Guerrero The California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 (“CPRA”) established a new state privacy regulatory agency, the California Privacy Protection Agency (“Agency”), which is responsible for issuing regulations implementing the CPRA (along with enforcement authority) ...
Summary On September 9, 2021, President Biden issued his Executive Order on Ensuring Adequate COVID Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors (the “Executive Order”) that, when implemented, will require most federal contractors to comply with all guidance for federal contractor and subcontractor workplace locations published by the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force (see www.saferfederalworkforce.gov) ...
As many of us continue to work from home and/or have opportunities for travel and meeting up restricted, we are continuing to run our essential webinar series for employers to ensure that our clients and contacts remain up to date and equipped to deal with all eventualities! Our latest seminar focused on disability and Long COVID ...
The National Security and Investment Act 2021 – a law that will introduce a screening process for certain acquisitions and investments. The National Security and Investment Act 2021 will introduce a new mandatory notification regime for transactions that comes into force on 4 January 2022. We take a look at what it will cover ...
On September 8, 2021, Mr. Éric Girard, Minister of Finance, presented his Draft Regulation specifying the classes of liability insurance contracts that may derogate from public policy rules previously applicable to liability insurance (the? Draft Regulation ?), Namely those set out in articles 2500 and 2503 of the Civil Code of Quebec (? CCQ? ) concerning the insurer? s duty to defend and the exclusive application of insurance coverage to injured third parties ...
As it is known, starting from October 15 until December 31, 2021 (the deadline set for the end of the state of emergency), the obligation to possess – and to show on request – the “green pass” 1 has been extended to all workers, including those of the private sector, in order to allow their access to workplaces. With regard to this matter, Law Decree no ...
As we enter the final quarter of 2021, there are many things still to do and plan for before the end of the year. There are also some timing considerations given proposed legislative changes and the lead time needed to accomplish some of these items. You should be reviewing your year-end estate planning or business transition concerns NOW ...
On Sept. 22, 2021, the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) publicly referred six matters involving drug manufacturers to the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) for possible imposition of civil monetary penalties (CMPs) ...
The White House announced on Monday, Sept. 20, 2021, that in early November of this year, it intends to end the COVID-19 travel bans imposed in 2020 and replace them with vaccination and COVID-19 testing requirements for almost all travelers ...
[!<CDATA[ The trend toward conducting business online has gained even stronger momentum as the economy continues to adapt to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. But an increased digital presence carries the potential for increased legal risk ...
On September 23, 2021, the Ministry of Economy, Development and Tourism published in the Official Gazette the Electronic Commerce Regulation ("Regulation"). It will become effective on March 24, 2022, according to its transitory article. This Regulation, complying with the provisions of Article 30 and Article 62 of Law No ...
Decree No 131 of the Ministry of Public Works, published in the Official Gazette on September 15, 2021 (the "Decree No 131"), comes to amend DS No 50 / 2015 (the "Decree No 50"), Regulation of Article 295 paragraph 2° of the Water Code, which establishes technical conditions to be met in the design, construction and operation of hydraulic works of Article 294, consisting, among others, in dams or reservoirs with a capacity greater than 50 thousand m3 or whose wall is more than 5 mete
