On Oct. 29, 2021, the Wage and Hour Division of the United States Department of Labor (DOL) released its final rule regarding “dual jobs” for tipped employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The final rule, which becomes effective on Dec. 28, 2021, withdraws a prior final rule from 2020 regarding dual jobs and amends regulations to distinguish between tipped occupations and non-tipped occupations ...
Dear valued clients, colleagues and friends,We are pleased to bring you the latest legal updates for October 2021 ...
On Monday, November 1, 2021, CNBC reported the Office of Management and Budget ("OMB") completed its review of OSHA's Emergency Temporary Standard ("ETS") that will require larger employers to either adopt a policy for mandatory employee vaccinations or an alternative allowing weekly testing and masking for all unvaccinated employees. OMB approval of the ETS is the last step prior to finalizing the rule and its publication in the Federal Register ...
This initiative is a significant departure from the current position where an application for the appointment of a 'light touch' provisional liquidator, for the purpose of restructuring, must be made as part of the winding up process. Under the changes, a restructuring officer can be appointed by a company acting by its directors without a resolution of its members or an express power in its articles of association ...
In her speech to the Principles for Responsible Investment and the London Stock Exchange Group, SEC Commissioner Allison Herren Lee made it clear that a climate change disclosure proposal is no longer a question of if, but when and provided some hints about what the proposal will look like. After remarking that “[c]limate change is . . ...
Last week, in the culmination of a process that began in 2016, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a Final Rule to update the Safeguards Rule promulgated under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act ...
In IT service contracts, it is common to find non-liability clauses protecting companies that provide software and professional IT system implementation or integration services. Issue In Dispute Is such a contractual non-liability clause valid under Quebec civil law where a fundamental obligation is breached? In 6362222 Canada inc. v. Prelco inc ...
Key Points In addition to five key victories for housing advocates discussed in an earlier alert, the California Senate passed many additional housing bills not included in their “Building Opportunities for All” Housing Package. Bills from the Housing Package that would have approved an affordable housing bond (SB 5), residential housing on certain commercial sites (SB 6), and local housing data reporting requirements (SB 477) all failed to win approval ...
About a year ago, on Nov. 20, 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued two final rules implementing sweeping changes to the Physician Self-Referral Law (Stark Law) and the Anti-Kickback Statute regulations. For the most part, those new rules went into effect on Jan. 19, 2021 ...
On 27 August 2021, the Alternative Reference Rates Committee (“ARRC”), a group of private-market participants convened by the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in 2014 to lead the LIBOR transition in the United States, issued FAQs and Best Practice Recommendations on, among other things, the use of the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”) and its term rates (“Term SOFR”), following the ARRC’s formal recommendatio
[!<CDATA[ Moratoriums on foreclosures due to COVID-19 ended this summer, prompting concerns of a shock similar to the 2008 housing crisis. While there are numerous differences between today and the previous recession, financial service providers can stay a step ahead by arming themselves with a few lessons learned ...
[!<CDATA[ Law and Practice The 2020 Chambers US Regional Employment Guide features guidance on employment law across 14 states and includes a unique state comparison tool for readers. The guide provides expert legal commentary on the impact of COVID-19 on the workplace, the "Black Lives Matter" and "Me Too" movements, unions, the National Labor Relations Board, the interviewing process, restrictive covenants, discrimination and harassment, and whistle-blower claims ...
It was uncertain, however, whether this ancient time period extended to third party claims but a recent case before the Master of the Royal Court has now clarified this area of law. Facts The plaintiff brought a claim in tort and contract against three defendant doctors, for their alleged failings in the plaintiff’s care, which resulted in the plaintiff being diagnosed with a stroke in 2016 ...
On October 13, 2021, through the website of the Ministry of Mining, the Government of Chile published the National and International Call for Lithium. National or foreign companies may participate in this process, which will have to acquire the respective public tender conditions, to allow exploration, exploitation, and commercialization of a total of 400,000 tons of marketable metallic lithium, divided into 5 quotas of 80,000 tons each ...
The 1997 Labour Law, previously amended in 2007 and 2018, was amended for the third time on 5 October 2021 with immediate effect (“Amended Labour Law”). The Amended Labour Law introduces several changes to the 1997 Labour Law, particularly provisions relating to employee working schedules, work on paid public holidays, individual disputes and the authority of the Labour Inspector ...
Last week, the Norwegian Data Protection Authority announced that they intend to sanction Østre Toten municipality with a fine of NOK 4,000,000 due to the municipality’s non-compliance with the GDPR requirements. The announced sanction follows in the wake of the Data Protection Authority’s investigation of the municipality’s IT systems after it was exposed to a fatal ransomware virus attack in January this year ...
On Oct. 25, 2021, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2021-02 (the Bulletin). In the bulletin, the DOL revised and extended the temporary enforcement policy related to the DOL’s Fiduciary Rule/Prohibited Transaction Exemption 2020-02 (the DOL Fiduciary Rule) ...
On Oct. 25, 2021, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) updated its technical guidance for employers addressing questions regarding religious objections to employer COVID-19 vaccine requirements and how those requirements interact with federal equal employment opportunity (EEO) laws ...
On 13 October 2021, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) issued an Announcement on the Participation of Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors and RMB Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors in Financial Derivatives Transactions (Announcement, available here in Chinese) ...
On 30 September 2021, the Government passed into law the Securities and Futures (Amendment) Ordinance 2021 and the Limited Partnership Fund and Business Registration Legislation (Amendment) Ordinance 2021 (the Ordinances). These new laws will enable foreign investment funds to be re-domiciled and registered in Hong Kong as open-ended fund companies (OFCs) or limited partnership funds (LPFs). The Ordinances will come into effect on 1 November 2021 ...
Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) held two virtual briefing sessions in October 2021 and provided useful guidance on its newest climate-related risk management requirements for fund managers, as detailed in the Consultation Conclusions on the Management and Disclosure of Climate-related Risks by Fund Managers (with amendments to the Fund Manager Code of Conduct (FMCC)) and the Circular issued on 20 August 2021 ...
The appointment of provisional liquidators by the Cayman Court is a powerful and valuable tool in the right circumstances. However, in a series of recent cases, the Court has underscored the high hurdles that must be met and emphasised that an order to appoint liquidators must always be viewed as a serious step that requires a heavy and onerous evidential burden on those who seek such orders ...
