Imagine you instruct an employee to get tested for the Covid-19 virus infection. The employee refuses the test, claiming that the employer is not authorized to instruct him to take such a test. Moreover, the employee claims he had been vaccinated against Covid-19. What is the legal situation? 1 ...
Labor Court Siegburg 11/11/2020 - 4 Ca 1240/20 Short-time work continues to be omnipresent in many sectors of the economy due to the Covid 19 pandemic. A recent decision by the Labor Court Siegburg once again emphasizes that the ordering and implementation of short-time work requires careful preparation on the part of the company in terms of labor law in order to avoid unpleasant surprises ...
The government’s recent announcement of its plan to roll-out the Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine nationwide has triggered many questions and concerns, highlighting a collision of seemingly conflicting rights and obligations in various spheres of life. With the first vaccines arriving on our shores on 1 February 2021, there are likely some employees out there who are not as excited about the arrival of the vaccine as their employers are ...
A new Royal Decree published on 21 January 2021 in the Belgian Official Gazette has temporarily extended the occupational doctor's role in combatting the Covid-19 virus ...
It is common knowledge among many human resources professionals that religious organizations generally are protected from religious discrimination lawsuits under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and most state anti-discrimination laws. For example, a Baptist organization may apply a preference for members of the Baptist Church in its hiring decisions ...
i. To extend until December 31st, 2021, the occupational emergency declared by the Necessity and Urgency Decree No. 34/2019. ii. To extend the prohibition of dismissals without just cause and for the causes of lack or reduction of work and force majeure for a period of 90 days as of the expiration of the term established by Decree No ...
When Alabama’s Legislature convenes for its annual session on February 2, lawmakers will once again be asked to consider a bill that would provide certain Alabamians with access to medical cannabis ...
Under the Trade Deal, the UK has agreed and committed that it will not reduce the level of protection for workers and that it will not reduce employment law rights below the standards that exist as at 31 December 2020 in a manner that affects trade or investment ...
With certain protections now being likely to protect pregnant employees, those on maternity leave and those returning from leave for longer in certain redundancy situations, how can employers mitigate their risks? Employees who are pregnant, who are on (and who are returning from) maternity leave have the legal right not to be treated less favourably or discriminated against by their employer under both the Maternity and Parental Leave etc. Regulations 1999 and the Equality Act 2010 ...
Following the Christmas Eve agreement between the UK and EU signing the Trade and Co-Operation Agreement (“Trade Deal”), we consider what impact the Trade Deal may have on employment law. The UK is free to modify or diverge from any future EU employment laws, however, if such changes have a material impact on trade or investment, the EU (subject to certain constraints and an arbitration process) may apply “rebalancing measures ...
A new Angolan Public Procurement Law (“PPL”) has been approved recently. Law 41/20 of 23 December revokes Law 9/16 of 16 June and will enter into force on 22 January 2021. The new law will apply to all public procurement procedures beginning after that date and to the performance of subsequent contracts ...
This article forms part of our ‘New How: Perspectives’ report: ‘Can real estate help solve the productivity puzzle?. To access this free report, please click on the download link to the right of this page. You’d think we had it all: beautiful open plan office spaces, meeting rooms with floor to ceiling glass walls, digital collaboration platforms, virtual meetings… ...
On 18 December 2020, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) issued a public consultation paper (Consultation) on proposed amendments to the Code on Pooled Retirement Funds (PRF Code). The proposals are part of the SFC’s holistic review of the PRF Code following the revision of the Code on Unit Trusts and Mutual Funds (UT Code) which was implemented in 2019 ...
In response to ongoing pleas for guidance, the Department of Labor (DOL) has published an informal outline expressing its views on how retirement plan administrators should be addressing missing or unresponsive participants. Through contrasting lists of "red flags" and "best practices," the publication reveals the DOL's expectations of plan administrators and provides helpful guideposts for them to follow ...
On December 27, 2020, the Economic Aid to Hard-Hit Small Businesses, Nonprofits and Venues Act (the “Economic Aid Act”) was enacted which, among other things, reauthorized lending under the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) to first-time borrowers (“First Draw PPP Loans”) and for second draws by certain borrowers who have previously received PPP loans (“Second Draw PPP Loans”) ...
On January 7th 2021, the bankruptcy moratorium, which had been in effect since April last year, expired. The main conditions of the bankruptcy moratorium were described earlier in details: in newsletters “Moratorium on bankruptcy proceedings”and 'Russian bankruptcy moratorium extended until January, 2021” ...
The requirement for businesses to publish gender pay gap reports was cancelled in 2020 as a result of COVID-19. Gender pay reporting is, however, back on the agenda for 2021 so is there anything new that you need to know? In short, yes. There has been a lot of commentary over the last nine months about the impact of Covid-19, and particularly furlough, on gender pay statistics (see our previous article here https://www.shoosmiths.co ...
David Hume, the 18th century Scottish philosopher, argued that we cannot be certain the sun will rise tomorrow. Over the past nine-months David Hume has never seemed more right. It has been a tough period, professionally and personally for people from all walks of life, and for businesses from nearly every sector. But, while there has been adversity, there have been many rays of sunlight and causes for optimism ...
This article looks at trends, including the response to COVID-19, which we expect to impact the mid-market in 2021. Last year we gave COVID-19 a quick mention in our ‘look at the year ahead’. Nobody foresaw the impact it would have. As the market enters a new year, there remains the uncertainty that we’ve grown familiar with ...
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) recently published a consultation on implementing a ban on the appointment of corporate directors. The proposed ban on appointing corporate directors to the board of UK companies is not new – the statutory provision for this is contained in the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 (SBEEA) – but this particular provision has not yet been brought into force ...
The majority of people with a mobile phone or access to the internet have received unsolicited emails or calls from telemarketers (cold marketing). While the practice of cold marketing is decades-old, the recent awareness in data protection and privacy has affected this concept in recent times, particularly in relation to access to the data of consumers ...
This is the first in our series of articles in which we will look at how Brexit and the EU-UK trade deal impacts research and development. In July 2020, the Government published its Research and Development Roadmap, which sets out the UK’s ambitious long-term objectives for investment in science and research to deliver economic growth and societal benefits across the UK ...
