An employee or witness who is fearful of giving evidence as part of a disciplinary process can cause difficulties for an employer. We look at the issues you should consider when dealing with such an individual. Can anonymity be guaranteed? Where an employee is accused of misconduct, your first step will be to investigate the matter and gather accurate evidence as part of a fair disciplinary process ...
On September 3, 2014, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit entered an opinion vacating various orders of the United States Bankruptcy Court and District Court for the Southern District of Texas (the “Bankruptcy Court” and the “District Court”) in the bankruptcy cases of TMT Procurement Corporation and its affiliated debtors (the “Debtors”), including a final order approving the Debtors’ post-petition debtor in possession financing (the “DI
This morning, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (“DEP”) filed a proposed interpretive rule (the “Interpretive Rule”) with the West Virginia Secretary of State’s office implementing, in part, the recent Aboveground Storage Tank Act (the “AST Act”), which was enacted in response to the January 9, 2014 event that contaminated the water supply of approximately 300,000 West Virginia residents across nine counties ...
Bonnie Mayfield, Bloomfield Hills-based attorney and member in Dykema’s Litigation Practice, co-authored an article—“Tangible Results Speak Louder Than Well-Intentioned Inclusion Words,”—which appears in the August issue of DRI’s monthly publication, For The Defense. Thomas L. Sager, then Senior Vice President and General Counsel for DuPont Legal, was the other co-author ...
Vice Chancellor Laster of the Delaware Court of Chancery recently applied the business judgment standard of review at the pleading stage to dismiss a complaint challenging a cash-out merger involving a controlling stockholder. This is one of the first decisions applying the Delaware Supreme Court’s recent decision in Kahn v. M&F Worldwide Corp ...
The Polish Parliament is working on a bill known as the “Landscape Act,” which is intended to introduce effective mechanisms for protecting the landscape. But an unintended consequence could be to block the construction of aerial masts, power lines and wind turbines, rather than merely regulate their location. The Sejm is currently working on a bill proposed by the President of Poland entitled the Act Amending Certain Acts to Strengthen Tools for Protection of the Landscape ...
The Texas Supreme Court denied a petition for review stemming from the Houston Court of Appeals’Barzoukas v. Found. Design, Ltd. decision.1 The case is significant because of its application of the economic loss rule (under Texas law) in the context of an owner-subcontractor dispute ...
On 5 August 2014, the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia enacted the Law on amendments and additions to the Insolvency Law (“New Law”). The New Law came into force on 13 August 2014. It has been specified that insolvency proceedings that have not been completed on the day the New Law comes into force will be completed in accordance with the previous rules ...
On 5 August 2014, the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia enacted a new Privatisation Law (“New Law”), which came into force on 13 August 2014. The New Law prescribes for the privatisation process to be completed before 31 December 2015. The four models of privatisation that have been prescribed include sale of capital, sale of assets, transfer of capital without compensation and strategic partnership. It also allows for the possibility to combine these models ...
Action: On August 20, 2014, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) on Risk Management, Financial Assurance and Loss Prevention.1 In a news release announcing the ANPR, BOEM described the ANPR as instituting a “dialogue” with industry and others on how to improve its risk management program by “modernizing” its current regulations, which are approximately 20 years old.Comments on the ANPR are due October 20, 2014 ...
Mexico’s package of energy reform laws (“Energy Law” – nine new laws and amendments to twelve existing laws) became a reality with its promulgation on Monday, August 11, 2014. With the enactment of the Energy Law, Mexico finally joins the international mainstream of energy resource development and management. This alert addresses only the oil and gas aspects of the reform ...
During the month of July of the current year, three relevant labor laws have been published in the Official Gazette: 1) Law No. 20,761 that extends the right of feeding children to working fathers and establishes new regulations regarding maternity.On July 22nd, 2014 the Law No. 20,761 was published in the Official Gazette ...
A recent report in Fin24 entitled ‘MTN named SA and Africa’s strongest brand’ listed South Africa’s top 50 brands in terms of brand value. It was based on research done by the brand valuation company, BrandFinance. As the title suggests, MTN came out on top, followed by Sasol, Vodacom, Standard Bank, Absa, Nedbank, FNB, Mediclinic, Investec and Woolworths. Of the top 50 brands, 16 are in the food and beverages sector, 13 in financial services, and five in telecoms ...
International Oil Companies (IOCs) that have been eyeing East Africa may want to look beyond established jurisdictions like Kenya and Mozambique. Across the water that is, to the Indian Ocean islands of Seychelles, Mauritius and Comoros. All three islands offer interesting opportunities, but in this short article I’ll be concentrating on just one of them – Seychelles ...
Five years after the enactment of Decree 330/2009 that regulated Law No 18.360 referred to the obligation of providing, on both public spaces and private spaces with influx of people, with Automatic External Defibrillators (AED), we remind you that the general obligation of instructing personnel about Basic Cardiac Resuscitation (BCR) technics is now effective ...
On December 12, 2013, A second act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on March 21, 2013 and other measures1 (“Bill C-4”) received royal assent. Bill C-4, which consists of more than 300 pages, proposes a significant number of legal amendments, some of which relate to the Canada Labour Code2 (“CLC ”). On June 18, 2014, the amendments were set to take effect on October 31, 2014 ...
The standards for Section 11 liability for statements of opinion in registration statements is the subject of a split between the federal circuit courts. The Tenth Circuit joined the split in the recently issued opinion, MHC Mutual Conversion Fund v. Sandler O’Neill & Partners, et al. The Supreme Court is scheduled to resolve this split next term in the Omnicare1 case, which is currently being briefed before the high court ...
On June 10, 2014, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (the “PCAOB”) adopted Auditing Standard No. 18 (“Standard No. 18”), which amends and supplements existing auditing standards regarding related party transactions, significant unusual transactions and financial relationships and transactions with executive officers. Standard No. 18 also expands the required communications that an auditor must make to the audit committee related to these areas ...
This decision of the Superior Court of Québec addresses a pregnant worker’s right to preventive withdrawal where said worker is employed by a business under federal jurisdiction.1 In this case, questions of constitutional jurisdiction were raised and the Superior Court confirmed that article 36 of the Québec Act Respecting Occupational Health and Safety2 (the “Act”) is not applicable to businesses under federal jurisdiction ...
The National Labor Relations Board’s (“NLRB” or the “Board”) general counsel Richard Griffin announced July 29, 2014 that he had authorized complaints in 43 unfair labor practice cases alleging that franchisor McDonald’s, USA, LLC is a joint employer with its franchisees ...
On July 25, 2014, the Supreme Court of Canada rendered its decision in Québec (Commission des normes du travail) v. Asphalte Desjardins inc.1 In this ruling, which overturned a judgment by the Québec Court of Appeal,2 the Supreme Court concluded that an employer who receives notice of termination within a reasonable time period, as stipulated under article 2091 of the Civil Code of Québec3 (“C.C.Q ...
In Québec, the objective of the Act Respecting Occupational Health and Safety1 (the “Act”) is the elimination, at the source, of dangers to the health, safety and physical well-being of workers. Recently, the Supreme Court of Canada rendered a decision in the Dionne v ...
