The EAT has confirmed, in the case of Sood Enterprises Ltd v Healy, that the right to carry over annual leave which a worker has been unable to use due to sickness absence is limited to the basic right to four weeks’ leave in Regulation 13(1) of the Working Time Regulations 1998 (“WTR”). There is no automatic right to carry over the additional leave of 1.6 weeks provided for by Regulation 13A, unless there is an agreement to this effect between the worker and the employer ...
In July 2007, Allstate Insurance Company of Canada (hereinafter referred to as “Allstate”) sent a notice of change of working conditions to all its insurance agents. Allstate was then employing approximately 90 agents in Quebec ...
A report on auto-enrolment opt-out rates has been produced following research undertaken by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Introduced for larger employers in October 2012, auto-enrolment appears to have had a high initial success rate - with over 90% of auto-enrolled employees remaining in their workplace pension scheme a month after being enrolled. The one-month mark represents the expiry of the ‘opt-out window’ i.e ...
The Employment Appeal Tribunal (“EAT”), in the case of Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills v McDonagh, has had to consider what the “appropriate date” is for the purposes of employees claiming arrears of salary and holiday pay from the National Insurance Fund, in circumstances where a voluntary insolvency procedure is followed by a compulsory insolvency procedure ...
Expulsion due to ADHD was unwarranted. The Supreme Court held in its judgment of 13 June 2013. The case concerned a paralegal who was expelled from a fixed-term contract after four days of work on the grounds that she had failed to inform the employer that she was suffering from ADHD that her special needs would place too great a burden on her colleagues and the Office clients demanded great spontaneity, flexibility and tolerance ...
A bill on the legal status of temporary agency workers in connection with stationing by an employment agency etc. has been adopted, and the act will thus become reality effective as of 1 July 2013. The act has implemented the Temporary Agency Workers Directive which serves to protect temporary agency workers and improve the quality of the work of temporary agency workers by introducing a principle of equal treatment between termporary agency workers and the user companies' own employees ...
In the recent case of PPG Holdings BV, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) held that employers with defined benefit pension schemes established as separate legal entities can reclaim VAT charged on administration and investment management services provided to the scheme in certain circumstances. PPG had a DB scheme established as a separate legal entity ...
Effective July 31, 2013 the Federal Government announced new rules relating to the temporary foreign worker program. It has advised that the changes are being made to ensure that Canadians are given the first chance at available jobs. The changes include the following: 1. Employers must now pay a processing fee for a Labour Market Opinion (“LMO”) of $275 for each position requested. This is estimated to cover the cost of the LMO ...
Use of a domain name: is it a form of advertising? Following the decision in Case C-657/11 (Belgian Electronic Sorting Technology BV v Bert Peelaers, Visys NV), the rules of fairness imposed by European Directives 84/450 and 2006/114 on misleading and comparative advertising will extend to cover not just the content of a web site, but the domain name at which it is registered as well. See our commentary here ...
Under EU Directive 2001/29 on the harmonisation of copyright law, Member States grant authors, performers, producers and broadcasting organisations exclusive rights to authorise or prohibit reproductions of their own works ...
Businesses in the UK have for some time been subject to strict rules on misleading advertising, contained in the Business Protection from Misleading Marketing Regulations 2008 (the “BPRs”) ...
Third party insurers are not entitled to enforce an insured’s defense, indemnification or insurance rights in a master services agreement (“MSA”) according to a three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in an opinion issued on July 5. See Duval v. Northern Assurance Company of America, __ F.3d __, 2013 WL 3367483 (5th Cir. July 5, 2013) ...
Not for the first time the fashion industry is under fire for its recruitment policies. Could requiring staff to have a certain 'look' be the next form of discrimination? It was reported last week that Abercrombie & Fitch, the US clothing retailer is being investigated by the French human rights watchdog over claims that it hires only good-looking staff ...
The pre-hiring process is a key step to the viability of the employer‑employee relationship. Both the employer and the applicant must not underestimate the importance of this process which establishes the basis of their contractual relationship ...
From today, 29 July 2013, the following provisions will come into force under the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act: • Renaming of compromise agreements as "settlement agreements". This change will be accompanied by new rules on pre-termination negotiations, which are to be finalised later this year ...
Personal data regulation is a recently developed topic in the legal realm. In 1970, the first laws on the matter were issued in Europe and North America. Specifically, the first data protection law called the Bundesdatenschutzgesetz was issued in Germany on October 7, 1970, and the same year the United States Congress issued the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which controls the collection, use and redistribution of any consumer information ...
ICANN is expected to announce the first set of successful applications and list of new generic top level domains later this summer. Before the new generic top level domains can be delegated, the applications need to go through an initial evaluation phase and any objections against those applications need to be addressed. Infact, the first decisions on legal rights objections to applications for new generic top level domains were only recently published by WIPO ...
The Supreme Court of Canada recently rendered a divided decision in which it concluded that an employer’s policy imposing mandatory random alcohol testing was not justified.1 This decision is of interest to employers in Quebec since it confirms arbitral case law on the subject. Background In 2006, Irving Pulp & Paper, Ltd. (“Irving” or the “employer”) unilaterally adopted a policy on the consumption of alcohol and other drugs (the “policy”) ...
In the last few years, many multinationals are implementing in their organizations so-called “Bring Your Own Device” (BYOD) policies. What is “BYOD”? It is a new trend in the management of technological infrastructure within companies where employees bring their own devices to the workplace, thereby reducing the number of devices that companies have to provide to employees, with the consequent reduction in costs ...
Through Government Regulation No. 33 of 2013 on The Expansion of Employment Opportunities, the Government intends to push the central and regional governments to create more employment opportunities. Employment expansion policies may apply in or out of the employment relationship ...
Batas Kasambahay Implementing Rules The Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act No. 10361, otherwise known as the “Domestic Workers Act” or “Batas Kasambahay” dated 09 May 2013 was published in full in the 19 May 2013 issue of the Philippine Star at pages B-14 to B-16 ...
On July 3, 2013, the Department of Labor issued its Semiannual Agenda of Regulations. Executive Order 12866 requires the semiannual publication of the listing of all regulations the Department of Labor expects to have under active consideration for promulgation, proposal or review during the coming one-year period. Here are some of the highlights regarding OSHA’s agenda. A ...
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) has announced a new National Emphasis Program (“NEP”) to protect workers from the health effects from occupational exposure to isocyanates. With the addition of this program, OSHA has thirteen (13) currently active NEPs, including programs on PSM Covered Chemical Facilities, Lead, Nursing and Residential Care Facilities, and Primary Metals Industries ...
