Section 197 of the South African Labour Relations Act: The ebb and flow of what constitutes a going concern More recently, in 2016, in Rural Maintenance (Pty) Limited and Another v Maluti-A-Phofung Local Municipality, the Constitutional Court dealt with outsourcing and the impact of a transfer of assets by the outgoing entity in evaluating whether a transfer of a business as a going concern existed ...
The purpose of section 197 of South Africa’s Labour Relations Act, 1995 (“LRA”) is to protect and maintain employment in circumstances where a transfer of business takes place. In terms of section 197 and section 197B(1)(b), a “transfer” means the transfer of a business by one employer (the old employer) to another employer (the new employer) as a going concern ...
A new appellate court ruling will permit workers in parts of the northeastern United States to bring forward federal law claims of workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation ...
Last week, the Second Circuit delivered a highly anticipated ruling on whether companies may continue to use unpaid interns. In what represents a clear victory for companies, the Court adopted a flexible “primary beneficiary” test to determine whether workers should be properly classified as interns or employees ...
The SEC issued enforcement orders against three companies for including terms in their employment and separation agreements that violated Rule 21F-17(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1942, commonly known as the whistleblower protection rule. The rule prohibits any action that impedes an individual from communicating directly with SEC staff about a possible securities law violation ...
On April 17, 2024 the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) Division of Examinations (the “Division”) issued a Risk Alert regarding investment advisers’ compliance with amended Investment Advisers Act Rule 206(4)-1 (the “Marketing Rule”) ...
On April 1, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) brought its first enforcement action based on confidentiality agreements that the SEC alleged had the potential to “stifle the whistleblowing process.” Houston-based company KBR, Inc. (“KBR”), agreed to pay $130,000 as a civil penalty for including impermissible restrictions in confidentiality agreements signed by witnesses during internal investigations ...
The German Federal Labor Court (BAG) ruled by judgment of January 31, 2019 (ref. no. 2 AZR 426/18) that, under certain circumstances, the employer may lawfully review data on an employee's work computer even if there is no suspicion based on factual evidence of a breach of duty. This applies to minor encroachments on personal rights, for example, in the case of actions carried out openly and restricted to files that are not marked as "private" ...
In a landmark decision issued today, the Supreme Court of the Unites States ruled that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits workplace discrimination against gay, lesbian, and transgender people. The case involved consolidated lawsuits filed by two gay persons fired due to their sexual orientation and a transgender woman fired after revealing plans to transition from male to female ...
On February 22, 2023, the United States Supreme Court affirmed the importance of long-standing U.S. Department of Labor salary pay regulations. In Helix Energy Solutions Group Inc. et al. v. Michael J. Hewitt, (Case No. 21-984), the Court, in a 6-2-1 opinion, held that high-earning professionals can only be overtime-exempt if they are paid on salary basis. The case involved Michael Hewitt, a former offshore oil rig worker for Helix Energy Solutions Group Inc ...
In a 5-4 decision, the United States Supreme Court held that states and their agencies cannot invoke sovereign immunity as a defense to claims of discrimination brought under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (“USERRA”)[1] in Torres v. Texas Department of Public Safety.[2] With this new ruling, public employers should continue to be mindful of the protections that USERRA provides active-duty and veteran employees ...
June 15, 2022 By: Tracy Warren and Yvonne Ricardo Finally, some good news for California employers involving California’s Private Attorney General Act of 2004 (“PAGA”). The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Angie Moriana is a huge victory for employers with valid arbitration programs or who wish to implement valid arbitration programs to substantially limit exposure to statutory and civil penalties under PAGA. On June 15, 2022, the U.S ...
The United States Supreme Court will soon decide whether public officials may be liable for blocking constituents on social media. On October 31, 2023, the Court heard oral argument in O’Connor-Ratcliff v. Garnier[i] and Lindke v. Freed,[ii] cases in which local school board officials and a city manager, respectively, are alleged to have blocked constituents from commenting on, or viewing, public social media accounts used for both government business as well as personal affairs ...
Parties to a contract can give the right to enforce an obligation in the contract to a third party. For example, they are very often used where a large business enters into a contract with a supplier and wants its group companies to be able to enforce the contract. In England, this is governed by the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999. In Scotland, the legal recognition for this has been a common law principle, jus quaesitum tertio ...
With Scotland’s population growth stalling and with labour shortages in the UK at a record high, the demand for migrant workers at all skill levels is ever-increasing. Part 1 of this insight focuses on some of the current immigration routes for consideration by Scottish employers. Scotland is more reliant on migration than the rest of the UK to maintain population and help alleviate skills shortages ...
From ground-breaking discoveries such as penicillin and insulin, to the development of the MRI body scanner and the creation of Dolly the sheep, the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell ...
With school getting back in session, leave issues are bound to arise. For many small to medium-sized employers, these may include paid and unpaid leave under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), as well as other complicated issues that may arise under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This webinar will provide an overview of the FFCRA and ways employers can try to navigate the FFCRA during this uncertain time ...
Since it was introduced at the end of 2005, the scheme funding regime for defined benefit pension schemes has been through a process incremental of evolution. With a new legal objective for the Pensions Regulator now revealed, will this alter the approach of employers and trustees to scheme funding in practice or will it turn out to be business as usual? Back in 2005, the emphasis was on the scheme specific nature of the new funding regime ...
Many employers currently have employees on staff on temporary work visas, and employers likely know that in order to continue to employ employees not born in the U.S., the employer must sponsor the employee for permanent residency in the U.S. (i.e,. a green card). The green card process has multiple steps, which, depending on a variety of factors, may take several years to complete ...
On April 8, 2020, the Small Business Administration (“SBA”) provided additional guidance on the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) through an update to the Frequently Asked Questions document (“FAQs”) originally published on April 2, 2020 and subsequently updated on April 6th and 7th ...
April 14, 2020, the SBA issued new guidance on the treatment of service partners for Payroll Protection Program (PPP) loans. The Interim Final Rule Paycheck Protection Program – Additional Eligibility Criteria and Requirements for Certain Pledges of Loans clarifies that individuals treated as partners may not submit a separate PPP loan application as an "eligible self-employed individuals ...
On April 18, 2023, Fox News agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems a staggering $787.5 million to settle a defamation lawsuit. Particularly startling about the settlement is that Dominion was valued at around $51 million as recently as 2018, meaning that the settlement resulted in a payout up to fifteen times Dominion’s value. Dominion filed the lawsuit in response to publicly broadcast statements by Fox News and its guests after the 2020 election ...
