South African law treats sexual harassment as a serious form of misconduct that infringes upon a person’s dignity and other fundamental rights. The seriousness with which it is viewed by the courts is illustrated by the Labour Appeal Court (“LAC”) decision in MEC for Education (North West Provincial Government) v Makubalo ...
A recent article from Business Insider featuring Haynes and Boone, LLP Labor and Employment Partner Jason Habinsky addresses key takeaways from the recently passed New York City bill that restricts employers from asking candidates about their salary history. Useful context includes: Employers should “promptly audit and review their documentation regarding the hiring process” to make sure hiring documentation does not request prohibited information ...
As published in international media, Brazil is still facing economic problems related, for example, to economic growth rate and unemployment. However, Brazil remains a country where investment opportunities continue to exist. Brazil has the advantage of having a large internal market due to the size of its population and of being well positioned geographically in South America, so the country can be a platform for the export of products to other countries in the region ...
On the eve of the provisional entry into force of the Canada-Europe Free Trade Agreement, understanding its implications should be a top priority for any company wishing to expand its activities over the course of the next few years. The vote held at the European Parliament in favour of the ratification of the Agreement makes its entry into force imminent ...
On 8 February 2017, the Luxembourg Parliament voted a new law on immigration (hereafter the “Law”) which aims at increasing Luxembourg’s attractiveness as a host country for foreign talents. The main innovation of the Law is to implement a new category of residence permit in Luxembourg for investors. Immigration represents a major pillar of Luxembourg’s economy which has always relied on foreign labour and investments ...
Upon reconsideration in Gerard v. Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center, Case No. G048039 (March 21, 2017) (Gerard II), the Fourth Appellate District decided that IWC Wage Order 5 is valid and that healthcare employees may waive one of their two required meal periods on shifts longer than 8 hours ...
All non-exempt employees are required to be paid separately for rest breaks and other non-productive work time. This may come as a surprise to businesses that employ commissioned or piece rate employees, who may have assumed (incorrectly) that the commission or piece rate compensation earned by their employees – often very high amounts – is sufficient to cover the pay to which those employees are entitled for rest breaks or other non-productive work hours ...
On February 23, 2017, the IRS issued a memorandum to its employee plan auditors to provide guidelines for substantiating 401(k) plan safe harbor hardship distributions. Although directed to employee plan auditors for audit purposes, the memorandum provides guidance on the steps that plan administrators should take to substantiate safe harbor hardship distributions ...
In February 2017, Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly issued two memoranda providing guidance on the recent Executive Order entitled "Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements." This Executive Order established new policies regarding effective border security and immigration enforcement ...
On Wednesday, March 1, 2017, the Department of Labor ("DOL") proposed a 60-day extension of the applicability date of the ERISA Fiduciary Rule. President Trump's administration has openly criticized the Fiduciary Rule, and on February 3, 2017, directed the DOL to further analyze the legal and economic impact of the rule before its implementation ...
On January 1, 2017, AB 1661 went into effect, requiring local agency officials, including board members, to receive sexual harassment prevention training and education. This training requirement is similar to the sexual harassment and prevention training already required for supervisory employees every two (2) years under AB 1825. Local agencies should expand their sexual harassment prevention training programs to include agency officials who are covered under the new law ...
Recognizing that our country -- our “team,” if you will -- is stronger when all our players are on the field and playing to their full potential, our federal and some state governments have developed programs to help disadvantaged entrepreneurs get started on the path of business ownership. In the last issue of The Construct we talked about the Historically Underutilized Business (“HUBZone”) Program ...
Since 1965, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals has consistently held that defective workmanship that caused bodily injury or property damage did not constitute an “occurrence” under a policy of commercial general liability insurance, and therefore the insurer was not obligated to pay for the damage or tender a defense. See McGann v. Hobbs Lumber Co., 150 W. Va. 364, 145 S.E.2d 476 (1965) ...
It is undeniable that technology and globalization are changing the way lawyers practice law. Technology has not just made people, places, and things much more accessible to us – it has impacted the way we store information and documents, the way we communicate with and advise clients, how we conduct investigations, and how we participate in discovery ...
The West Virginia Legislature has brought West Virginia more in line with its neighbors in regulating how employers must pay former employees upon the employee’s departure. Historically, West Virginia has imposed different standards for providing an employee his or her final pay depending on whether the employee quit, quit with notice, was laid off, or was terminated ...
In our previous articles (part one, part two and part three), we discussed ways in which trademarks are maintained and protected through filings that are mandatory and which filings would result in abandonment or cancellation if not timely submitted. There are also optional filings a trademark owner can take advantage of to optimize and secure its rights under a U.S. trademark registration. An Affidavit of Incontestability Under Section 15 is one such method ...
It is practically impossible these days to turn on the news, get on the internet or listen to the radio without hearing about some polarizing event. Whether it is a debate over the presidential candidates, the #BlackLivesMatter movement, or the legality of North Carolina’s HB-2 (dubbed the “Bathroom Bill”) or other similar state law, the American populace is being bombarded from all sides ...
As discussions regarding the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (“LGBT”) employees in the workplace increase, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC” or “Commission”) offers guidance concerning treatment of LGBT individuals as a protected class under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Last month, the EEOC issued What You Should Know About EEOC and the Enforcement Protections for LGBT Workers (the “Guidance”) ...
When the Chair of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Jacqueline A. Berrien, and EEOC Commissioner Victoria A. Lipnic sat down for an informal conversation regarding workplace diversity during the Diversity Luncheon at the National Conference on Equal Employment Opportunity Law, the dialogue quickly moved to the possible effects of budget cuts on diversity in the public workplace ...
What is Executive Order 13658? On February 12, 2014, President Obama signed Executive Order 13658, “Establishing a Minimum Wage for Contractors,” as a means to increase the minimum wage for workers providing services pursuant to federal construction and service contracts (the “Executive Order”) ...
On December 1, 2015, several amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure took effect. While some changes are rather minor, others are expected to have a significant impact on litigation in federal court. Lawyers have been talking about these amendments for years as they were developed, proposed, revised, and eventually approved, but comparatively little has been said about what the parties to litigation need to know. Three key takeaways are discussed below ...
The H-1B visa filing frenzy is upon us once again! Because of the chronic shortage of nonimmigrant visas for foreign workers in the specialty occupation category (H-1B visas), employers seeking to hire new H-1B workers must file their petitions on April 1, 2014 for work beginning October 1, 2014 ...
With everything from alpacas, pigs and turkeys, to even a snake being claimed as service animals, it is not surprising that many business owners are asking what truly qualifies as a “service animal” under the law. Just last fall, a Wisconsin McDonald’s encountered a situation where a patron wanted to dine with her service kangaroo ...
A previous Amendment to the Labour law raised some arguable and sensitive issues regarding termination of the employment contract when employee's behaviour represents criminal act. In fact, it was the employer who decided if an employee's behaviour represent a criminal act ...
An important case between the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (“AMCU”) and the Chamber of Mines of South Africa acting on behalf of Harmony Gold, AngloGold Ashanti and Sibanye Gold, has finally been decided by the Constitutional Court. The case concerns the extension of a 2013 wage collective agreement to AMCU members in terms of section 23(1)(d) of the Labour Relations Act, 1995 (“LRA”) ...
