U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released guidance on the FY2023 H-1B lottery process. Despite attempts to change the structure of the lottery selection process, the Service announced that it would continue with a random-selection lottery for 2022. The registration system will be open from 12 p.m. ET March 1, 2022 until 12 p.m. ET March 18, 2022. The application fee will continue to be $10 for each case entered into the system ...
On 13 January 2022 UK and India launched negotiations for a free trade agreement. Intended to provide net benefits to businesses, not all will benefit from the agreement. This article identifies some topics that business may wish to raise with government ...
Regulation (EU) 536/2014 of the Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 on clinical trials on medicinal products for human use (“Regulation”) came into force on 31 January 2022. The Regulation was adopted by the European Parliament in 2014 and released in May of the same year. It was subsequently officially published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 31 July 2021 and came into force six months after that date ...
In this article we look at the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the social and health care sector in the build up to the upcoming Public Inquiry, due to commence in Spring 2022. Upsetting scenes arising from the COVID-19 pandemic included photographs of bereaved families with only six people in attendance at family funerals ...
Summary The 2022 proxy season will continue to be affected by the aftershocks of the COVID-19 pandemic, and will be predominantly shaped by the landmark events of the 2021 proxy season, where ESG matters moved from unconventional to mainstream, and women held a historic amount of board seats of the Russell 3000 companies ...
Key Points Employers that claimed a tax credit for qualified COVID-related leave paid to employees in 2021 must report the amount of leave paid in Box 14 of the employee's 2021 Form W-2 or on a separate statement. The reporting requirement is new for 2021 for governmental employers, because those employers were not eligible for a tax credit for COVID-related leave paid in 2020 ...
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act assigned the U.S. Department of Treasury Office of Inspector General (OIG) responsibility for compliance monitoring and oversight of the receipt, disbursement, and use of payments from the Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF Payments). OIG has also been given the authority to recoup CRF Payments in the event OIG determines that a recipient did not comply with Treasury regulations governing the use of CRF Payments ...
In a statement to Parliament on 14 December 2021, John Swinney, the Deputy First Minister, confirmed the appointment of Court of Session judge Lady Poole as the chair of the Scottish inquiry into the COVID-19 pandemic. The Scottish Government also announced the terms of reference for the public inquiry on the same date, with the inquiry investigating the period between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2022. You can read the full ministerial statement here ...
Due to emergence of the Omicrom variant, the new year brought with it some now familiar guidance: the government asked workers to avoid the office and to work from home where possible. In anticipation of returning to the office in early 2022, the Health and Safety Executive (the HSE) and the Scottish Government have issued guidance emphasising the importance of good ventilation and the role that plays,alongside other measures, in helping to reduce the spread of COVID-19 ...
From 6 April 2022, the way right to work checks are conducted is changing. Virtual or “adjusted” right to work checks will no longer be acceptable Virtual checks were only ever intended as a temporary concession because of the pandemic. While they have been repeatedly extended throughout the pandemic, the Home Office is adamant that they will end once and for all, with 5 April 2022 being the final date on which they can be validly conducted ...
Union budget 2022-2023 Expectations Overview The economy of the resurgent India is expecting a road map with the upcoming Union Budget 2022-23. The Budget speech is likely to pen down new reforms and policies that helps the economy to maintain a sustained growth rate. Accomplishing this shall rather be dependent on the ability and the capacity to locate additional revenue sources by striking a balancing of the expenses ...
COVID-19 guidance continues to change regularly throughout the UK and the Omicron variant has seen soaring levels of absence across all businesses. So what do employers need to know and how can this be managed? Current isolation and testing rules At this time and throughout the UK generally, non-exempt individuals are required to self-isolate if they are in close contact with someone who has tested positive ...
The importance of being truthful on immigration forms has been thrust into the international spotlight this week, thanks to tennis star Novak Djokovic who has been deported from Australia. Whilst the ins and out of the refusal are up for discussion, one thing is clear is that the information on his application about where he has been during the fourteen days prior to his arrival in Australia was not correct ...
‘The right to disconnect’ was a popular topic during 2021 and provides for an interesting discussion - should there be a legal right in the UK for employees to disconnect from their workplace? The phrase which may bring joy to an employee’s ears but potentially not so much to those of an employer is the ‘right to disconnect’ ...
Key Points New IRS rules extend annual deadline for providing Forms 1095-C to employees to March 2 Penalty relief no longer applies for employers that make good faith efforts to comply with reporting requirements California employers with self-insured plans must file Forms 1095-C with the Franchise Tax Board by March 31 Under the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”), large employers (generally those with 50 or more full-time employees or full-time equivalents) must report annually t
On Thursday, January 13, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay pausing implementation of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS), finding that the challengers to the ETS are likely to prevail. Justices John Roberts, Amy Coney Barrett, and Brett Kavanaugh issued the decision to stay the OSHA ETS. Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Clarence Thomas concurred with their own separate opinion ...
Without doubt, the traditional employment relationship has changed. Whilst the Coronavirus pandemic has had a major impact, the changing nature of the employment relationship has been taking place for several years. But what does this mean for employers? CIPD in a recent report has suggested that atypical workers could be anywhere from 18.6% to 42.4% of the workforce (depending on how narrowly atypical working is defined) ...
