We are often asked to opine on the status of anti-discrimination law on the island, as many believe that it does not exist. In fact it does exist, albeit to a limited extent: The Sex Discrimination (Employment) (Guernsey) Ordinance 2005 renders it unlawful for employers to discriminate against employees and job applicants on grounds of sex, marriage or gender reassignment ...
Financial Services Malaysia Overnight Rate as Alternative Reference Rate Bank Negara Malaysia (“BNM”) announced on 24 September that the Malaysia Overnight Rate (“MYOR”) is an alternative reference rate for Malaysia. The MYOR: will be administered and calculated by BNM as the volume-weighted average rate of unsecured overnight Ringgit interbank transactions, including BNM’s overnight monetary operations (excluding Standing Facilities) ...
In our final quarterly case law update for 2021, we look at some of the key cases published since July 2021 and consider the lessons we can learn from them. Furlough and redundancy As a result of the backlog within the Employment Tribunal system, we are only just starting to see the Tribunal making decisions on the actions taken by employers during the pandemic, specifically in their use of furlough under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) ...
Due to the non-renewal of the constitutional state of exception of catastrophe, the health authority modified the Covid-19 regulations. The main changes are mentioned below: A. STEP-BY-STEP PLAN MODIFICATION On October 1st 2021, Exempt Resolution No. 994 was published in the Official Gazette, which regulates and establishes a new version of the “Step-by-Step Plan” ...
The shift to flexible working has never been more pronounced than now as we make a steady return to the workplace following the pandemic. National headlines recently highlighted the risk for employers of failing to properly consider requests for flexible working. The case of Thompson v Scancrown Ltd t/a Manors resulted in the claimant, Mrs Thompson, being awarded just over £180,000 for indirect discrimination following the rejection of her flexible working request ...
The government has announced a series of measures to tackle ongoing shortages of heavy goods vehicle (HGV) drivers and poultry workers in the UK. This includes relaxing immigration rules to offer over 10,000 temporary visas in the run up to Christmas. Brexit, the Coronavirus pandemic, tax changes and additional factors such as an ageing workforce have all contributed to a shortage of food processing workers and HGV drivers in the United Kingdom ...
On Monday the White House announced that the COVID-19 travel restrictions imposed on passengers from the UK and most of the EU would be eased, allowing fully vaccinated passengers to enter the country from early November. This will be welcomed by families that have been kept apart as a result of the ban first imposed by President Trump 18 months ago. The UK moved to end similar restrictions on US travellers in July, and both sides of the pond are once again open for business ...
In October 2020 the Information Commissioner’s Office (the “ICO”) announced that it was issuing a Penalty Notice to British Airways (“BA”), imposing a financial penalty of £20 million following a data breach that resulted in hackers obtaining the personal data of 400,000 BA customers. This was a significant reduction from the ICO’s original intention to issue a fine of £183 million ...
Covering employee wages since 1 March 2020, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme ("furlough") is set to end on 30 September 2021, with a deadline for final claims to be made by 14 October 2021. Employers still using the scheme should be engaging with employees about its end, and may now need to make some tough decisions that have been postponed while furlough continued ...
The UK government has announced proposals to make flexible working requests a ‘day one’ right for employees, as part of reforms to the Flexible Working Regulations 2014. Over the past 18 months, the pandemic has been a catalyst for increased flexible working. Although this has meant ‘working from home’ for most, flexible work can include other arrangements such as flexitime, job-sharing, condensed hours and part-time work ...
Recent cases provide a timely reminder that employers still make costly slip-ups when managing pregnant workers and those returning from maternity leave. We highlight some useful lessons from those cases on how to avoid discrimination claims. When a worker announces their pregnancy to their employer, the employer becomes subject to additional obligations until the end of the protected period when the worker returns from maternity leave ...
It seems logical that when a claimant requests that a claim be amended to include an additional condition based upon a theory of substantial aggravation, the easiest element to prove would be that the condition pre-existed the date of injury. Recently, in Houlihan v. Hamilton County, 2021-Ohio-3087, the Ohio First District Court of Appeals found that a claimant must prove a condition existed at the time of the injury before they can establish a substantial aggravation ...
The window to apply for the 2022 foreign employee quota is open until the end of November 2021. Enterprises employing or intending to employ foreign employees in 2022 are required to apply for a foreign employee quota from the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training (“MLVT”) ...
Summary On September 9, 2021, President Biden issued his Executive Order on Ensuring Adequate COVID Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors (the “Executive Order”) that, when implemented, will require most federal contractors to comply with all guidance for federal contractor and subcontractor workplace locations published by the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force (see www.saferfederalworkforce.gov) ...
As many of us continue to work from home and/or have opportunities for travel and meeting up restricted, we are continuing to run our essential webinar series for employers to ensure that our clients and contacts remain up to date and equipped to deal with all eventualities! Our latest seminar focused on disability and Long COVID ...
The National Drug Agency Department of the Institute of Public Health, through exempt resolution No. 01746 of September 6, 2021, approved a guide to provide guidelines regarding the technological transfer of pharmaceutical production processes, necessary to obtain the authorization of a new manufacturer of a medicament, maintaining the previously authorized one ...
In January 2020 the first signs of Covid-19 were of a commercial nature. Business activity related to China – which is a large part of the maritime industry in Asia – started slowing down considerably. Projects experienced delays, new ventures were postponed and a general slowdown could be felt throughout the maritime business world. As February and March came around, the first Covid-19 cases started being reported in Singapore ...
On Sept. 22, 2021, the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) publicly referred six matters involving drug manufacturers to the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) for possible imposition of civil monetary penalties (CMPs) ...
Recently, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced it is rescinding the audit determinations for providers notified in January 2021 that had failed to qualify for the “mid-build” exception. CMS took this action due to questions raised by these providers regarding the audit process ...
As it is known, starting from October 15 until December 31, 2021 (the deadline set for the end of the state of emergency), the obligation to possess – and to show on request – the “green pass” 1 has been extended to all workers, including those of the private sector, in order to allow their access to workplaces. With regard to this matter, Law Decree no ...
The White House announced on Monday, Sept. 20, 2021, that in early November of this year, it intends to end the COVID-19 travel bans imposed in 2020 and replace them with vaccination and COVID-19 testing requirements for almost all travelers ...
