The 2018 West Virginia Legislative Session ended last week, and the legislature has rejected two bills that would have modified the Consumer Credit and Protection Act (“WVCCPA”), the primary statute in West Virginia that regulates how lenders, creditors, collectors, and others deal with consumers in financial transactions. House Bill 2768 The legislature knocked down House Bill 2768, which would have amended section 46A-5-101 – the penalties provision of the WVCCPA ...
The West Virginia legislature is considering bills to amend the Consumer Credit and Protection Act (“WVCCPA”) and they can affect how lenders, creditors, collectors, and others interact with consumers in financial transactions. The WVCCPA is the primary statute in West Virginia that regulates how lenders, creditors, collectors, and others deal with consumers in financial transactions ...
On April 17, 2020 the EEOC updated its Technical Assistance Questions and Answers to provide employers with additional guidance interpreting the ADA, Rehabilitation Act, and other EEO Laws in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The EEOC first reminds employers that while these laws continue to apply, employers should still adhere to the ever-changing guidelines and suggestions made by the CDC or state/local health authorities ...
GERMAN GOVERNMENT INTENDS TO INCREASE HURDLES FOR ACQUIRING GERMAN COMPANIES IN STRATEGICALLY IMPORTANT BUSINESS SECTORS On April 8, 2020, the German government adopted the draft bill of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs to amend the Foreign Trade and Payments Act (Außenwirtschaftsgesetz, AWG) ...
Who is an Eligible Employer? “Eligible entities” include employers that are taxable corporations, individuals (such as sole proprietors), non-profit organizations, registered charities, and partnerships (all of the members of which are partnerships or one of the aforementioned entities) who had an existing business number and payroll program account with the Canada Revenue Agency (“CRA”) on March 15, 2020. Public institutions are not eligible (e.g ...
After the federal government’s initial rollout of its COVID-19 Economic Response Plan to provide economic measures to stabilize the economy (previously described in our blog post here), a number of voices from Canada’s business community have warned of program eligibility gaps and, in particular, that early and growth stage technology and innovation businesses have fallen through the cracks ...
While the Trump administration looks to pass legislation aimed at Dodd-Frank and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”), a lawsuit involving the extent of the CFPB’s authority and whether it can impose a $109 million penalty on a group of companies is continuing to be fought in a D.C. courtroom. In June 2015, PHH Corporation and a group of other companies asked the D.C ...
If you haven’t been paying any attention for the last two weeks, you may have missed that on February 3, 2017 President Trump signed an Executive Order setting forth his administration’s core principles for regulating the United States’ financial system. The order seems to be the first step in fulfilling his campaign promise to change Dodd-Frank, the Obama-era financial law that was enacted after the 2008 financial crisis. The order contains three sections. 1 ...
On February 24, 2017, President Trump issued another executive order designed to further his administration’s agenda to reduce regulations. Entitled “Enforcing the Regulatory Reform Agenda,” the executive order continues to make clear that “[i]t is the policy of the United States to alleviate unnecessary regulatory burdens placed on the American people ...
Late this afternoon, the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia issued its decision in State v. AFL-CIO and upheld the constitutionality of West Virginia's “Right-Work-Act” (the Workplace Freedom Act). Justice Jenkins delivered the opinion in which our high court reversed the Circuit Court of Kanawha County and remanded the matter back to that lower court with instructions to enter Summary Judgment in favor of the State ...
How can UK-based insurance companies providing cross-border insurance services to Hungary prepare for 1 January 2021 (i.e ...
The Superintendence of Notaries and Registry and The National Civil Registry Authority issued new measures through Ruling 041 of 15 April 2020 for the prevention of spreading the Coronavirus COVID-19. These measures followed previous regulations issued through Rulings 031 and 037 of March 2020. The new regulation reminds who can request a birth certificate by presenting the certificate of live birth as provided in the law ...
Measures taken for water, sewage and sanitation public utilities, within the framework of the State of Emergency ...
The Plurinational State of Bolivia, within the framework of its governmental powers and in accordance with the Declaration of Sanitary Emergency and Quarantine established in recent days, has determined to strengthen the latest measures. The government has conviniently declared that the total quarantine, extends until April 30, 2020, maintaining the suspension of public and private activities ...
The COVID-19 pandemic is having immediate and longer term impacts on the global economy and M&A activity. The crisis has resulted in important changes to the policies, rules and processes to be applied by many foreign investment and competition regulators, including Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) ...
Is your firm monitoring compliance with the liquid capital thresholds continuously? As the financial resilience of some firms is being tested in the face of the COVID-19 crisis, it is timely for us to remind clients that a HK SFC licensed firm’s “liquid” capital must always exceed its “required” liquid capital and that it must formally notify the SFC "as soon as reasonably practicable and in any event within one business day of becoming aware”, if, am
Introduction In late 2019, the Industrial Development Bureau (IDB) of the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development (ADDED) launched the Abu Dhabi Local Content (ADLC) Program in a trial phase. In April of 2020, the IDB announced implementation of the ADLC Program, which will apply to more than 1,244 governmental and semi-governmental tenders worth approximately AED 15 billion ...
We have previously reported on the order that adopted the extraordinary measures under the COVID-19 health emergency declaration, published on March 31, 2020 (the “Order”), and the Technical Guidelines regarding certain essential activities described in Order, published on April 6, 2020 ...
Employers are now confronted with the next COVID-19 challenge: safely bringing employees back to work. The recent federal guidelines for “Opening Up America Again” specifically refer to recommended practices for employers ...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently issued a burst of COVID-19-related guidance documents to facilitate expanded availability of medical products during the current public health emergency created by COVID-19. FDA-regulated products under these temporary policies include: PPE, diagnostic tests, hand sanitizers, disinfectant devices, remote monitoring devices, ventilators, and electronic thermometers for clinical use ...
April 21, 2020 Cities in California have been implementing local ordinances providing for emergency supplemental paid sick leave for local workers in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which adds complexity for employers navigating the rapidly changing obligations resulting from the pandemic ...
Even in pandemic-free times, the world of labor laws and employment regulations is at best confusing to an employer, and at worst, overwhelming. Adding the stress of emergency paid sick leave, ever-evolving unemployment qualifications, and shelter-in-place orders is enough to make any boss’s head spin. Business owners want to keep their employees healthy and safe. They also want to operate in a way that garners at least enough income to keep their doors open ...
On March 27, 2020, President Donald Trump signed into law a $2 trillion emergency relief bill to ease the economic impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) and support response efforts. The CARES Act[1] included an allocation of $80 million in funding to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to continue its COVID-19 response efforts. The additional agency funding will be used, in part, for the development of medical countermeasures and vaccines ...
The government announced that as of 20th April 2020, masks (or alternative face protections) are mandatory when going outside (for authorised reasons only) when the required interpersonal minimum distance of 2 meters cannot be guaranteed. This measure is also applicable in the work environment. On 17th April 2020, a new grand-ducal regulation introducing a series of health and safety measures to fight against Covid-19 entered into force ...