The right to be accompanied by a colleague or trade union official at disciplinary and grievance hearings is likely to be a familiar concept to employers. Here we discuss the nuances of that right and what could happen if there is a breach. What are the worker’s rights? The statutory right to be accompanied is set out in the Employment Relations Act 1999. The right is not limited to employees and applies irrespective of length of service ...
Last month we saw Endometriosis Awareness Month come and go and with it, the question of whether endometriosis is fully recognised in the workplace yet. Last year, in February 2022, support for individuals who suffer from endometriosis was debated in the House of Commons. The key takeaway was that endometriosis affects so many women, yet is still largely unrecognised within the workplace ...
On April 18, 2023, the Financial Market Commission ("FMC") opened a public consultation process regarding the complementary activities that may be developed by bank or non-bank payment card operators ("Regulatory Proposal"), given the incorporation of new participants into the payments system, as a consequence of the implementation of the four-party model ...
Private companies doing business with the federal government won a major COVID-19-related victory recently when the Sixth Circuit held in Ciraci v. J.M. Smucker’s Co.[1] that government contractors are not subject to constitutional limitations merely because they follow federal requirements for contracting. The Sixth Circuit—covering Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee—rejected a claim by former employees of the J.M ...
On the 30th of March 2023, as part of its efforts to address the gender pay gap phenomenon and promote the equal pay principle, the European Parliament widely approved the EU Pay Transparency Directive. In 2021, the gender pay gap stood at 12.7% in the EU, with no minimal changes in the last ten years ...
Introduction An EU Regulation on the making available on the Union market as well as export from the Union of certain commodities and products associated with deforestation and forest degradation (“Deforestation Regulation”) was agreed upon by the EU legislators in December 2022. The European Parliament has now green-lighted the Provisional Agreement at this month’s plenary session ...
The rules of state aid work for the implementation of public-private partnership projects and require the state, as a partner, to comply with the conditions of the transfer of budgetary resources to private partners, in order to avoid a ban on the conclusion of state contracts due to the incompatibility of state aid with economic competition. The Ministry of Economy proposed a plan to restore Ukraine with a price tag of $750 billion of budget funds ...
Brandon Bundren and over 100 lawyers from around the country who practice extensively in the area of trade secrets and restrictive covenants co-signed a written submission to the Federal Trade Commission regarding its recent noncompete ban ...
The month of March 2023 has brought with it a new legislative Act to amend the Financial Markets Act (Chapter 345 of the Laws of Malta) and to provide for other matters ancillary or consequential thereto in the form of Act No. IX of 2023. This Act was passed by the House of Representatives on the 8th of March and assented to by the President on the 14th of March ...
Our working worlds were rocked by the global pandemic in 2020. Working from home was compulsory for all bar key workers, whilst the country grappled with the pandemic, furlough and trying to make it all work. Many employees now work remotely or on a hybrid basis as employers review their working policies with an increased focus on productivity, as the outlook for the UK economy remains hard to accurately predict ...
Part of the fall-out of the COVID-19 pandemic is the condition labelled ‘long-covid’. This is still a relatively new condition that remains under study, but symptoms include extreme tiredness, shortness of breath, loss of smell and muscle aches. Some people experience further complications and suffer memory problems known as ‘brain fog,’ difficulty sleeping, dizziness, depression and anxiety ...
On April 10th, 2023, the Congress approved a bill that reduces the workday weekly limit from 45 to 40 hours (Bill N°11.179-13). This bill, however, includes multiple and important amendments to the working hour and rest regimes, amongst which we can highlight the following: Reduction of the ordinary working hours limit The duration of the ordinary working hours will be reduced from 45 to 40 hours ...
“I’ve been involved in ESG and sustainability for over 20 years and in the last few years the focus has increased significantly,” says Rich Hall, Head of Sustainability at leading accountancy and professional services firm RSM, on the shift in perception of ESG-related risk within corporate organisations. “Even before the pandemic, we were beginning to see more commentary on ESG issues, mainly centred around the environmental side ...
Shoosmiths has launched ESG 360, a free online compliance audit tool to enable organisations to understand their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) performance. ESG 360 users receive a personalised report providing red, amber or green ratings in relation to various elements of ESG compliance performance, alongside commentary and suggestions for improvement. Built around an online questionnaire, ESG 360 allows users to assess their general ESG performance or focus on specific aspects ...
The Chilean Institute of Industrial Property (INAPI) has recently announced the possibility to apply to a program for fast-tracking patent’s and utility model’s applications, provided that said applications relate to technical solutions capable of impacting the environment positively ...
On the 2nd of February 2023, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (hereinafter referred to as “EIOPA”) published a Supervisory Statement on the use of governance arrangements in third countries to perform functions or activities (hereinafter referred to as the “Statement”) ...
What can employers say in a job advertisement? How to verify the legality of a worker’s stay in Poland? What are the steps for legally hiring Ukrainians in Poland? What formalities are required when amending their terms of employment? How to delegate Ukrainian citizens to work elsewhere in the EU? How to end cooperation with foreign workers? Lawyers from the firm’s Employment & Global Mobility practice write about the rules for employing Ukrainians in Poland ...
The rise of ChatGPT and other large language models has been well-documented, although the technology underpinning it has been developing for several years ...
In the fourth of our HR Improve articles, we consider the importance of effective absence management and what steps employers should take to support employees whilst minimising the impact of sickness absence on the organisation. All organisations will experience employees taking sickness absence at one time or another. The Office for National Statistics found that 149 million days of work were lost in 2021 due to sickness absence ...
Simonsen Vogt Wiig is ranked a top tier firm in the following categories: Dispute resolution EU and competition Fishing and aquaculture Insolvency and corporate recovery Maritime law Offshore construction and shipbuilding Energy: Oil and gas TMT We have more than 50 lawyers acknowledged in this year’s guide, and want to highlight the following new rankings: Espen Tøndel: Hall of Fame – TMT Thomas Talén: Leading Individuals – Employment Espen Ba
Earlier this year, the government announced its support for the passing of the Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Bill. Should it become law, the Bill is set to bring huge change for tens of millions of employees in the UK who do not currently have a statutory right to request a predictable working pattern ...
At a time when some are demanding that artificial intelligence (AI) research and advanced systems development be temporarily suspended and others want to close Pandora?s box, it is appropriate to ask what effect chat technology (ChatGPT, Bard and others) will have on businesses and workplaces. Some companies support its use, others prohibit it, but many have yet to take a stand. We believe that all companies should adopt a clear position and guide their employees in the use of such technology ...
