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 ...
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 ...
In line with the actions planned in the European Union’s tax policy agenda to reform the corporate tax system, the Proposal for a Council Directive 2021/0434 (the “Unshell Directive”) was published on 22 December 2021. This proposal introduces a set of rules to prevent the improper use of shell companies (companies without economic substance) exclusively intended to obtain tax advantages ...
[!<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 ...
CRF Payments to ANCs and Their Shareholders Are Not Taxable On January 21, 2022, the Department of the Treasury held a consultation with Alaska Native Corporations on the federal income tax consequences of Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) distributions made to Alaska Native Corporations (ANCs) and to Alaska Native Corporation shareholders ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
When faced with an OSHA citation, it is not uncommon for an employer to acknowledge that a rule was violated, accept the citation, pay the penalty, and move on. Often, evidence that a rule was violated is easily obtained by an OSHA inspector ...
This Q&A is part of the publication prepared to provide insights into hiring remote workers in Asia Pacific by members of the Employment Law Alliance (ELA). SyCipLaw contributed the guide for the Philippine jurisdiction. You may access the complete publication here. Q. Is it possible for a foreign jurisdiction entity to hire remote workers in your country? What are the basic legal requirements (if any) for hiring remote workers from a foreign jurisdiction (contractor vs ...
Undertaking post-employment notice pay (“PENP”) calculations when an employee leaves a business can be complex and easy to get wrong. We discuss some of the issues facing employers when carrying out these calculations. Background PENP is relevant to determining the correct tax treatment of termination payments ...
Dinsmore employment law attorney Alyson St. Pierre authored an article for The Indiana Lawyer regarding a recent Indiana law that does not automatically grant religious exemptions from COVID-19 vaccinations and instead allows employers to investigate the validity of religious exemption requests. An excerpt is below ...
Dinsmore Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer Tammy Bennett, a labor and employment partner, was a featured panelist in a Columbus Business First roundtable discussion on the future of the American workforce, including the Great Resignation. The full article is below. Record numbers of people are changing jobs, quitting to start entrepreneurial ventures or exiting the labor force entirely ...
Non-EEA nationals practising self-employed activities in Belgium must apply for a professional card, unless they can benefit from a legal exemption. Since 1 January 2022 a new and simplified application procedure has come into force in the Flemish region [1]. At the same time, the Flemish government has introduced a new exemption: subject to certain requirements being met, non-EEA nationals taking up a corporate mandate are exempted from the professional card obligation ...
On 10 December 2021, President Rodrigo Duterte signed into law Republic Act No. 11595 (“RA No. 11595”) which introduced important amendments to the Retail Trade Liberalization Act of 2000 (“RTLA”), including the following salient revisions: RA No. 11595 reduced the paid-up capital requirements for foreign retailers, regardless of category, from PHP 25 Million to a minimum paid-up capital of only PHP 25 Million ...
Background Ukrainian citizens fleeing their homeland due to the ongoing crisis are welcome to Romania, where they will receive protection and necessary support. During their stay in Romania, accommodation, food and medical services are accessible for Ukrainians seeking safety from the ongoing military invasion, as a result of a combined effort of the authorities and unrivalled mobilization of private entities and the civil society ...
Two years after Portland law firms sent employees home to work remotely during the Covid-19 public emergency, they are starting to return to downtown — but not to the five-day-a-week routine of pre-pandemic times. “As employers, we have to be flexible to the myriad of circumstances,” said Graciela Gomez Cowger, CEO of Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt. “We’ve been profoundly disrupted ...
The enforceability of restrictive covenants is critical to protecting organisations’ legitimate business interests. A recent summary judgment application sheds light on the approach to be taken where covenants are contained in a shareholders’ agreement ...
