There is less than one month before the deadline imposed by the Act to amend the Supplemental Pension Plans Act, particularly with respect to the funding and administration of pension plans (“Bill 30”) for the adoption of an internal by-law by your pension committee, and it still isn’t too late to meet this requirement ...
The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) requires employers to verify the identity and eligibility for employment of all employees by completing the I-9 form within 3 days of their employment in the United States.After a ten year delay, on November 7, 2007, the USCIS announced that the long awaited revised Form I-9 is now available to the public for use in verifying employment authorization ...
The Department of State recently issued formal guidance instructing consular officers to refer nonimmigrant visa applicants with prior drunk driving arrests or convictions, or any other evidence that suggests an alcohol problem, to panel physicians (physicians appointment by the DOS) for medical examination. A single arrest or conviction within the last 3 calendar years, or two or more incidents at any time would trigger this requirement. The referral is mandatory ...
Civil Dispute Resolution in TaiwanSeptember, 2007ForewordTaiwan is a civil law jurisdiction, and its courts are charged principally with interpreting statutory laws and have limited ability to create new remedies or laws where there is no statutory basis. Civil, criminal, and administrative cases fall under the jurisdiction of separate court systems. In addition to civil litigation, civil disputes can also be handled through arbitration, mediation, or settlement ...
Several court opinions show that employers are to make a careful considerations before deciding not to follow a company doctor's advice to mediate. This particularly applies if that doctor has found that a situation qualifies as a labour conflict rather than as an employee being ill. An offer of mediation by an employee cannot simply be denied either ...
The Employment Ordinance of Hong Kong is the main legislation prescribing the minimum rights, benefits and protection for employers and employees in Hong Kong. Under the ordinance, the employer and the employee cannot contract out of the minimum rights, benefits and protection given to the respective parties by the ordinance ...
The Federal Circuit, in an opinion written by Judge Rader and joined by Judges Lourie and Prost, has determined that a termination of a contract for the government’s convenience does not terminate obligations to perform warranty and software upgrade services under the contract. The Court of Federal Claims, in a well-reasoned opinion by Judge Miller, had determined otherwise ...
The Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce upholds a strong position as one of the most important centres of international arbitration. The steady growth in the number of cases involving foreign parties that are administered by the Arbitration Institute convincingly demonstrates its worldwide popularity and reputation ...
On June 7, 2007, the National Assembly passed Bill 10, which amends the National Holiday Act and the Act Respecting Hours and Days of Admission to Commercial Establishments.Under the amended provisions of the National Holiday Act, June 24, the day of the National Holiday, will henceforth always be a public holiday, even when it falls on a Sunday, as is the case this year ...
The countdown has begun! Have the governance rules for your pension committee been set out in an internal by-law? If not, there’s no time to lose! The deadline is December 13, 2007.SourceIn Quebec, billions of dollars are managed by pension committees ...
It was gazetted on 14 May 2007 that the Employment (Amendment) Ordinance 2007 (the "Amendment Ordinance") will become effective on 13 July 2007 (except section 16 in relation to the requirement to keep wage and employment records, which will become effective on 13 January 2008).For details of the Amendment Ordinance, please see our HR & Pensions Newsletter Issue 2007.1 regarding the Employment (Amendment) Bill 2006 via this link: http://www.deacons.com ...
TABLE OF CONTENTSI. INTRODUCTIONII. WHAT ARE THE FACTORS DRIVING A RISING NUMBER OF CLASS ACTIONS IN THE PENSION CONTEXTIII KEY ELEMENTS OF THE CLASS PROCEEDING AND WHAT MAKES IT A SUITABLE VEHICLE FOR PENSION ACTIONSA. How Class Actions WorkB. Expansion of Class Actions in Canada1. Availability of Class Actions2. Advantage of Class Actions3. Class Proceeding Not the Only Way to Pursue Pension Related ClaimsIV. KEY ELEMENTS OF A CLASS PROCEEDING1. Filing2. Certification3 ...
In Hungary, Act XXXIII of 1995 on the Protection of Inventions by Patents (the “Patent Act”) is the key piece of legislation in respect of inventions created in employment relationships. The Act differentiates between employees’ inventions and service inventions in its provisions applicable to this domain ...
On April 25, 2007 the BC Government introduced Bill 31: the Human Rights Code (Mandatory Retirement Elimination) Amendment Act, 2007. Once the amendments are in force, the changes to the legislation are to be effective January 1, 2008.Currently, the BC Human Rights Code defines “age” as being an age of 19 years or more and less than 65 years. Following the amendment, “age” will be defined as being an age of 19 years or more ...
The Employment (Amendment) Bill 2006 (the "Bill") was gazetted on 8 December 2006 and was read in the Legislation Council for the first time on 20 December 2006. The Bill proposes that commission be expressly included in the calculation of certain statutory payments under the Employment Ordinance (“EO”) ...
The Court of Final Appeal recently made a ruling in Poon Chau Nam v. Yim Siu Cheung t/a Yat Cheung Air-conditioning & Electric Co. casting light on determining whether a worker should be treated as an employee or an independent contractor under the Employees Compensation Ordinance ("ECO").This is an appeal case from the District Court and the Court of Appeal. The appellant worker suffered personal injury in a work-related accident at a building ...
First conviction on offence to make false or misleading statement to claim MPF benefitsAccording to section 43E of the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Ordinance ("MPFSO"), a person who, in any document given to the MPFA, an approved trustee or an auditor of an approved trustee or of a registered scheme in connection with the MPFSO, makes a statement that the person knows to be false or misleading in a material respect, or recklessly makes a statement which is false or mislea
The Labour Law of the People's Republic of China ("PRC") came into effect on 1 January 1995. The PRC Labour Law sets out the basic legal framework for the administration of employment/labour relationships and is applicable to all labour/employment contracts entered into between a PRC entity (including any foreign invested company) as employer and an individual as employee rendering services in the PRC ...
The U.S. Department of Justice’s revised corporate charging policy, which was named after deputy attorney general Paul McNulty, was unveiled in December 2006. In the wake of its predecessor document, the 2003 Thompson Memo, we have seen a steady increase in the resolution of corporate criminal investigations without indictments or trials ...
On January 22, 2007, the Commission des lésions professionnelles (the “Board”) handed down a decision in Harvey et Brasserie Labatt ltée(1) further to a motion for revocation filed by the employer against a decision rendered by a first commissioner ...
According to the Equal Opportunities Commission, 52% of men and 48% of women say they want to work more flexibly and 6.5 million people in the UK could be using their skills more fully if greater flexible working was available. The suggestion is that rigid models of work are driving highly qualified workers into jobs below their skill level in order for them to have a life outside of work ...
The Supreme Court of Canada recently handed down a highly anticipated judgment in McGill University Health Centre (Montreal General Hospital) (the “MUHC”) vs. Syndicat des employés de l’Hôpital Général de Montréal (2007 SCC 4) ...
Advocate General Sharpston has recently expressed her opinion in the Commission v Republic of Finland case that ensuring a sufficient degree of transparency for the award of sub-threshold procurements should be determined by national law, rather than Community law. If these views were to be followed by the ECJ, it would provide renewed impetus to create national rules on low value awards and represent a meaningful evolution of the ECJ's past case law ...
In our July 2006 legal update, we reported on a ground-breaking agreement (Agreement) signed by the Hong Kong and Mainland China Governments, under which they agreed to recognise and enforce judgments made in each others courts. Legislative changes are now underway in Hong Kong in order to implement the Agreement ...
This paper was prepared for the Pacific Business & Law Institute's 12th Annual Conference on The Essential Tasks of Pension and Benefit Plan Trustees, held in Vancouver, British Columbia on February 20, 2007 Most lawyers are familiar with claims for coverage under disability insurance ...
