Law No.21,260 (the “Law”) which modifies the Labor Code to permit the remote work or teleworking to pregnant women in case of state of catastrophe, for a public calamity, due to an epidemic or pandemic arising from a contagious illness (the “State of Catastrophe”), and also establishes other exceptional rules, has been published in the Official Gazette on September 4th, 2020 ...
Coronavirus Digest no. 4 Patents and other intellectual property rights 1. Patents Moderna reveals that it may not hold the patent rights for the vaccine against Covid-19, because it was not the first to file the patents. This came after the US National Institute of Health claimed co-ownership of the rights to this vaccine. Read more here ...
Key Points On Aug. 25, 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published an interim final rule with a comment period (IFC) establishing new Long-Term Care Facility COVID-19 Testing Requirements for Staff and Residents. CMS has added 42 CFR §483.80(h), which requires that the facility test all residents and staff for COVID-19. Noncompliance related to this new requirement will be cited at new tag F886 ...
Whistleblower complaints to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) have continued to rise during the COVID-19 pandemic. Between February 18, 2020, and May 31, 2020, a total of 4,101 whistleblower complaints were filed,[1] which represented a 30% increase in complaints over the same period last year ...
As COVID-19 continues to alter our daily lives, many of us have found comfort in barn time spent with our four-legged friends. With so many spring and summer events cancelled, we are eager to get back in the saddle and into the show ring. However, the legal implications facing horse show boards and competition venues are complex and ever-evolving ...
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has limited the use of “special remedies” by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board) in a 3-0 decision issued on Sept. 4, 2020.[1] On April 4, 2019, the NLRB ordered the employer to remedy unfair labor practices committed during a union organizational drive.[2] As part of that decision, the Board refused to enforce a Gissel bargaining order that would have compelled the employer to recognize and bargain with the union ...
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 established the popular Opportunity Zone (OZ) program to encourage investment in economically distressed communities while allowing taxpayers to defer and potentially exclude some of their capital gains from federal income taxes. The proceeds of the sale must be timely reinvested in qualifying businesses or property located in census tracts that have been designated as OZs within the approved state ...
Should employees be at liberty to remove trade secrets they created when they leave their employers? Think carefully, physical liberty might just be at stake. In his junior year at UC Berkeley, he built a prize-winning robot out of Legos to sort Monopoly money. Later, he entered the first ever two-wheeler in the DARPA Grand Challenge, an American autonomous vehicle competition funded by the US Department of Defense ...
On August 8, 2020, the President of the United States issued a Presidential Memorandum directing the Secretary of the Treasury to use his authority pursuant to section 7508A of the Internal Revenue Code to defer the withholding, deposit, and payment of certain payroll tax obligations for the remainder of 2020. In Notice 2020-65, the IRS provides guidance implementing the payroll tax deferral. What wages are eligible? Eligibility is subject to income limits ...
Key Points HHS Provider Relief Fund payments are being extended to private pay assisted living facilities under Phase II. Relief will be equal to 2 percent of annual gross revenue from resident care. Interested providers must act swiftly: the deadline to submit basic information to HHS is Sept. 13 Provider relief funds need not be repaid if recipients comply with the program criteria. HHS Announcement: On Sept.1, the U.S ...
Following President Trump’s Aug. 8 presidential memorandum directing the Treasury Secretary to defer the withholding and payment of certain employee payroll taxes, the Internal Revenue Service released Notice 2020-65 on Aug. 28 The two-page notice gives necessary but sparse guidance on implementing the Presidential Memorandum ...
Key Points On Aug. 31, 2020, the California Assembly passed Assembly Bill 1281 (AB 1281). AB 1281, if signed, will guarantee that certain California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) exemptions will be extended beyond their initial deadline, December 2020. Importantly, AB 1281 will give covered businesses at least another year before they need to comply with CCPA’s provisions when collecting and using employee data or business-to-business related personal information ...
All Virginia employers subject to the jurisdiction of the Virginia Occupational Safety and Health ("VOSH") Program (i.e., practically all employers in Virginia) must comply with new workplace safety standards related to COVID-19. Known as the Emergency Temporary Standard ("Standard"), the new regulation requires employers to: 1 ...
The Department of Labor has updated its list of FAQs about the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”) to address when employees would be eligible for Emergency FMLA leave when the employee’s child’s school is operating on a remote or hybrid learning schedule ...
BAG dated February 13, 2020 - 6 AZR 146/19 ("Air Berlin") In the context of collective redundancies, the term "company" is a legal term under European Union (EU) law and, with regard to the responsible employment agency, it focus particularly on the local effects of the intended dismissals. In the EU legal system, the term "company" is to be interpreted autonomously, uniformly and detached from the national understanding of the term ...
Regional Court of Nuremberg, decision of June 18, 2020 - 1 TaBV 33/19 The Regional Labor Court (Landesarbeitsgericht - LAG) of Nuremberg had to rule on a motion by a works council, in which the latter demanded that the discussions held with it be conducted only in German. At the same time, it demanded that all communication between the branch management and the employees be conducted in German. The Regional Court rejected both motions of the works council ...
Key Points Employers can, but are not required to, delay withholding and paying the employee portion of Social Security taxes for certain employees until Jan. 1, 2021. The deferral only applies to Social Security taxes due from Sept. 1, 2020, to Dec. 31, 2020, by employees who earn less than $4,000 in a bi-weekly pay period. From Jan. 1, 2021 through Apr ...
Following the August 8, 2020 Presidential Memorandum directing the Treasury Secretary to defer the withholding, deposit, and payment of certain payroll taxes, the Internal Revenue Service released Notice 2020-65 late Friday, August 28. The brief notice gives necessary but sparse guidance on implementing the Presidential Memorandum. We expect (and hope for) further guidance soon ...
On Aug. 28, 2020, the U.S. Department of Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Notice 2020-65 (the Notice). The Notice implements President Donald Trump’s Aug. 8, 2020 directive (the Directive) to defer withholding, deposit, and payment of the 6.2 percent employee share of Social Security tax and railroad retirement equivalent tax on certain wages and compensation paid to employees ...
On August 27, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer released Executive Order 2020-172, entitled “Protecting workers who stay home, stay safe when they or their close contacts are sick,” which replaces Executive Order 2020-166. The new executive order is nearly identical to the one it replaces, with two important differences ...
The Department of Justice is stepping up its scrutiny of health-care fraud, especially in testing laboratories, during the Covid-19 pandemic. Former federal prosecutor Jason Mehta, a partner with Bradley, says now is not the time to tout profits over patient care and offers insights on compliance. In the midst of a global pandemic, much attention and praise is rightfully being showered on health-care providers ...
The Temporary Measures for Reducing the Impact of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) Bill 2020 (“the Covid-19 Bill”) was tabled for its first reading in the Dewan Rakyat of Malaysia on Wednesday, 12 August 2020 ...
On 8 April 2020, the Government rolled out the first tranche of the Employment Support Scheme (ESS) for subsidising wages of employees (see our client alerts dated 14 and 20 May 2020 for details of the ESS and its implementation). The Government has just announced details of the second tranche of the ESS covering September to November 2020, which are summarised below ...
You’ve been to the webinars about COVID-19. You’ve read the trade publication tips. You’ve implemented measures to protect your workers. You’re ahead of the game, right? Well, you’re certainly ahead of the sheriff who reportedly instructed his employees not to wear masks in the office. If a visitor enters Sheriff Billy Wood’s office with a mask, she or he will be instructed to remove it ...
When the corona pandemic broke out, many employers allowed their employees to work in home office or even forced them to do so. In the meantime, many uncertainties have been clarified and the desire for normality is increasing among both employers and employees. Therefore, in the following, we will describe what employers must take into account when employees return from home office. 1 ...
