Wednesday’s ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in Viking River is expected to chill California’s cottage industry of representative wage-and-hour cases, which have long driven huge damages against employers. The decision offers California employers a significant opportunity to require employees to pursue these types of claims individually ...
The Second Circuit recently broadened the circumstances for when a public company should disclose government investigations. Bradley partner Elisha Kobre explains that companies will need to consider when reasonable investors would “want to know” about a probe, which is a higher standard than in earlier cases ...
A summary of the key takeaways from a recent webinar on reducing scope 3 leased assets emissions. Shoosmiths is delighted to be sponsoring United Nation Global Compact Network (UNGC) UK’s series of webinars on ‘Reducing Scope 3 Emissions’ ...
Despite the menopause affecting around 13 million women a year in the United Kingdom, until recently it was very much a taboo subject, both within and outside the workplace. Whilst progress has been made, it is critical that the conversation keeps going ...
The UK is facing a series of economic shocks, fuelled by the increased cost-of-living, the Ukraine war hitting the global supply chain, and lasting disruption of the Covid-19 pandemic. The combination of issues has led to shifts in shopping behaviours, working patterns and residential needs, while also impacting demand for space in traditional retail and leisure districts. Remedial action is needed to deal with these pressures and the resultant damage to UK high streets ...
Background On 23 May 2022, the latest amendment to the Public Limited Companies Act (No. 4), B.E. 2565 (2022) (the “PLC Amendment”) was published in the Government Gazette and it became effective on May 24, 2022. The PLC Amendment aims to facilitate public limited companies by allowing greater use of electronic communications in their business operations ...
June 15, 2022 By: Tracy Warren and Yvonne Ricardo Finally, some good news for California employers involving California’s Private Attorney General Act of 2004 (“PAGA”). The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Angie Moriana is a huge victory for employers with valid arbitration programs or who wish to implement valid arbitration programs to substantially limit exposure to statutory and civil penalties under PAGA. On June 15, 2022, the U.S ...
The COVID-19 pandemic and post-pandemic era saw an increase in the number of employees working from home. For employers, this raises questions of liability for injuries that occur while employees are working from home. Specifically, when does workers’ compensation coverage or deliberate intent coverage apply? A New York appellate court recently discussed the applicability of workers’ compensation coverage in a work-from-home scenario. Matter of Capraro v. Matrix Absence Mgt ...
Recently, leading officials in the Biden administration have taken steps to prevent employers from sharing their lawful views on collective bargaining in order to aid union efforts to organize more employees. These actions range from encouraging employers to refrain from discussing unions with employees, to seeking to prohibit any discussion about unions with employees while they are working ...
On March 18, 2022, the House of Representatives passed the Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair Act ("CROWN Act") of 2022. The purpose of this bill is to address the routine deprivation of educational and employment opportunities that people of color face for wearing their natural hair ...
Shortly after his administration began, President Biden signed Executive Order 13985, "Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through The Federal Government." In April 2022, in accordance with this Executive Order, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") released its "Equity Action Plan," which contains several items that may impact employers ...
The pandemic generated a migration of employees from metro-based offices to smaller, more affordable communities where they could work from home. New complexities – mostly centered around pay scale – have arisen with this shift to remote work. Many companies have struggled to find equitable ways to compensate employees, and some employers have decided to pay them less ...
How should an employer respond if an employee is experiencing relationship violence? What if the partner has threatened the employee at work? Employers must consider these situations because relationship violence in the workplace is more prevalent than it may seem ...
In a judgement rendered on June 3, 2022,1 the Court of Appeal of Quebec reiterated that a judge who has an application for confinement in an institution before them must inform the parties when they consider that the psychiatric reports filed are insufficiently detailed. In these circumstances, the Court must allow the parties to remedy deficiencies in the evidence rather than dismissing the application. The Court of Appeal based its reasoning on the following articles: Article 268 of the C ...
Kudun and Partners represented Quantifi Photonics Limited, a company headquartered in New Zealand and an expert in harnessing, manipulating, and measuring the physical properties of light, with respect to the indirect share acquisition of SmarTest Thailand Ltd., a designer and manufacturer of high-speed test and measurement equipment used in optical communication, semiconductor manufacturing, and defense and aerospace industries ...
The section 238 appraisal process under the Companies Act [1] in the Cayman Islands is a vital safeguard designed to protect minority shareholders' economic interests. When there is a merger or consolidation involving at least one Cayman company under Part XVI of the Companies Act, a dissenting shareholder may demand payment of the “fair value” in respect of all his shares ...
In the recent case ofAslan v Stepanoski[1](the Aslan case), the Court of Appeal of New South Wales, Australia upheld a builder’s action suspending the performance of works over non-payment and denial of access to the site by the employer. The Court held that the contractor’s decision to suspend works was not a repudiatory conduct as he was entitled to do so under the contract ...
The United Kingdom (UK) Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act (the Act”) came into force on 15th March, 2022. A new Register of Overseas Entities will be created and held by Companies House. This new Act forms part of the UK government’s strategy to combat economic crime, while making sure that legitimate businesses continue to see the UK as a great place to invest ...
Kudun and Partners recently contributed to the Thailand Chapter of the Digital Business 2022 guide by the International Comparative Legal Guide (ICLG), a leading global platform for legal reference and comprehensive comparative legal guides that cover law in more than 192 jurisdictions across 58 practice areas ...
Troy Schooneman, partner and head of Kudun and Partners’ International Practice was invited to be a panelist at the World Services Group(WSG)’s Asia Pacific Region Discussion on Offshore Law Regime, a collaborative online seminar organized by the World Services Group (WSG) together with Kudun and Partners, an award-winning independent law firm in Thailand; Carey Olsen, a leading offshore law firm advising on Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Guernsey and Jersey law, an
On 25 May 2022, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) published its new 10-year strategy (“the Strategy”) which will inform its activities until 2032. As recognised in the Foreword, “the organisation’s role and responsibilities are growing, particularly in the areas of building safety, chemicals regulation and supporting sustainable, healthy, workplace practices ...
The Government of Vietnam recently released a draft decree (“Draft Decree”) amending Decree 153/2020/ND-CP that was issued on 31 December 2020 on the trading of privately placed corporate bonds on the domestic market and selling corporate bonds on the international market (“Current Decree”). The Draft Decree was designed to facilitate a more transparent and effective corporate bond market ...
INTRODUCTION In a previous issue of Decoded, we discussed the alarming fact that many medical devices, including those implanted in patients' bodies, are leaving the manufacturers with known cybersecurity flaws. Due to these known flaws, these devices are vulnerable to being hacked, and patients’ personal/protected health information ("PHI") stolen; or worse, the device being held hostage in a ransomware attack ...
Successfully navigating the Florida state court litigation system has become easier and less costly based on recent procedural and logistical developments. With more changes on the horizon, staying current on these developments is vital for anyone with a presence in the state court system. The COVID-19 pandemic brought extensive logistical changes to Florida courthouses ...
