The holiday period that has just ended, which marked a record increase in the number of COVID-19 infections, was characterized by the adoption of emergency measures of significant impact on daily life and business activities. Law Decree no. 221 of December 24, 2021 (“LD 221/2021”) has further extended the state of emergency until March 31, 2022 ...
Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation v. Accord Healthcare, Inc., Appeal No. 2021-1070 (Fed. Cir. Jan. 3, 2022) In this week’s Case of the Week, the Federal Circuit affirmed a district court’s bench trial finding that claims of a pharmaceutical patent were supported by adequate written description under 35 U.S.C. § 112(a) ...
If 2020 marked the beginning of the pandemic, 2021 was the year it became fully imbedded in our personal and working lives. What does 2022 have in store? For the pandemic, only time will tell, but when it comes to employment law things are a little clearer. Employment Bill Perhaps unsurprisingly, the long-awaited Employment Bill did not progress in 2021 ...
If 2020 marked the beginning of the pandemic, 2021 was the year it became fully imbedded in our personal and working lives. What does 2022 have in store? For the pandemic, only time will tell, but when it comes to employment law things are a little clearer. Employment Bill Perhaps unsurprisingly, the long-awaited Employment Bill did not progress in 2021 ...
There are several upcoming events and deadlines that are relevant to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (“OSHA”) “large employer” emergency temporary standard (the “ETS”), which require businesses with 100 or more employees to adopt a policy that either (1) requires all employees to be vaccinated, unless otherwise entitled to a medical, disability, or religious accommodation, or (2) requires all unvaccinated employees to be maske
On Dec. 22, 2021, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed “Esther’s Law,” allowing long-term care residents to install and use video cameras and recording devices in their rooms. The law is named for Esther “Mitzi” Piskor, who was a victim of elder abuse at a nursing home in Cleveland. Esther’s Law is intended to combat elder abuse and neglect and will likely lead to increased enforcement actions against Ohio nursing homes and long-term care facilities ...
Although the deadline for “incurring” CARES Act funds has passed, Alaska Native Corporations can still use CARES Act funds to pay for administrative and compliance related expenditures in 2022, including staff time spent administrating programs and CARES Act expenses incurred by December 31, 2022. According to U.S ...
With yet another recent uptick in COVID-19 cases, the need for additional health care practitioners in the state of Ohio continues to grow. Recognizing that this shortage will not be resolved in the near future, the Ohio General Assembly has eliminated another barrier for physicians with a prior history involving a substance use disorder to seek licensure in Ohio ...
The Home Office has announced changes to employer right to work checks, effective 6 April 2022 that all employers must be aware of. Carrying out right to work checks is an essential part of the recruitment process and it is important that employers are always up to date with any changes in this area. At present, employers must ask new recruits for physical evidence of their right to work in the UK, such as a Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) ...
As we get ready to turn the page to 2022, one hesitates to continue to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the fallout continues, with fresh ramifications for the long-term care industry. The industry continues to receive heightened scrutiny following the pandemic, and New York's legislative answer to the concerns are set to hit nursing home businesses in New York as of Jan. 1, 2022, with a cap on allowable profits. The impact on capital outlays and acquisitions remains to be seen ...
There has never been a more challenging time to lead than right now. Amid the ongoing pandemic, it’s more complicated than ever for leaders to determine a long-term vision when the day-to-day seems so uncertain and urgent. But like many challenging moments in our lives, we learn to evolve and become stronger, more resilient. Through it all, it’s crucial for business leaders to remain courageous, empathetic and adaptable ...
On Dec. 14, 2021, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) unexpectedly issued a letter to U.S. Senator Ron Widen (D-OR)[1] indicating that CMS plans to use its “administrative authority to issue proposed rulemaking” addressing price concessions and direct and indirect remuneration (DIR) fees that pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) have increasingly charged to specialty and retail pharmacy providers in Medicare and other pharmacy benefit programs in recent years ...
Prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of telehealth across Ohio and the United States was steadily increasing. However, out of necessity over the last two years, telehealth has expanded exponentially in order to reduce risks of COVID-19 transmission to practitioners and patients alike. Nearly overnight, the health care community was forced to change the way services were accessed, delivered, and received ...
In the last article for our Tricky Issues series, we consider the duty to make reasonable adjustments for employees who are deemed disabled under the Equality Act 2010 and share our top tips for employers looking to make such adjustments ...
With Scotland’s population growth stalling and with labour shortages in the UK at a record high, the demand for migrant workers at all skill levels is ever-increasing. Part 1 of this insight focuses on some of the current immigration routes for consideration by Scottish employers. Scotland is more reliant on migration than the rest of the UK to maintain population and help alleviate skills shortages ...
On Dec. 21, 2021, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) released a Health & Human Services (HHS) OIG Data Brief on genetic tests provided under Medicare Part B. The goal of the OIG in reviewing this data was “to analyze nationwide trends in genetic tests provided and payments made under Medicare Part B.”[1] As a result of this analysis, the OIG determined that there is a significant risk of overuse and misuse of genetic testing ...
There has never been a more challenging time to lead than right now. Amid the ongoing pandemic, it’s more complicated than ever for leaders to determine a long-term vision when the day-to-day seems so uncertain and urgent. But like many challenging moments in our lives, we learn to evolve and become stronger, more resilient. Through it all, it’s crucial for business leaders to remain courageous, empathetic and adaptable ...
On December 7, 2021, in Georgia v. Biden, No. 1:21-cv-163, a federal judge in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia issued a preliminary injunction barring enforcement of President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate that applies to all federal contractors and subcontractors in covered contracts in any state or territory of the United States ...
In November 2021, OSHA issued an Emergency Temporary Standard that applied to employers with 100 or more employees (the “ETS”). The ETS required those employers to either adopt a policy requiring their employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or adopt a masking and weekly testing regime that included removing employees who tested positive for COVID-19 from the workplace ...
On Dec. 17, 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ended the injunction preventing enforcement of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS). The ETS requires that large employers must implement a COVID-19 vaccine mandate or testing protocol ...
Late Friday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued an Order and Opinion lifting the stay that previously had been entered by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit which had prevented the OSHA COVID-19 emergency technical standard (the “ETS”) that applied to employers with 100 or more employees from going into effect ...
On Jan. 25, President Biden signed Executive Order 14005 (the “Executive Order on Ensuring the Future Is Made in All of America by All of America’s Workers”), which modified the Buy American Act (BAA) to require the use of more American-made components on government projects ...
The pandemic alongside a renewed focus on climate change following COP26 and the growing interest in ESG credentials are all contributing to a changing world of work ...
As promised, this is a more detailed discussion of the new Labour Law, which takes effect on 2 February 2022. For an initial snapshot, see myInBrief Dated 21 November 2021. In that earlier inBrief, I discussed what I thought were the most significant departures from previous law, including the new rules on termination of contracts with notice, on end-of-service gratuity, on overtime, and on non-compete clauses. Some of those earlier remarks are further developed below ...
AstraZeneca AB v. Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc., Appeal No. 2021-1729 (Fed. Cir. Dec. 8, 2021) Our Case of the Week again focuses on numerical values in claims. Last week we addressed a case involving whether there was written description support for a number in a claim, and we addressed a similar issue the week before. This week, our case focuses on the meaning and scope of a number in a claim ...
