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 ...
As organisations start to rebuild post pandemic, many will be considering the introduction or reintroduction of bonuses to their employees. However, when it comes to payment of bonus to those who have had time away from work, employers need to take care ...
Amy Leech, employment law associate and Shoosmiths’ mental health and wellbeing champion, considers the benefits of having an employee led mental health champion network within your business. As an employer, you will have lots of opportunities to look after your employees’ mental health. However, many organisations are still just paying lip service to it ...
To coincide with Shoosmiths’ ‘The anywhere office - friend or foe to flexible working?’ event on Wednesday 4 May, we speak with Jessica Chivers, CEO at The Talent Keeper Specialists, on the process of returning to work after a period of long leave ...
On 28 March 2022, the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training (“MLVT”) issued Notification 011/22 (“Notification”) to extend the deadline for foreign employee work permit applications from 31 March 2022 to 31 May 2022. The extension is aimed to help foreign employees who are not able to renew or apply for work permit on time in light of the COVID-19 outbreak ...
Developments in light of COVID-19 Unlike previous years, there were no major legislations or government regulations on labor and employment issues in 2021 ...
Ahead of Shoosmiths’ ‘The anywhere office - friend or foe to flexible working?’ event on Wednesday 4 May, we speak with Rachel Maguire and Hannah Hall-Turner, The Job Share Pair, to examine the job share model and its potential benefits. Rachel and Hannah put forward the case for job sharing, while sharing their tips on how to make it a success, with guidance for businesses and employees considering it as an option ...
Following the celebration of #WorldIPDay, we examine the growth of the Nigerian creative industry, identify ways to protect creativity and innovation in Nigeria, and suggestareas of improvement for the protection of IP rights in Nigeria. With the recent surge of #NFTs and other #Web3 affiliated forms of creative content, improvements to the Nigerian IP regime are imperative. Download PDFhere, or continue reading below ...
Dear valued clients, colleagues and friends, On 30 March 2022, the Employment (Amendment) Bill 2021 (“Amended Bill”) was passed in Dewan Negara (Senate). In this update, Vijayan Venugopal and Nur Najehah will outline the key changes and upcoming issues which employers should be aware considering this recent development. At the outset, before diving into the issues, it is important to first understand the present status of the Amended Bill ...
On March 18th, 2022, the Labor Board (hereinafter the “LB”) issued its Regulation No. 2 (hereinafter the “New Regulation”) which replaced Regulation No. 5 of 2009, regarding the requirements and procedure for applying to an exceptional working schedule. The New Regulation became effective on April 1st, 2022 ...
Telework is not a new phenomenon. According to the International Labour Organization, its rise dates back to the 1970s when a major oil crisis prompted many companies to keep their employees at home to reduce their energy consumption1. That said, since the Covid pandemic, teleworking has become widespread. Now, nearly a quarter of Canadian companies (22.5%) expect that 10% or more of their workforce will continue to telework after business is back to normal2 ...
Overview The general counsel is requesting the NLRB find captive audience meetings to constitute an unfair labor practice if the employer fails to provide its employees with assurances against threat of discipline, discharge or other reprisal. The general counsel did not direct the regions to begin issuing administrative complaints against employers who require employees to attend captive audience meetings at this time ...
President Joe Biden has signed into law the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021, which allows an individual asserting sexual assault or sexual harassment claims to bring such claims to court, even if they had previously agreed to mandatory arbitration. Dinsmore employment attorney Aly St. Pierre wrote about what employers need to know about this new law for The Indiana Lawyer. An excerpt is below ...
A summary of the key takeaways from a recent webinar on reducing scope 3 employee commuting and homeworking emissions. Shoosmiths is delighted to be sponsoring United Nation Global Compact Network (UNGC) UK’s series of webinars on ‘Reducing Scope 3 Emissions’. When setting science-based targets through the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), companies whose Scope 3 emissions account for more than 40% of their total emissions must set Scope 3 targets ...
On February 24, Bill 14, An Act to ensure the Protection of Trainees in the workplace (hereinafter the ?Act?), received assent. The purpose of this Act is to provide better protection for people completing a training in a workplace. For this reason, it contains several provisions similar to those found in the Act respecting labour standards1 (hereinafter the ?ALS?) ...
As we enter the brave new world in which we are all expected to get on with ‘living with COVID’, what should employers be considering for staff who know or suspect that they have COVID-19? What are the new rules? The government has been slowly winding down the COVID-related legal requirements in England over the past few months. While Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland retain some restrictions it is expected that these will also be removed in due course ...
The government have announced a variety of new immigration routes aimed at assisting businesses to fill labour shortages and plug the gaps left by Brexit. Here we summarise the changes that come into force in April 2022. The Home Office released the statement of changes to the immigration rules on 15 March 2022 with details of the new routes that will open to applicants from 11 April 2022 ...
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, many individuals are being called up to defend their home countries. This has left employers wondering whether they are obligated to release those employees from employment. In the UK, if an employee is mobilised for full-time service in the UK armed forced, there are rules in place to protect an employee’s employment ...
The government are set to introduce new measures on High in Fat, Salt and Sugar (HFSS) food including restrictions on volume offers and new rules on placement and promotion. What is a HFSS food? HFSS foods are food or soft drink products that are assessed as high in fat, salt or sugar in accordance with the Department of Health nutrient profiling model. Foods scoring 4 or more points and drinks scoring 1 or more are classified as HFSS ...
A recent decision by the First District Court of Appeal reversing workers’ compensation coverage for injuries sustained by an employee while driving a company vehicle for an HVAC company illustrates the challenges in determining when work begins and ends for employees who are allowed to take company vehicles home ...
