Dismissals for misconduct are required to be for a fair reason and in accordance with a fair procedure. A fair procedure entails that disciplinary action be taken within a reasonable period of time. In the recent decision inStokwe v Member of the Executive Council: Department of Education, the South African Constitutional Court highlighted this procedural requirement that disciplinary action must be taken within a reasonable period of time ...
Most employers are familiar with the principle of “no work, no pay” in the context of strike action, but what about the concept of “work, pay, extra pay”? Can employers incentivise or reward non-striking employees who pick up the slack? This question was recently considered by the Labour Court inNational Union of Mineworkers obo Members v Cullinan Diamond Mine A Division of Petra Diamond (Pty) Ltd ...
An amendment to the Non-Citizen (Employment Restrictions) Exemptions Regulations, published through GN 55 of 2019, removed foreign spouses of Mauritian citizens from the category of non-citizens who were exempted from the requirement of a work permit for working in Mauritius. All foreign spouses of Mauritian citizens were therefore under an obligation to hold a valid work permit to be entitled to work lawfully in Mauritius ...
At the end of March, UK Visas and Immigration closed both the Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) and Tier 1 (Graduate Entrepreneur) routes, replacing them with two new visa categories, the ‘Start-up’ and the ‘Innovator’, which are contained within a new Appendix W of the Immigration Rules ...
In an increasingly global world, an organisation’s ability to recruit and retain international talent plays an ever important and potentially business critical role. In the UK, the only way in which employers can directly employ many of these talented individuals is through obtaining a sponsor licence from the Home Office ...
The Brexit referendum vote and its potential impact on free movement has already resulted in many businesses struggling to meet their labour needs; the number of EU migrants has declined markedly at a time when Scotland and the UK is enjoying record levels of employment. As a consequence, immigration has risen to the top of many organisations’ agendas to ensure they can recruit and retain the talent they need to grow their businesses and remain competitive ...
The IRS recently issued a new version of its Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System ("EPCRS") that gives sponsors of tax-qualified retirement plans additional options for self-correcting plan failures. The new EPCRS allows plan sponsors to use the Self-Correction Program ("SCP") in several circumstances, rather than requiring a Voluntary Compliance Program (VCP) filing with the IRS and payment of the applicable user fee ...
The Scottish Government, SEPA and industry have identified significant opportunities for the growth of the finfish aquaculture sector in Scotland. This expansion is an express policy objective of the Scottish Government, and was confirmed through the National Marine Plan published in 2015. Nevertheless, whilst there has been some growth in the sector since the plan’s publication, the sector has yet to realise its full potential ...
Whatever your views on Brexit, the deferment of the UK’s leaving date from the EU provided British industry some welcome breathing space to prepare for Brexit. Given the issues that still divide the two main political parties, the UK may yet leave the EU without a deal on 31 October ...
Scotland’s countryside offers a vast range of property investment options, from houses and cottages to farms and country estates. However, when buying a rural property it is important to consider various issues that may be taken for granted in the purchase of a property in an urban area. 1 ...
Pursuant to Title VII and 42 U.S.C. Chapter 60, a company must annually file an EEO-1 Report with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Joint Reporting Committee (JRC) if it answers “yes” to any of the three jurisdictional questions: 1. A company that has 100 or more employees; 2 ...
Many employers currently have employees on staff on temporary work visas, and employers likely know that in order to continue to employ employees not born in the U.S., the employer must sponsor the employee for permanent residency in the U.S. (i.e,. a green card). The green card process has multiple steps, which, depending on a variety of factors, may take several years to complete ...
In an opinion released April 26 and designated for publication, the Kentucky Court of Appeals held the longstanding Kentucky law allowing a non-lawyer to represent a business entity at an administrative unemployment hearing is unconstitutional.[1] If upheld, this decision will have broad, statewide impact on how unemployment claims are handled in Kentucky ...
The Supreme Court of the United States announced three cases will be argued next term that could determine whether Title VII protects LGBT employees from workplace discrimination. Title VII prohibits discrimination because of “race, color, religion, sex, or national origin,” but it does not explicitly mention sexual orientation or gender identity ...
The Social Security Administration (SSA) confirmed it resumed issuing “No-Match Letters” in March 2019. Officially called Employer Correction Requests, No-Match Letters inform an employer that the information reported on an individual employer’s W-2 form (or an employer’s quarterly tax filing) does not match the SSA’s records ...
Coordinating cross-border due diligence is a key skill that more often than not underpins complex, multi-jurisdictional merger and acquisitions (M&A) and private equity (PE)-led transactions. Where due diligence really adds value is in the early stages of the transaction, when local knowledge and expertise are vital to understanding the context of data room information ...
Due to the GDPR, the Hungarian Parliament passed a law on 1 April concerning changes to a number of acts containing data protection provisions. The Hungarian Labour Code is one of the laws that has been changed. The new law is expected to be published soon and its rules, which affect quite a number of data controllers, will become applicable on the 15th day following their publication. It can be expected that the new rules will become effective around 1 May ...
On April 9, 2019, Gov. Matt Bevin signed into law the Kentucky Pregnant Workers Act (KYPWA), which expands protections for pregnant employees under the Kentucky Civil Rights Act, KRS 344.010, et seq. Reasonable Accommodations for Pregnancy Effective June 27, 2019, employers with 15 or more employees in Kentucky in at least 20 calendar weeks in the current or preceding year will be required to provide reasonable accommodations for pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions ...
A recent decision by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), Ridgewood Health Care Center, Inc. (Ridgewood), has changed how the Board will define a “perfectly clear successor” when evaluating whether an employer is bound by an existing collective bargaining agreement (CBA) after acquiring another business ...
The recent decision of the FOPH (FOPH, decision of 11.12.2018 - 1 ABR 13/17) gives additional grounds for further clarifying the practical question of to what extent the conduct of an employee survey is subject to worker participation by the works council. The Respondent - a parent company of a postal and logistics company - has been carrying out an annual Group-wide employee survey since 2007 using a standardized electronic questionnaire ...
Federal Labor Court, ruling of 19 December 2018 - 7 AZR 70/17 The provision of Sec. 41 p. 3 Social Code (SGB) VI allows employers and employees to postpone the termination of the employment relationship upon reaching the regular retirement age of the employee. According to a ruling of the German Federal Labor Court (BAG) of 19 December 2018 (Ref. 7 AZR 70/17), this regulation is compatible with higher-ranking law ...
FOPH of March 19, 2019 - 9 AZR 362/18 The statutory leave entitlement according to Sec. 1, 3 Federal Leave Act (BUrlG) also exists for the period of parental leave, but may be reduced by the employer pursuant to Sec. 17 (1) (1) Federal Parental Allowance and Parental Leave Act (BEEG). This requires a legal declaration completed upon receipt aimed at reduction. Sec. 17 (1) BEEG is in line with EU law ...
(FOPH, Ruling of 12.13.2018, 2 AZR 378/18) In a very helpful decision for the practice, the FOPH has commented on the procedure for consulting with the representative body for severely disabled persons before dismissals. It is sufficient for the employer to consult the representative body for severely disabled persons before notice of dismissal in accordance with the basic principles applicable to the participation of the works council pursuant to Sec ...
At European and national level, discussions have been going on for years on how best to protect the so-called whistleblowers from being victims of retaliation measures by those whose actions they have uncovered. Whistleblowers are persons who, as "insiders" (such as employees) disclose dubious practices of the institutions they serve. Here we think first and foremost of persons such as Edward Snowden, whose disclosures were directed against state measures ...
The presence of a small amount of undeclared sesame in a particular product may seem trivial but, for those who are allergic, it can provoke a major reaction. Such was the predicament faced by Pret a Manger in July 2016, following the death of Natasha Ednan-Laperouse that same month due to the undeclared presence of sesame in a Pret baguette ...
