October 6, 2021 By: Jennifer Guerrero While a remote work environment can provide many benefits to all of the parties involved, it also can present significant challenges for organizations that need to remain Healthcare Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) compliant ...
Due to the non-renewal of the constitutional state of exception of catastrophe, the health authority modified the Covid-19 regulations. The main changes are mentioned below: A. STEP-BY-STEP PLAN MODIFICATION On October 1st 2021, Exempt Resolution No. 994 was published in the Official Gazette, which regulates and establishes a new version of the “Step-by-Step Plan” ...
Financial Services Malaysia Overnight Rate as Alternative Reference Rate Bank Negara Malaysia (“BNM”) announced on 24 September that the Malaysia Overnight Rate (“MYOR”) is an alternative reference rate for Malaysia. The MYOR: will be administered and calculated by BNM as the volume-weighted average rate of unsecured overnight Ringgit interbank transactions, including BNM’s overnight monetary operations (excluding Standing Facilities) ...
The government has announced a series of measures to tackle ongoing shortages of heavy goods vehicle (HGV) drivers and poultry workers in the UK. This includes relaxing immigration rules to offer over 10,000 temporary visas in the run up to Christmas. Brexit, the Coronavirus pandemic, tax changes and additional factors such as an ageing workforce have all contributed to a shortage of food processing workers and HGV drivers in the United Kingdom ...
On Monday the White House announced that the COVID-19 travel restrictions imposed on passengers from the UK and most of the EU would be eased, allowing fully vaccinated passengers to enter the country from early November. This will be welcomed by families that have been kept apart as a result of the ban first imposed by President Trump 18 months ago. The UK moved to end similar restrictions on US travellers in July, and both sides of the pond are once again open for business ...
In October 2020 the Information Commissioner’s Office (the “ICO”) announced that it was issuing a Penalty Notice to British Airways (“BA”), imposing a financial penalty of £20 million following a data breach that resulted in hackers obtaining the personal data of 400,000 BA customers. This was a significant reduction from the ICO’s original intention to issue a fine of £183 million ...
Covering employee wages since 1 March 2020, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme ("furlough") is set to end on 30 September 2021, with a deadline for final claims to be made by 14 October 2021. Employers still using the scheme should be engaging with employees about its end, and may now need to make some tough decisions that have been postponed while furlough continued ...
It seems logical that when a claimant requests that a claim be amended to include an additional condition based upon a theory of substantial aggravation, the easiest element to prove would be that the condition pre-existed the date of injury. Recently, in Houlihan v. Hamilton County, 2021-Ohio-3087, the Ohio First District Court of Appeals found that a claimant must prove a condition existed at the time of the injury before they can establish a substantial aggravation ...
Summary On September 9, 2021, President Biden issued his Executive Order on Ensuring Adequate COVID Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors (the “Executive Order”) that, when implemented, will require most federal contractors to comply with all guidance for federal contractor and subcontractor workplace locations published by the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force (see www.saferfederalworkforce.gov) ...
As many of us continue to work from home and/or have opportunities for travel and meeting up restricted, we are continuing to run our essential webinar series for employers to ensure that our clients and contacts remain up to date and equipped to deal with all eventualities! Our latest seminar focused on disability and Long COVID ...
The National Drug Agency Department of the Institute of Public Health, through exempt resolution No. 01746 of September 6, 2021, approved a guide to provide guidelines regarding the technological transfer of pharmaceutical production processes, necessary to obtain the authorization of a new manufacturer of a medicament, maintaining the previously authorized one ...
In January 2020 the first signs of Covid-19 were of a commercial nature. Business activity related to China – which is a large part of the maritime industry in Asia – started slowing down considerably. Projects experienced delays, new ventures were postponed and a general slowdown could be felt throughout the maritime business world. As February and March came around, the first Covid-19 cases started being reported in Singapore ...
On Sept. 22, 2021, the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) publicly referred six matters involving drug manufacturers to the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) for possible imposition of civil monetary penalties (CMPs) ...
Recently, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced it is rescinding the audit determinations for providers notified in January 2021 that had failed to qualify for the “mid-build” exception. CMS took this action due to questions raised by these providers regarding the audit process ...
The White House announced on Monday, Sept. 20, 2021, that in early November of this year, it intends to end the COVID-19 travel bans imposed in 2020 and replace them with vaccination and COVID-19 testing requirements for almost all travelers ...
Law360 published an article this week by Dinsmore health care attorney LaTawnda Moore about an ongoing scheme made possible by the increasing prevalence of telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic. This scheme is putting telehealth executives and health care providers at risk of criminal and civil liability. An excerpt is below. The telehealth executives pay health care providers for prescriptions ...
[!<CDATA[ The trend toward conducting business online has gained even stronger momentum as the economy continues to adapt to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. But an increased digital presence carries the potential for increased legal risk ...
The Ohio Department of Commerce (Department) recently announced licensed medical marijuana cultivators who are maxing out their grow area capacity will be permitted to apply for an expansion. Presently, there are 20 Level I cultivators capable of growing up to 25,000 square feet of medicinal marijuana, and 15 Level II cultivator licensees that are smaller in scale and permitted up to 3,000 square feet of grow capacity ...
COVID-19 has thrust the world into recession and its rippling effects have given rise to rapid and accelerating changes. Many businesses have moved or expanded into online channels as we collectively begin to embrace and advance headlong into an increasingly digitalized society ...
In a move that should significantly ease traveling to the United States, the Biden Administration has announced plans to withdraw COVID-related geographic travel restrictions in early November ...
The President characterised this initiative as one necessary to counter "a pandemic of the unvaccinated", stating, "This is not about freedom or personal choice. It’s about protecting yourself and those around you" ...
September 16, 2021 By: John Epperson The COVID-19 pandemic will likely to be a concern and challenge for employers for longer than anyone had hoped or anticipated. As businesses adjust to what seems to be a “new normal” it is worth a reminder that COVID-19 infection can be a recordable illness on an employer’s Occupational Safety & Health Administration (“OSHA”) 300 Injury and Illness Log. OSHA’s recording criteria under 29 CFR 1904 ...
