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 ...
From 1 September 2020, new rules on temporary unemployment will enter into force. Companies and sectors that are substantially affected by the COVID-19 crisis can continue to apply the current and simplified COVID-19 force majeure temporary unemployment regime until 31 December 2020. The list of in-scope sectors has yet to be determined by the minister of work ...
On June 11, 2020, the General Administration of Customs (“GAC”) released the Measures for the Administration of Imported and Exported Food Safety [draft] (General Administration of Customs of People's Republic of China, 2020) (“Draft Law”) to solicit public comments until July 11, 2020 ...
COVID-19 has undoubtedly had a significant impact on workplaces across the UK. However, what is becoming increasingly clear is the impact which it has had and continues to have on women in work. We consider the statistics and how employers should respond. What do the statistics show? 1. Sectors During lockdown, women were more likely to work in the sectors that had to completely shut-down such as hospitality (23% of women vs 16% men in these industries) ...
On 13th August, Federal Law dated 13.07.2020, No. 210-FZ specifying the procedure and establishing new rules of severance payments, in case of dismissal due to liquidation of the organization, or redundancy, comes into force.In case of the dismissal due to the organization’s liquidation, all payments shall be made to employees prior to its completion ...
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has recently published frequently asked questions addressing leave-sharing plans related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Following IRS Notice 2006-59, the IRS has confirmed that employers may set up leave-sharing plans to permit their employees to deposit leave in an employer-sponsored leave bank for use by other employees who have been adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic ...
From 1 September 2020, new rules on temporary unemployment will enter into force. Companies and sectors that are substantially impacted by the Covid-19 crisis can continue to apply the current and simplified ‘Covid-19 force majeure’ temporary unemployment regime until 31 December 2020. The list of in-scope sectors is yet to be determined by the Minister of Work ...
Banco Nacional de Angola (“BNA”) continues to be very active in producing foreign exchange legislation. It recently revised the rules on foreign exchange operations of current invisibles, goods and capital, carried out by resident and non-resident individuals, through Notice 17/20 of 3 August (the“Notice”). The main change made by this notice concerns non-resident foreign workers (“expatriates”) ...
In order to tackle the effects of the Corona crisis, it is planned at EU level to temporarily facilitate the raising of equity capital for companies. This will enable certain issuers to publish a shortened prospectus with only 30 pages instead of a full prospectus to issue shares. Through this, issuers will have the option to issue shares at short notice, without bureaucracy and inexpensively, thereby improving the debt-to-equity ratio in their balance sheets ...
On Monday, August 3, 2020, a New York federal judge issued a decision invalidating portions of the DOL’s regulations implementing the Families First Coronavirus Relief Act (“FFCRA”). The decision’s impact changes the legal landscape employers confront as they strive to comply with the FFCRA—a landscape that is unstable as the DOL and the courts sort out the legality of the disputed regulations ...
In the shadow of COVID-19, company directors are having to take decisions at speed across a range of issues. The government is encouraging companies to help re-open the economy by bringing staff back to their work places. This challenge, alongside others that directors face, must be met against a backdrop of economic uncertainty, the end of the furlough scheme and planning for the repayment of government loans ...
It is no secret that business bankruptcies are surging in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, chapter 11 filings increased 26% in the first half of 2020,[1] and some expect the number of cases to increase even more in the coming months.[2] From retailers to airlines to telecommunications companies, few sectors of the economy are immune. As a result, more and more businesses will face the prospect of one or more of their customers filing chapter 11 ...
On July 24, 2020, the California Department of Public Health issued a new guidance document for all employers within California, entitled “COVID-19 Employer Playbook For a Safe Reopening ...
On Monday July 27th, Law No. 21,247 which establishes special benefits for some parents and children’s guardians (the “Law”) in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, was published on the Official Gazette. The main aspects regulated by the Law, are the following: I. Preventive parental leave It consists in the granting of preventive leave for taking care of children whose parents were making use of the parental postnatal leave ...
China has become the largest emerging market economy and the second largest economy in the world. As a result, many Chinese companies have elected to access the U.S. capital markets for their financing needs. As of June 2020, there are over 200 China-based issuers listed on U.S. exchanges with a collective market capitalization of over $1.15 trillion. With the rising geopolitical tensions between China and the U.S ...
Key Points Small employers (with fewer than 500 employees) and governmental employers who are required to provide employees with paid sick and expanded family leave related to COVID-19 are required to report the amounts paid on Form W-2. IRS guidance provides information about how to report paid leave on employees’ Forms W-2 ...
The Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) recently released streamlined forms employers may use to coordinate leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ...
In March, due to the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) the Ministry of Health established that an employee required to quarantine at home in accordance with Ministry of Health guidelines would automatically receive a sick leave certificate which could present to the employer and receive sick pay for the quarantine period ...
As workplaces continue to reopen, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued additional guidance addressing various return to work issues and leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). The new DOL guidance, summarized below, appears on the DOL’s FFCRA Questions and Answers page ...
As we have outlined in Part 1 and Part 2 of our blog series, ‘Returning the Workplace to Safe Operation’, employers have a duty to reduce the risk of COVID-19 in the workplace as much as reasonably practical. Consequently, employers may determine it is appropriate to conduct certain active screening, such as questionnaires, temperature screening, and testing ...
In the rush to seek relief under force majeure clauses following the devastating impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is likely that some claims were made incorrectly, albeit in good faith. Particularly in circumstances where force majeure relief is linked to a purported termination, the party seeking to terminate needs to comply with any contractual requirements and ensure that the event relied upon is capable of being caught by the force majeure clause ...
As organisations start planning their post COVID-19 workforce arrangements, leaders need to consider how these new and amended work practices will help or hinder their efforts to strengthen their risk culture. While having a distributed workforce increases some challenges to improving risk culture, it also provides opportunities which need to be embraced. It is becoming increasingly clear that the post COVID-19 workplace will be very different to what it was before the pandemic ...
