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 ...
By Aukjen Ingraham · Listen to articleBoth in-house counsel and law firms face an acute problem today: It's difficult for attorneys to gain trial experience or to hire other attorneys who have that experience. Fewer cases are being tried, and the cases that are tried are riskier, creating a challenging environment for those who want to gain more courtroom experience ...
By: Manuel Fishman March 2022 Documentary Credit World Most issuers of, and beneficiaries under, letters of credit are familiar with the impact a tenant bankruptcy has on the continued effectiveness of draws under the LC. Assuming a “direct draw” letter of credit that does not require prior notice to the applicant, the beneficiary is entitled to draw on the LC because of the independent obligation of the issuer to honor credit-complying draws ...
On 28 March 2022 the government published its paper Taking charge: the electric vehicle infrastructure strategy1 (Taking Charge) and an accompanying document, Government response to the CMA’s Electric vehicle charging market study (the Response).2 At the current roll-out of approximately 600 public chargepoints installed every month, there will be close to 90,000 chargepoints in the United Kingdom by 2030 ...
Following the Scottish Government’s statement on 15 March 2022 regarding COVID-19 restrictions, organisations should take time to review the status of recently eased restrictions, and those which are to be eased in the coming weeks. These changes will be of particular relevance to businesses and employers throughout Scotland, who should follow the up-to-date guidance when dealing with employees and customers alike ...
Agricultural and rural settings present significant health and safety risks, which must be carefully managed and mitigated by employers and landowners operating in the sector. This was brought into sharp focus after two fatalities led to prosecutions following investigations by The Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Prosecution one In February, a farmer was prosecuted after a tragic fatal incident on farmland in Leeds ...
[!<CDATA[ Most state and federal courts have expressed a strong preference for parties to resolve their legal disputes via binding arbitration when there is an arbitration clause applicable to the dispute, there are instances where courts will deny such a request – even when the parties have expressly agreed to this particular forum in their construction contract ...
[!<CDATA[ A recent opinion from the Court of Appeals of Texas provides clarification regarding a contractor’s right to payment where the adequacy of the work performed is challenged and an owner attempts to rely on a satisfaction clause to withhold payment. It also sheds light, in the context of complex construction contracts, on the common contract requirement that the contractor must “strictly comply” with the Contract requirements. In Turner v ...
[!<CDATA[ As of September 1, 2021, in a change to Texas caselaw that had been in place for over a century, Texas contractors now have protection in certain circumstances from liability for defective plans and specifications provided to the contractor by someone else. In the 1907 Texas Supreme Court case Lonergan v ...
Dear valued clients, colleagues and friends,The issue of whether an employee is transferred or seconded can sometimes prove rather contentious. In a transfer, the employment relationship to transferred to the new employer (i.e. the original company is no longer the employer), whereas in a secondment situation, the employee remains under the employment of the original company but may perform work for the secondee company ...
The new Register of Persons Holding a Controlled interest in Land (RCI) will come into force in Scotland on 1 April 2022. The purpose of this article is to highlight the key points of the regulations behind the RCI1 and how they may affect landowners and tenants of registrable leases (being those longer than 20 years) in Scotland ...
Over the years, the Quebec courts have repeatedly stated that dismissed employees have a duty to mitigate the damages they suffer as a result of a dismissal. This obligation, which is now codified in the Civil Code of Québec,1 has been adapted to the circumstances of the cases over which the courts have presided. The question, then, is whether the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to have an impact on a dismissed employee?s obligation to mitigate damages ...
Working remotely combined with “The Great Resignation” has raised questions about how employers can best protect their business interests in this new world of work. Rewind a few years and most employees were physically attending the workplace every day, which in turn made it easier for employers to monitor the work being carried out by their employees and ensure that confidential files were locked away safely ...
The joint employer rule has been a hot topic in the last several years, mostly in the context of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Recall the drama of the Trump administration's narrower definition of a joint employer for wage purposes, followed by the Biden administration's almost immediate rescission of that rule. Gig economy workers have battled about overtime and their entitlement to it under the FLSA's definitions ...
Oral Argument Scheduled for April 8 on Federal Contractor Vaccine Mandate Injunction Scheduled for April 8, 2022, with each side being afforded 15 minutes for argument. It appears that oral argument may be livestreamed by the 11th Circuit. Injunction Against Federal Contractor Vaccine Mandate Oral argument held on the United States’ appeal of a federal district court judge’s December 7, 2021, decision in Georgia v. Biden, Case No ...
The Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act received Royal Assent on 15 March 2022. Its effects will be felt far and wide across the UK real estate industry. We explained in our article Economic Crime Bill – what it means for real estate, that the aim of the new Act is to crack down on foreign criminals using UK property to launder money ...
Dear valued clients, colleagues and friends,With effect from 1 April 2022, Malaysia will enter the “Transition to Endemic” phase ...
The Ohio House of Representatives passed HB 447 in February, 2022 and the bill is now pending approval by the Ohio Senate. If passed, this bill could expand the definition of a work injury to include some injuries sustained in the employee’s own home, provided certain criteria are met. Certainly, the precipitating reason for this proposed bill is the recent increase in remote and telework arrangements as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and its repercussions ...
