In 2021, warehouse distribution centers were at the forefront of California law, regulations, and environmental initiatives. These efforts seek to regulate labor practices of warehouse operators and the environmental impacts caused by the expansion and concentration of distribution centers over the last decade. This article summarizes AB 701 and other initiatives in California targeting warehouse distribution operations ...
In re: Vivint, Inc., Appeal No. 2020-1992 (Fed. Cir. Sept. 29, 2021) In an appeal from the United States Patent Trial and Appeal Board, the Federal Circuit addressed whether a party may challenge the validity of an issued patent by ex parte reexamination when the challenger has repeatedly tried to use inter partes review (“IPR”) to forward the same argument. The Federal Circuit held that, when applying 35 U.S.C ...
Financial Services Malaysia Overnight Rate as Alternative Reference Rate Bank Negara Malaysia (“BNM”) announced on 24 September that the Malaysia Overnight Rate (“MYOR”) is an alternative reference rate for Malaysia. The MYOR: will be administered and calculated by BNM as the volume-weighted average rate of unsecured overnight Ringgit interbank transactions, including BNM’s overnight monetary operations (excluding Standing Facilities) ...
In our final quarterly case law update for 2021, we look at some of the key cases published since July 2021 and consider the lessons we can learn from them. Furlough and redundancy As a result of the backlog within the Employment Tribunal system, we are only just starting to see the Tribunal making decisions on the actions taken by employers during the pandemic, specifically in their use of furlough under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) ...
We are often asked to opine on the status of anti-discrimination law on the island, as many believe that it does not exist. In fact it does exist, albeit to a limited extent: The Sex Discrimination (Employment) (Guernsey) Ordinance 2005 renders it unlawful for employers to discriminate against employees and job applicants on grounds of sex, marriage or gender reassignment ...
The Personal Information Protection Law (the “PIPL”) will take effect on 1 November 2021. It follows the fundamental rules on protecting personal information under the Cybersecurity Law and Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). We highlight below the key points in the PIPL on processing personal information within China, and outbound transfer of personal information, which may impact businesses whether they are operating in or outside the PRC. 1 ...
Is the sale or purchase of software by an agent on behalf of its principal a sale or purchase of ‘goods’ for the purposes of the Commercial Agents (Council Directive) Regulations 1993 (the “Regulations”) within the technology sector? Following the Court of Justice of the European Union (the “CJEU”) preliminary ruling in The Software Incubator Ltd v. Computer Associates UK Ltd case, we move a step closer to a much-needed consistent answer ...
[!<CDATA[ The federal government established many new funds in 2020 to assist health care providers with the financial burden of COVID-19. One such fund, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) Provider Relief Fund (PRF), is a $178 billion federal appropriation to health care providers impacted by COVID-19. Since its inception, the CARES Provider Relief Fund has consistently changed and its guidance evolved ...
Bill 64, also known as the Act to modernize legislative provisions respecting the protection of personal information , was adopted on September 21, 2021, by the National Assembly of Quebec ...
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 ...
On September 15, 2021, the one-year-long suspension of the Philippine Competition Commission’s (PCC) power to review mergers and acquisitions motu proprio under Republic Act No. 11494 (the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act, or the Bayanihan 2) ends. This means that starting September 16, 2021, the PCC may again review mergers and acquisitions motu proprio ...
Executive Summary For organisations transferring personal data from the EEA, the new form of model clauses must now be used for any new transfers agreed as of 27 September 2021. Existing arrangements using the “old” European model clauses have until December 2022 to be replaced with one of the new versions ...
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 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 ...
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”) ...
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 ...
