On October 6, 2021, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 45 (AB 45) into law. AB 45 permits the manufacture and sale of a wide range of products containing regulated amounts of industrial hemp. Below is a brief overview: What is industrial hemp? “Industrial hemp” is defined as cannabis plants that have no more than 0.3% tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) ...
The long-awaited Labor Law has been published in the Federal Official Gazette and is scheduled to take effect on 2 February 2022. The new Law, Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021, replaces the previous 1980 statute in its entirety. The new statute does not constitute a fundamentally different approach to labor relations in the UAE, but it does introduce important reforms. I will discuss a few of these in this note and save a lengthier discussion for a future inBrief ...
Suppose that your best employee, the up-and-comer you?ve been training for several years, resigns. It?s terrible news for you, especially amid a labour shortage. And, to top it off, their new employer is your main competitor ...
On Nov. 17, 2021, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) released an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking (the Notice) concerning its potential development of telepharmacy regulations ...
On Oct. 19, 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a proposed rule that would establish a new category of over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids. The rule came in response to President Joe Biden’s July 9 executive order, which among other things, calls for wide availability of low-cost hearing aids in order to promote economic competition ...
In order to continue addressing the impacts of COVID-19 on nursing home residents, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently issued a memo updating guidance for nursing home visitation. You can read the full memo here. Early in the pandemic, CMS implemented visitation restrictions to mitigate the risk of visitors introducing COVID-19 to nursing homes. Now, CMS is updating its guidance and allowing visitation for residents at all times ...
On Friday, November 12, 2021, in BST Holdings, L.L.C., et. al. vs. Occupational Health and Safety Administration, et. al., Case: 21-60845, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals granted the plaintiffs’ motion to stay implementation of OSHA’s November 5, 2021 Emergency Temporary Standard (the “ETS”) requiring employees of covered employers to undergo COVID-19 vaccination or take weekly COVID-19 tests and wear a mask ...
Early last month, all companies, charities and public sector departments with 250 or more employees were required to submit their gender pay gap reports for the financial year 2020/2021. So what did the reports show? Progress is slow The initial analysis by the BBC showed little change since the last financial year. Whilst there were more businesses reporting in time for the deadline, this hasn’t affected the overall gender pay gap of 10.4%, which remains as it had been ...
With the 5 October 2021 deadline for reporting 2020 gender pay gaps now passed, the impact which the pandemic has had on progress to reduce gender pay gaps can clearly be seen. The effect of furlough and childcare on women over the past 18 months coupled with the financial strain many organisations have been under has resulted in, at best, no change in gender pay gaps and, at worst, an increasing gap between the average pay of men and women ...
Our Shoospeak HR podcast welcomes special guests Peter Morris (Partner in the Shoosmiths' family team) and Mahdiya Malik (HR and CSR Manager at Vaultex). Shoosmiths colleague Andy Graham chats to special guests Peter Morris (Partner in the Shoosmiths family team) and Mahdiya Malik (HR and CSR Manager at Vaultex) about Vaultex's recent introduction of a domestic violence policy ...
Key Points Starting in 2022, CalPERS contracting agencies will bear the risk of certain overpayments to retirees that result from compensation reporting errors. The employer, rather than the retiree, will have to repay the overpayment and pay a “penalty” based on the present value of future benefit payment adjustments ...
Key Points New tax reporting provisions on cryptocurrency, as well as criminal consequences for noncompliance, survived in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (H.R. 3684) signed into law. The legislation imposes potential felony charges for failures to report certain "receipt" of digital assets, as well as expands the definition of "broker" to target crypto exchanges. On November 5, 2021, President Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act into law ...
On Nov. 10, 2021, the General Counsel’s Office of the National Labor Relations Board issued a guidance memorandum [OM 22-03] dictating employers and unions will be required to engage in decision bargaining over discretionary aspects of vaccination policies required by the OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard mandating COVID vaccinations and testing. Under the OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS), employers must create Vaccination and Testing Policies by Dec. 6, 2021 ...
Between Brexit and the pandemic, the UK is experiencing its most severe labour shortage since the 1990s. Businesses can mitigate against these recruitment issues by obtaining a licence from the Home Office to sponsor foreign staff. A sponsor licence may not magically generate willing workers, but it will ensure the holder remains agile when an international recruitment opportunity arises ...
For the unaided construction contractor, navigation of changing vaccine mandates can be daunting, and it is no wonder there continues to be confusion about these mandates’ effects. Members of the construction industry have been discussing these rules in terms of how they apply to contractors working on federal or state projects ...
Pursuant to the Department of Labor and Employment (“DOLE”) Department Order Nos. 216 and 217, Series of 2020 (collectively, “Department Orders No. 216 and 217”), Private Employment Agencies (“PEAs”) are required to submit a hard copy of the monthly recruitment and placement reports to the appropriate Regional Office of the DOLE within seven (7) days after each reference month ...
New regulations are in force that require occupational pension schemes providing defined contribution (DC) benefits to demonstrate value for members or face consolidation. The New Regulations The Occupational Pension Schemes (Administration, Investment, Charges and Governance) (Amendment) Regulations 2021 (the new regulations) came into force on 1 October 2021 ...
As we begin to move beyond the pandemic, flexible work looks set to remain the norm. We consider how employers can successfully navigate long-term hybrid working models and ensure that they minimise any associated disadvantages. We recently commented in a previous post on the detrimental effect that a ‘day one’ right to flexible work could have - in particular, highlighting the potential impact on junior employees ...
On Nov. 8, 2021, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office of the Inspector General (OIG) updated and renamed its Provider Self-Disclosure Protocol. Now called the Health Care Fraud Self-Disclosure Protocol (SDP), the OIG’s revisions are the first changes to the SDP since 2013. We report on the key elements of these changes below ...
The financial sector has seen its fair share of discrimination cases and the trend continues. In Lacatus v Barclays Executive Services Limited the Employment Tribunal turned its mind to sexism. A female Analyst in the Rates Options Structured Trading Middle Office department brought a number of claims against the bank, including a sex discrimination and harassment claim centred around her line manager’s repeated use of the word “bird” to describe a woman ...
In this update, we’re looking at the hot topic of returning to the office post-pandemic. Q: What’s the direction of travel on working from home in financial services? While many industries have embraced hybrid working, financial services has generally been less enthusiastic about the idea of staff continuing to spend a significant proportion of their working time at home ...
