The High Court recently issued 2 important judgments on the topic of bullying in the workplace. In the first case the plaintiff was successful and in the second case the plaintiff's claim failed. In the case of Una Ruffley v. the Board of Management of St. Anne's School (May 2014) a special needs assistant was awarded the sum of €255,276 in compensation and loss of earnings as a result of bullying which she suffered in the work place ...
The prolific growth in the use of social media has resulted in an increasing tension between employers and employees over social media account ownership. The crux of the issue is that employers are encouraging their employees to use social networking websites, whilst trying to claim that the contacts should remain confidential at the end of their employment ...
The European Commission published its proposal for a revised EU Pensions Directive on 27 March 2014. The revised Directive on the “activities and supervision of institutions for occupational retirement provision (recast)” (known as“IORP II”) hopes to make those institutions “better governed, more transparent and increasing their cross-border activity, thereby strengthening the internal market” ...
The Court of Appeal recently reviewed the scope of the duty of employees to mitigate their damages for lost salary pursuant to section 128(2) of the Act respecting labour standards (ARLS).1In this case, the Court of Appeal allowed in part the appeal of an employee following a decision of the Superior Court which had dismissed his motion for judicial review of two decisions of the Commission des relations du travail (CRT) ...
Introduction This is the first in a series of articles on venture capital companies, a tax-favoured investment vehicle regulated by section 12J of the Income Tax Act, 1962 (“ITA 1962”). The venture capital company (“VCC”) scheme, introduced in 2009, is a tax-based scheme designed to encourage individual and corporate investors to invest in a range of smaller, higher-risk trading companies by investing through the VCCs ...
Most employers are aware that a travel allowance may be granted to an employee where it is anticipated that the employee will be required to undertake business travel by virtue of the duties of his/her employment and that a travel allowance should not be merely used as a mechanism to reduce an employee’s employees’ tax (“PAYE”) liability ...
VAT vendors who make taxable supplies of goods or services are obliged to issue tax invoices to the recipients of such supplies within 21 days of having made such a supply. A valid tax invoice is of utmost importance because without such a document a vendor, being the recipient of a supply, is not entitled to claim any input tax deductions in respect of goods or services acquired in the course or furtherance of making taxable supplies ...
It has a long been a principle of company law that the debts of a company are not the debts of its shareholders. It may be a surprise to some that this principle does not apply to certain tax debts thanks to section 181 of the Tax Administration Act No.28 of 2011 (“section 181”). This section allows shareholders to be held jointly or individually liable for the tax debts of their company. At first glance it seems unfair to punish those who do not manage the day-to-day running of a company ...
The Supreme Court of Canada has provided some important guidance regarding who qualifies as an “employee” under the British Columbia Human Rights Code in the case of McCormick v. Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP 014 SCC 39). Mr. McCormick was an equity partner at Fasken. The Fasken Partnership Agreement required Mr. McCormick to divest his ownership in the partnership and retire at the end of the year in which he turned 65. Mr ...
An employer faces a difficult situation when a temporarily disabled employee who cannot perform his or her essential job functions requests an accommodation. This situation becomes significantly more complicated when the employee receives the “accommodation,” but never recovers enough to resume performing the essential job functions ...
THE FACTS The complainant, a non-unionized employee, was hired by McGill University (hereinafter the “University”) in 1987 to be a member of the administrative staff. After working as an administrative assistant since 1994, she was dismissed by the University on June 30, 2009 for fraud. The University’s administrative staff is subject to a Dispute Resolution Policy (the “Policy”), which also covers their employment conditions ...
For the second time this year, the Constitutional Tribunal has considered a challenge to the court fees for appeals against rulings by the National Appeals Chamber in public procurement cases. The maximum fee of PLN 5 million was held to be disproportionately high. Earlier this year, in Case No. SK 25/11 (14 January 2014), Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal upheld the constitutionality of one aspect of Art ...
Many taxpayers are generally aware that there is a prescription provision contained in our tax law. However it is not always understood that the prescription provisions apply only if certain statutory requirements are met. In this regard it is not uncommon for SARS to assess taxpayers beyond the prescription period of three years ...
On 21 February 2014 the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, (‘the Convention’) as amended, by the provisions of the Protocol amending the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters which entered into force on 1 June 2011 was published in the Government Gazette. The Convention was approved by Parliament in terms of section 231 of the Constitution and the Convention took effect on 1 March 2014 in South Africa ...
The High Court considered whether amendments were valid despite the fact that the deeds of amendment had not been effectively executed. Background The Gleeds Retirement Benefits Scheme was established as a final salary scheme by a partnership in the Gleeds group in 1974. Over the years many amendments were made to the scheme, including amendments relating to equalisation, the introduction of two money purchase sections and closure to final salary benefit accrual ...
Following the deportation by the Sri Lankan authorities of a British tourist because she had a Buddha tattoo on her arm, we look at the issue of tattoos in the workplace, and whether employers should, or indeed must, allow employees to have tattoos. What's the problem? The issue for the Sri Lankan authorities was the alleged insult to Buddhism caused by the tattoo ...
In a recent case, the EAT considered whether the fact that an employer had mistakenly invited an employee to a disciplinary meeting rather than a capability meeting was a material factor when considering its objective justification defence against a discrimination claim. The employee in question had been diagnosed with post-natal depression, a long-term disability for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010, and was unable to return to work for the foreseeable future ...
The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has commenced consultation on the reviewed UK Corporate Governance Code. The Code, which sets out good practice for UK listed companies across a range of issues, is routinely reviewed every two years ...
In our January 2014 bulletin, we provided an overview of the Quebec government’s action plan aimed at [Translation] “correcting and restoring the situation of pension plans”. Also in that bulletin, we noted that in February 2014, the government was planning to introduce the first bill designed to set up the restructuring process for municipal pension plans. The government made good on its promise ...
The government announced radical changes to the existing rules regarding the way in which people access and use their pension savings in the UK as part of the 2014 Budget. It is proposed that from April 2015 DC pension savers will no longer have to buy an annuity and will be able to access their full fund on retirement and invest it as they wish. In addition, the existing rules around lump sums on retirement and drawdown have been relaxed with effect from 27 March 2014 ...
The South African Revenue Service (“SARS”) has extensive powers in terms of the Tax Administration Act No. 28 of 2011 (“the TAA”). In terms of section 46(1) of the TAA, SARS may, for the purposes of the administration of a tax Act in relation to a taxpayer (“Taxpayer”), require such taxpayer or another person (“Third Party”) to submit relevant material that SARS requires within a reasonable period. SARS may require such relevant material to be submitted orally or in writing ...
The Taxation Laws Amendment Act, 31 of 2013 (the “TLAA”) introduced with effect from 1 April 2014, a new section 8F into the Income Tax Act, 58 of 1962 (the “Act”) in order to reduce the opportunity for the creation of equity instruments that are artificially disguised as debt instruments (“hybrid debt instruments”) ...
The Taxation Laws Amendment Act, No 31 of 2013 introduced amendments to the VAT registration provisions contained in the Value-Added Tax Act 89 of 1991 (“the VAT Act”), aimed primarily at streamlining the VAT registration process. These amendments came into force on 1 April 2014 ...
