A bill to amend the Workers Compensation Act was given 1st reading on November 3, 2011. One of the proposed amendments could significantly expand the circumstances where a worker may be entitled to compensation for work-related mental stress. Where the present section 5 ...
In a Bulletin released in March of 2011, we outlined important amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (“IRPR”) concerning temporary foreign workers ...
Haynes and Boone, LLP’s Immigration Practice Group reminds employers with a need for H-1B petitions that are subject to the annual numerical limit (“Cap-Subject”) that the annual cap for Financial Year 2012 is almost exhausted. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) has announced that 49,200 H-1B petitions have been received as of October 28, 2011, fast approaching the 65,000 cap. Further, the separate U.S ...
Under final rules issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) will continue to face large start-up costs and uncertain savings, despite a decreased regulatory scheme and increased financial incentives ...
On September 14, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Quebec rendered a significant decision in the context of the labour dispute which occurred at the Journal de Québec (the “Journal”) in 2007-2008. This decision sheds some light on the scope of the “anti strikebreaker” provisions of the Labour Code (Quebec)1 ...
While employers oftentimes wish to monitor the behavior of their employees, which generally is a rightful intention, it is also the employees' rightful expectation for the employer to respect their privacy and personal data. In this article, we provide a brief overview of the most important rules employers must observe when monitoring their employees.Under the Hungarian Labour Code, an employer may inspect the work of its employees ...
Since our last summary, the Obama Board has taken significant steps to further outgoing Chairman Liebman’s stated goal of bringing the Board “back to life after a long period of dormancy ...
Six months on from the Davies report, Women on Board’, how much progress has been made towards the diversity at the top of UK plcs? Women are under-represented on the boards of UK companies. In 2010, only 12.5% of members of FTSE 100 companies' corporate boards were female ...
As a result of OSHA’s recently issued directive on workplace violence, the cops may not be alone in investigating incidents of workplace violence. OSHA is now in the business of policing workplace violence. In the directive, entitled Enforcement Procedures for Investigating or Inspecting Workplace Violence Incidents, OSHA provides its inspectors guidance on their new role – conducting inspections and investigations involving on-the-job violence ...
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) have responded to the U.S. Senate’s request for information on physician-owned distributorships (PODs). Earlier this summer, a bi-partisan U.S. Senate committee asked CMS and the OIG to study the proliferation of PODs, citing a lack of regulatory guidance on how these arrangements square with existing federal law ...
Since the famous “Facebook firing” complaint in late 2010, many observers have worried that the majority-Democrat National Labor Relations Board’s (“NLRB” or the “Board”) social media focus was an attempt to establish pro-union, anti-employer precedent, giving employees free rein to disparage and criticize their employers online ...
The decision to outsource is often dictated by financial considerations, with cost saving usually a major incentive, while other important factors might include innovation in service delivery and improvements in service quality. While employment issues are rarely the primary driver in the decision, they can be of vital importance to the success of the project and should be addressed when the transaction is at an early stage ...
UPDATE ON PLANNED PRODUCTION SHUTDOWNS Since 1968, Labour Relations in the Construction Industry have been governed by a specific statute, the act respecting Labour Relations, Vocational Training and Workforce Management in the Construction Indusrty (Hereinafter referring to as "R-20"). AT THE TIME, R-20 WAS ENACTED TO PUT SOME ORDER IN AN INDUSTRY STRUGGLING WITH AN INCREASING NUMBER OF APPLICATIONS FOR CERTIFICATION AND REGIONAL DECREES ...
On March 18, 2010, the Commission des Lesions Professionnelles ("CLP"), in the case of Cote et Traverse Ricere-du-Loup (2010 QCCLP 2074), declared invalid section 56 of an act respecting industrial accidents and occupational diseases (the "AIAOD"). It found that the section was discriminatory because if contravenes with section 10 of the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms ("Quebec Charter") and section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms ("Canadian Charter") ...
Once their compound patents have expired many blockbuster drugs remain protected by secondary 'method of treatment' patents. The validity and enforceability of these secondary patents can be less certain in many jurisdictions. In Sanofi-Aventis Australia Pty Ltd v Apotex Pty Ltd (No ...
The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (“AHCA”) earlier this month fined Humana $3.4 million for failing to promptly report suspected cases of Medicaid fraud and abuse by others, as required by statute and Humana’s Medicaid HMO contract. Though many states have similar laws or regulations, this appears to be the first enforcement action of its kind in the nation ...
A new change in the Italian regulation of the industrial design has been recently introduced by section 8, paragraph 10, of Law Decree no. 70 of May 13, 2011 (“First urgent provisions for the economy”), aimed at restricting the temporary protection granted to industrial design works under copyright law under section 239 of the Industrial Property Code (Legislative Decree no. 30 of February 10, 2005, as amended by Legislative Decree no ...
Here we go again! For the third time in less than six years, the Texas Supreme Court has repudiated technical legal niceties and has adopted broad pro-employer principles to support the enforcement of non-competition agreements in Texas. Marsh USA, Inc. v. Cook, 54 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 1234 (Tex. 2011) ...
In the recent decision of Davies v. Alcan Rolled Products, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals continued its recent trend of reviewing claims decisions based on the medical management guidelines in W. Va. C.S.R. § 85-20-1, et seq. (“Rule 20”). At issue in Davies was the calculation of permanent impairment for carpal tunnel syndrome (“CTS”) claims. In W.Va. C.S.R. § 85-20-64 ...
The ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (“ADAAA”) has created new liability concerns for employers since it was enacted a few years ago. Specifically, the ADAAA protects, among other persons, “qualified individuals with a disability” from unlawful discrimination or harassment. It further requires employers to provide “reasonable accommodations” to such employees to enable them toperform essential job functions, with various exceptions ...
The Employee Free Choice Act (“EFCA”), the bill that would have altered the way in which unions are allowed to organize workers, was introduced in both chambers of the United States Congress on March 10, 2009 ...
Supporting OSHA’s aggressive semi-annual regulatory agenda, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA, Jordan Barab, recently warned a research symposium that, “despite what goes on in Congress, [OSHA] [has] absolutely no intention of pulling back or retreating.” Barab alerted attendees that OSHA’s regulatory agenda aims to extend enforcement beyond traditional manufacturing and construction sectors ...
A June ruling by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has provided a bit of a relief for employers who face Fair Labor Standards Act retaliation claims from employees. The Supreme Court's ruling in Kasten v. Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Corp., 131 S.Ct. 1325, 1329, 179 L. Ed. 2d 379 (2011) represented a significant victory for employees, but now all is not lost for employers. In Maynor v. Dow, No. 10-40771, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 12759 (5th Cir ...
The Internal Revenue Service has proposed guidelines detailing how tax-exempt hospitals can conduct a Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA), as required in the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). Although this new requirement is not effective until taxable years commencing after March 23, 2012, the IRS issued its guidance now because hospitals may choose to start the process of conducting CHNAs and implement strategies in advance of the effective date ...
Texas health care providers, health insurers and health clearinghouses face new mandates and increased penalties over the use of electronic health records (EHR) as a result of HB300, which was passed in the 2011 Texas legislative session and signed into law by Governor Rick Perry. The Texas legislation expands privacy rights of patients beyond that contained in federal HIPAA legislation ...
