On November 24, 2015, the Québec Court of Appeal rendered a much anticipated judgment in the case of Université McGill v. McGill University Non Academic Certified Association (MUNACA)1 (“McGill”) ...
With the use of zero-hours contracts 'ZHCs' increasing and new regulations in this area coming into effect, employers should ensure compliance with the new rules. Background Since our previous article, the Exclusivity Terms in Zero Hours Contracts (Redress) Regulations 2015 (the 'Regulations') came into force on 11 January 2016 ...
Employment law expert, Mirko Kovač, attended a Roundtable discussion on the new Law on Conditions for Secondment of Employees Abroad and their Protection organised by the Ministry of Labour on 13 January 2016. Our office previously analysed this law in more detail and additional information on the novelties it introduces may be found on our website (http://www.karanovic-nikolic.com/2015/11/16/serbia-adopts-law-on-conditions-for-secondment-of-employees-abroad-and-their-protection/ ) ...
2015 was an eventful year for government contractors as the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”) finalized several key rules related to contractors’ relationships with employees and job applicants. With more rules expected to be finalized in 2016, the OFCCP will exercise increasing oversight over contractors’ activities ...
The purpose of this newsletter is to raise the awareness of employers regarding the problems related to making knowledge of English a requirement for employment ...
As we previously reported, the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (“POPI”) was signed into law in November 2013. Those provisions which deal with the establishment of the Information Regulator came into effect on 11 April 2014. Expectations are that the President will proclaim the rest of the provisions of POPI into effect once the Information Regulator has been established ...
A new bill on restrictive employment covenants has been adopted. Restrictive covenants concluded after 1 January 2016 will be subject to the new rules. We have listed some of the key changes below. Non-competition clauses can now only be entered into with employees who hold a very special position of trust. Previously, it was only a requirement that the employee held a special position of trust ...
On January 11, 2016, Vadim Kazenelson, a project manager for Metron Construction Corporation (“Metron”), was sentenced to three and a half years in prison.1 This sentence follows the decision rendered on June 26, 2015 in which the Superior Court of Ontario found Mr. Kazenelson guilty of the five charges against him, including four counts of criminal negligence causing death and one count of criminal negligence causing bodily harm ...
The filing window for Fiscal Year 2017 for Cap-Subject H-1B petitions – those subject to the annual numerical limit (the “Cap”) – will open on April 1, 2016. Given recent trends, the number of filed petitions is expected to again exceed the Cap. Over the last three years, the Cap has been reached within the first week of the April filing period ...
The recent Memorandum of Understanding (the “MOU”) between the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and Department of Labor (“DOL”) reinvigorated the Worker Endangerment Initiative by “redoubling” the agencies’ cooperative “efforts to hold accountable those who unlawfully jeopardize workers’ health and safety,” Deputy Attorney General Sally Quillian Yates announced on December 17, 2015. An accompanying memorandum sent to all 93 U.S ...
On December 18, Congress voted to reauthorize the Immigrant Investor (EB-5) Pilot Program without change through September 30, 2016. The EB-5 program was scheduled to sunset on September 30, 2015 but was granted two short-term reprieves while lawmakers debated several changes which would have made investing in the program more difficult, including increases to the minimum investment amount and restrictions on the calculation of indirect job creation ...
Although many of us still wonder at a drone cruising the sky, it has become relatively common to see these devices around. Drones are used for commercial, industrial, marketing and informational purposes, and also for pure fun and enjoyment. Drones, technically referred to as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), are now part of our lives. As many other aspects of day-to-day life, there is a regulation in Guatemala that applies to drones, though it is scarcely known by the general public ...
The Finnish Criminal Code has been recently amended to combat cybercrime more effectively. The Criminal Code now takes a tougher stance against cybercrime by amending certain provisions, introducing completely new provisions and more severe penalties. The amendments entered into force 4 September 2015. From now on, cybercrime offences, such as illegal data interference and identity theft, can be found under their own titles in the Criminal Code ...
It can hardly have escaped anyone’s attention that personal integrity is a highly topical subject within the EU, and that the work to adapt the existing regulations to new technical developments has been ongoing for several years. The work with the new data protection regulation has taken a long time but has now entered an exciting phase, after the start of the so-called “trialog negotiations” between the Commission, the Council and the European Parliament over the summer ...
Two recent Labour Court decisions have highlighted the duty of trade unions and their officials to act to prevent unprotected strikes and unlawful actions during the course of a strike. These add to the growing list of decisions in which the court has indicated that it will hold unions accountable for unlawful acts by their members ...
LCS has provided a 2015 Taiwan Employment Law Update. 1. Five-Day Workweek to Kick Off Next Year An amendment to the Labor Standards Act (the "LSA") will take effect on January 1, 2016, paving the way for a five-day workweek and for working hours per week to be reduced to 40 hours. The LSA currently sets a ceiling of regular working hours of 84 hours fortnightly. 2 ...
A number of recently announced initiatives could introduce potentially significant changes to the rules governing the workforce in the UAE. Earlier this year, the Ministry of Labour promulgated Ministerial Resolutions Nos. 764, 765 and 766 of 2015. According to the reports of Ministry of Labour spokesmen that appeared in the local press, the new resolutions were designed to deter a number of undesirable practices ...
The Parliament of the Republic of Serbia adopted the Law on Conditions for Secondment of Employees Abroad and their Protection (the “Law”). The Law will be applicable two months following its coming into force, i.e. 13 January 2016. The Law regulates the secondment of employees abroad in a more modern manner compared to the currently applicable Law on Protection of Citizens of FR of Yugoslavia working abroad ...
UPDATE: On December 21, 2015, Common Pleas Judge Joseph James struck down the employee sick leave ordinance, ruling that Pittsburgh’s City Council lacked authority to “to enact any ordinance determining any duty, responsibility or requirement of a business or private employer.” The ordinance would have required employers of more than 15 employees to provide up to 40 hours of paid sick leave per year and smaller employers to offer up to 24 hours of paid sick leave ...
A federal appellate court in the Midwest suggests that while unions do not have blanket approval to inspect an employer’s worksite, the union’s interest in safety generally will outweigh an employer’s interest in confidentiality and property rights. The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, in Caterpillar, Inc. v. NLRB, 803 F.3d 360 (7th Cir ...
As a veteran of the United States Marine Corps and someone who has seen the challenges that veterans face firsthand, I can attest to the benefits of giving veterans an opportunity to return to work following periods of service and providing families with the opportunity to manage the needs of their servicemembers. At Spilman, we feel that employers should adhere to best practices guidelines and prepare to implement and facilitate such enforcement ...
In October, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) employed a little-used procedural doctrine to issue a consolidated complaint against a parent company of a chain of hospitals located throughout the U.S. The NLRB issued the consolidated complaint, which included 29 unfair labor practice charges, against Community Health Systems, Inc ...
SyCipLaw Partner Leslie C. Dy participated in the World Bank Group’s Women, Business and the Law 2016: Getting to Equal. The 2016 edition, the fourth in the series, continues to cover and collect data about legal restrictions on women’s entrepreneurship and employment. The series aims to inform policy discussions and promote research on linkages between the law and women’s economic opportunities ...
The Government of Indonesia has recently issued a series of regulations in an attempt to further regulate pension securities and amend the old age security programs in Indonesia, namely Government Regulation No. 45 of 2015 on the Management of the Pension Security Program (“GR 45/2015”) and Government Regulation No. 46 of 2015 as amended by Government Regulation No. 60 of 2015 on the Management of the Old Age Security Program (“GR 46/2015”) ...
The Philippine section of The International Comparative Legal Guide to: Patents 2016 was contributed by SyCipLaw partners Enrique T. Manuel and Vida M. Panganiban-Alindogan. The chapter includes patent enforcement, patent amendment, licensing, patent term extension, patent prosecution and opposition, border control measures, antitrust law and inequitable conduct and current developments in relation to patents ...
