The Equality Tribunal (the Tribunal) has directed that an employer pay €52,000.00 in compensation to a former employee after it held that she had been discriminated against on the grounds of gender and victimised1. The Tribunal awarded €26,000 in respect of the discrimination and €26,000 in respect of the victimisation. The award is equivalent to one year's salary. The claimant was employed as a business development manager for a branch of the business ...
1. Interest on Equity and Dividends: the Brazilian Perspective Brazilian companies have two main instruments for remunerating shareholders for the capital invested in companies: dividends and interest on net equity (“Juros sobre o capital própio”, referred to as “IoNE” in this article). Both instruments can be used at the same time, but their tax treatment will depend on the particular characteristics of each case ...
Some amended/new provisions introduced by the NLRC En Banc Resolution No. 11-12 adopted on 16 November 2012 are: · Section 6, paragraph g, Rule III ...
The Courts have considered the concept of constructive dismissal on many occasions. Generally, the expression “constructive dismissal” refers to situations in which an employee does not agree to a substantial change made unilaterally by his employer to one or more essential terms of his employment contract, and leaves his employment for this reason. In the case ofSt-Hilairev.Nexxlink inc ...
Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“PPACA”), an employer that employs an average of at least 50 full-time and full-time equivalent employees (a “Large Employer”) during 2013 may be subject to a penalty in 2014 if the Large Employer fails to offer “minimum essential coverage” to all but 5 percent (or, if greater, five) of its full-time employees (“No Coverage Penalty”) ...
On January 14, 2013 the United States and Spain signed a new protocol (the “Protocol”) amending the existing income tax treaty between the United States and Spain that was signed on February 22, 1990 (the “Treaty”). The Protocol modernizes the Treaty to conform with the existing treaty policies of both the United States and Spain. Key provisions of the Protocol include: Exclusive residence-state taxation (i.e ...
The long awaited Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy and Security Regulation amendments (the “Changes”) to incorporate the changes made by Health Information Technologyfor Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) in 2009 as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and by the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (“GINA”) were recently released ...
The wait is over. On January 17, 2013, the Department of Health and Human Services’ ("HHS’") Office for Civil Rights ("OCR") released its long-anticipated megarule ("Omnibus Rule") amending the HIPAA Privacy, Security, Breach Notification and Enforcement Rules. These amendments implement and expand on the requirements of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health ("HITECH") Act and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 ...
In July 2012 the Croatian Parliament abolished the rule that had enabled employees to receive salaries and other benefits as agreed in collective bargaining agreements (CBAs), years after the CBAs had ceased to be in force.For decades companies with a large number of employees, through the CBAs, were establishing a minimum level of employees’ rights, such as vacation bonuses, Christmas bonuses and loyalty bonuses ...
Key principles approved by the Polish Council of Ministers - On 16 October 2012, the Polish Council of Ministers approved key assumptions for the long-awaited shale gas production and taxation legislation. The assumptions, which impact both conventional and unconventional oil and gas production, have in particular, been awaited by the developing shale gas sector and investors interested in joining this brand new market. ...
After all of the sand had run out of the hourglass, Congress finally passed (and the President signed) a compromise tax bill to avoid very substantial income tax increases on taxpayers with income under $400,000 ($450,000 for joint filers). The good news for our estate planning clients is the “permanent” extension of the current estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer tax exemptions, and a slight increase in the tax rate from 35% to 40% ...
Although only tangentially related to oil and gas operations, the recent pipeline rupture and resulting fire near Charleston, West Virginia highlights the importance of safety inspections and the costs incurred when accidents occur ...
This is an important year on the taxation front. New rules restrict interest deductions and increase the transfer tax related to the sale of shares in housing and real estate. Additionally, two tax incentives support research and development activities, as well as innovation and growth. Restriction on interest deductionThe Finnish legislature has restricted interest deductions applied in taxation starting in the 2014 taxation year ...
Yet again, this year has been a busy one for employers, HR teams and their lawyers: employment law changes and decisions from the Courts have kept us all on our toes! Here is a reminder of some of the most significant cases and legal developments of 2012.1. The unfair dismissal qualifying period increased to two years for those employed on or after 6 April 2012. The qualifying period for employees whose employment started before this date remains 12 months.2 ...
The Government has confirmed it plans to increase the lower earnings trigger for automatic pension enrolment from £8,105 to £9,440 from April 2013, keeping the figure in line with the income tax threshold. Only workers with an annual salary above the earnings trigger will have to be automatically enrolled into a workplace pension scheme by their employer ...
The 2013 Federal Revenue Law was published yesterday and its Transitional Article 3 includes an amnesty covering payment of federal taxes and related government charges, as follows: a) 80% forgiveness of tax assessment consisting of federal taxes, antidumping duties, and fines for failure to comply with federal tax obligations, other than payment obligations, arising prior to January 1, 2007 ...
French at work, at school and in the Civil Administration - Protection and bolstering of the official language. The title of this newsletter gives a good summary of the explanatory notes that serve as an introduction to Bill 14, entitled "An Act to Amend the Charter of the French Language, the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms and other Legislative Provisions" ("The Bill"). The Legislature is concerned that English is being used systematically in certain workplaces ...
By a decision of 18 October 2012 the Danish Board of Equal Treatment found that it was okay to dismiss an employee shortly after her return from maternity leave as it was not until that time that the outlook of the organisation had been established. The matter involved an employee who was dismissed shortly after the expiry of her maternity leave. The employee argued that the decision to dismiss her had been made, while she was on maternity leave ...
In two decisions of 18 October 2012 the Danish Board of Equal Treatment found that it is not permitted to use criteria in job advertisements that indicate that the advertisement is targeted at younger applicants. In the first case a 57 year old job applicant had complained that an industry association in a job advertisement had stated that emphasis was placed on the applicants having "a few years' experience or were newly graduates" ...
The question raised in the case was whether a previously concluded agreement on salary cuts could be set aside in the event of the employer's bankruptcy to the effect that an employee could receive salary from the Employees' Guarantee Fund as if no agreement on salary cuts had been entered into between the employer and the employee some months before the employer went bankrupt ...
Although like in most EU countries, there is no specific regulation in France on social media, judges have recently answered very clearly to this question: it depends on the privacy settings made by the employee!French judges make a clear distinction between (i) social media postings that remain private (i.e ...
On November 30, 2012, the long-awaited amendments to the Mexican federal labor law were published in the Official Gazette of the Federation (Diario Oficial de la Federación). The primary purpose of this set of reforms is to promote job creation and to attempt to regularize labor relationships that arise informally ...
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia recently overturned the United States Patent & Trademark Office ("USPTO") interpretation of the patent term adjustment ("PTA") statute in Exelixis, Inc. v. Kappos. Similar to Wyeth v. Kappos, where a previous USPTO interpretation of the PTA statute was overturned, the Exelixis decision promises to add months and even years to the patent term of many patents ...
Narrow Construction of Food & Drug Act Undermines FDA Regulation, Class Actions A divided panel of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York overturned on First Amendment grounds the conviction of a pharmaceutical sales representative for conspiracy to introduce a misbranded drug into interstate commerce, an offense more commonly referred to as off-label marketing. The decision, United States v. Caronia, No. 09-5006-cr (2d Cir. Dec ...
You are general counsel of a publicly traded medical device company that has begun the diligence process on your company’s target, a publicly held x-ray and CT scan component manufacturer. The target is a Delaware corporation based in California, with additional manufacturing facilities in Utah and Kentucky; within the past three years, it has sold two mothballed manufacturing facilities ...
