May 24, 2022 By: Charles Whitman On May 23 2022, the California Supreme Court reversed the Second Appellate District Court of Appeal and made clear that meal and rest period premiums (or “extra pay” or “premium pay”)[1] constitute “wages” and must be accurately reflected on an employee’s wage statement and accurately paid to the employee during the employee’s final pay out. (See Naranjo v. Spectrum Security Services, Inc., (2022) 2022 Cal ...
Aaron Harlow and Ian Hardman examine the tough new measures that are being taken to force the real estate industry to pay to remove cladding - protecting leaseholders from costs. The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has requested that residential property developers fund and undertake all necessary remediation of buildings over 11m that they have had a role in developing. This includes buildings both 11-18m and 18m+ ...
With those operating in the living sector now facing the risk of older assets becoming stranded – obsolete to funders and residents - Liz Sweeney and Liana Di Ciacca examine the journey to retrofitting stock and embracing ESG. The use of sustainability linked loans grew rapidly in the real estate finance market during 2021 ...
Charles Arrand considers the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, with a focus on both the potential business and human costs of failing to discharge obligations under the Order. Fire safety is regulated by the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (the Order), which applies to almost all buildings, places and structures other than individual private homes ...
INTRODUCTION Since its advent in 2008, cryptocurrency has been widely accepted internationally, as a viable means of investment. This is notwithstanding its volatility, as the world appears to be highly interested in the sale and purchase of digital assets. For example, bitcoin currently has about 14million in circulation.[1]Save for its volatile nature, and the period where its price drops, investors in the cryptocurrency space are often guaranteed of juicy returns ...
Article PDF By David Longinotti and Candra Jackson Practical Insights--> Non-Disclosure Agreements, or NDAs, are intended and designed to assure the confidentiality of shared proprietary information. Confidential information disclosed without an NDA in place raises the risk of misappropriation. This risk is especially heightened when dealing with foreign counterparties given the legal and practical challenges of enforcing rights against them ...
What follows is a cautionary tale for anyone involved who fails to follow a natural disaster preparedness plan. Taking short cuts and failing to follow agreed upon emergency preparedness plans are a recipe for disaster. While the litigation we analyze in this article stems from bridge construction in Florida, the lessons learned from this real situation are applicable all across the country ...
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held in a 2-1 opinion that Congress’ delegation of legislative power to the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) is unconstitutional because it fails to “provide an intelligible principle by which the SEC would exercise the delegated power.” The Fifth Circuit has called into question the legitimacy of the majority of the SEC’s enforcement operation, which occurs in front of administrative law judges (ALJs) ...
With the introduction of foundations as an alternative type of structure to companies, the trustee can be formed as a private trust foundations (“PTF”) instead of a PTC, offering increased choice to the client. To help guide this choice, this briefing note considers key issues relating to the establishment and use of a PTC or a PTF in the context of private wealth management. References to “PTVs” are to both PTCs and PTFs ...
In summary, in most jurisdictions, trust assets will be more vulnerable to attack from a settlor’s creditors in the following scenarios: A settlor’s retention of dispositive powers (particularly positive powers e.g. powers to direct the trustee in contrast to a power to veto a trustee’s proposal) generally renders a trust more vulnerable to attack by creditors. Retaining powers to revoke the trust and/or a general power of appointment (i.e ...
On May 23, 2022, the Oregon Medical Board (OMB) is hosting a public hearing on rules that propose major changes to the way physician assistants (PAs) practice in Oregon. The rules were written in response to House Bill 3036, which supporters have dubbed the “Physician Assistant Modernization Bill.” More broadly, the rules were written in response to mounting concerns about health care access and equity, especially for rural and minority populations ...
On April 29, 2022, the National Information Security Standardization Technical Committee issued for public comments a draft of the Technical Specifications for the Certification of Personal Information Cross-border Processing (the “Draft Specifications”) ...
May 13, 2022 By: Alexandra Shulman Effective June 9, 2022, Washington State’s Silenced No More Act (the “Act”) will prohibit nondisclosure and nondisparagement provisions regarding illegal acts of discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wage and hour violations, and sexual assault in employment agreements ...
On May 9, 2022, National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) issued for public comments a draft revision (the “Draft Revision”) to the Regulations for the Implementation of the Drug Administration Law of the People’s Republic of China (the “Regulations”). The public comment period ends on June 6, 2022. The Regulations were last revised and became effective in March 2019 ...
The Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) has issued guidance on ads for cryptoassets following an increase in the number of Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) complaints about crypto ads. What are cryptoassets? Cryptoassets are defined by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as: “cryptographically secured digital representations of value or contractual rights that use some type of distributed ledger technology (DLT) and can be transferred, stored or traded electronically ...
The recent COVID-19 Inquiry's public consultation on its draft terms of reference has captured a substantial amount of public engagement; balancing the representation of all affected groups and avoiding lengthy delays looks like a real challenge. Baroness Hallett’s draft terms of reference (draft terms), published on 11 March, requested the views of individuals and organisations by 7 April on the scope of the COVID-19 Inquiry ...
The COVID-19 Public Inquiry presents a key growth area for litigation in the medium to long term. Here, Matthew MacLachlan considers key litigation risks, potential parties and emerging themes ...
May 12, 2022 By: Mikhail Parnes and Devan McCarty Health plans routinely assert that contracted providers must appeal underpayments or claim denials according to the health plans’ internal dispute process. The payer/provider agreement itself, or provider manuals that health plans contend are incorporated by reference, are the basis for the appeal requirement. Health plans oftentimes analogize this process to the legal principle of exhaustion of administrative remedies ...
On May 4, 2022, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced a Temporary Final Rule (TFR) that increases the automatic extension period for certain Employment Authorization Document (EAD) categories up to 540 days, effective immediately and valid through Oct. 15, 2025. Historically, certain EAD categories were only eligible for an extension up to 180 days. The TFR will help avoid employment gaps for foreign nationals with pending EAD applications ...
Dinsmore labor and employment partner Thaddeus Harrell was published this week by Claims and Litigation Management (CLM) on the topic of navigating a fully in-office, remote or hybrid workforce and the legal considerations that come with each option. An excerpt is below ...
“Another game changer!” — Your takeaway from reading this summary of Washington’s Engrossed Substitute House Bill 1795, commonly known as the “Silenced No More Act,” which becomes law June 9, 2022, and has some important retroactive effects ...
In April 2021, President Biden issued Executive Order 14026 to increase the minimum wage for federal government contractors to $15 per hour. On November 23, 2021, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued its final rule implementing Executive Order 14026. The rule requires any federal “contractor” to pay employees a minimum hourly wage of $15 and overtime wages for work beyond 40 hours per week. This wage is subject to yearly increases determined by DOL ...