Earlier this year, the European Court of Justice ("CJEU") has thrown out an appeal by Nestlé, which argued that it owns the shape of its famous treat KitKat. Nestlé, the world's largest food and beverage company, has spent more than a decade fighting to trademark the four-fingered wafer shape. However, EJC's most recent ruling could bring an end to the snack's protected European status ...
Section 23(1)(d) of the Labour Relations Act, 1995 (“LRA”) enables an employer and a trade union (or trade unions acting jointly), that enjoy majority support in the employer’s workplace, to conclude a collective agreement and to extend the collective agreement to employees who are not members of the trade union that concluded the collective agreement ...
The beginning of the summer brought amendments to several employment-related laws. The most notable changes are presented below: The Law on the Employment of Foreigners The duration of the labour market test– The labour market test within the work-permit acquisition process (through which the National Employment Service examines whether there are any Serbian citizens suitable for the vacant position), is shortened to 10 days, having previously lasted one month ...
The California Fair Employment and Housing Council (FEHC) issued new regulations under California's Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) addressing national origin discrimination. Effective July 1, 2018, the regulations provide a broad definition of "national origin" and apply to applicants and employees, regardless of documentation status. The regulations impact employment practices such as English-only policies, English proficiency requirements, and height and weight requirements ...
Regional Legal Update on Labor and Employment Law Issues DFDL’s Employment Practice Group is dedicated to advising clients on employment and labor issues and preparing human resources documentation that is compliant with local laws. Our employment team’s in-depth knowledge of the law and practices in the countries where we operate allows us to provide specialized, tailored, and practical advice on issues that arise in employment relationships ...
Recently, there have been a number of interesting judgments of the South African Labour Court regarding cost orders and new approaches have been adopted which signal a change as to how cost orders are approached in the Labour Court. Section 162 of the Labour Relations Act, 1995 (“LRA”) states that the Labour Court has discretion regarding the granting of cost orders, which is not dependent of the nature of the claim brought before the court ...
Recent case law has shown that the South African courts are prepared to hold employers liable for conduct amounting to sexual harassment perpetrated by their employees. The basis for such liability arises from two sources. The first is the common law duty imposed on employers to create and maintain a safe working environment free from the danger of being sexually harassed ...
In the latest ruling from the contentious Gloria’s Ranch case (Gloria's Ranch, L.L.C. v. Tauren Exploration, Inc., 2018 La. LEXIS 1694), the Supreme Court of Louisiana reversed the lower courts’ decisions that held Wells Fargo Energy Capital, Inc ...
The Affordable Care Act ("ACA") is alive and well, despite renewed legal challenges and the elimination of the “individual mandate” beginning next year. While the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act reduced the tax penalty for individuals who don’t have health coverage to $0, effective for 2019, employers continue to be subject to penalties for failing to comply with certain ACA rules ...
The English High Court issued its judgment in the case ofSeadrill Ghana Operations Limited v Tullow Ghana Limited1on 3 July 2018 in respect of a dispute under a long-term drilling contract between Seadrill and Tullow regarding the use of the semi-submersible drilling rig “WEST LEO” for operations offshore Ghana. The contract was signed in 2012 and its term was due to continue through to June 2018 ...
The question of 'employment status', continues to concern many employers working within today's 'gig economy'. The UK Supreme Court recently provided guidance on the correct "label" to be bestowed on 'gig economy' workers. Pimlico Plumbers recently lost an appeal in the UK Courts against a finding that one of its plumbers was a "worker" for the purposes of relevant UK employment legislation – not a self-employed independent contractor ...
The South African Minister of Mineral Resources, Gwede Mantashe, published a notice in the government gazette on 28 June 2018 stating that there will be a restriction, in terms of section 49(1) of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, 2002 (“MPRDA”), on the granting of applications for technical co-operation permits, exploration rights and production rights in terms of section 76, 79, and 83 of the MPRDA, from the date of publication of the notice (28 June 2018
Last year, California employers faced a swell of new city and county labor laws that increased employers’ local minimum wage obligations. Several of these local ordinances included incremental increases that went into effect over time, including many increases that are effective as of July 1, 2018. In addition to meeting the state’s minimum wage requirements ($10.50/hour for employers with 25 or fewer employees, and $11 ...
Earlier this year, in an effort to clarify what types of employee handbook rules are lawful under the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”), the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) issued new 1Guidance on the topic. Determining which rules are permissible and which may violate the NLRA has troubled both union and non-union employers in recent years due to the Obama-era NLRB’s tendency to find that standard handbook rules (e.g ...
Walking the tight rope between making strides for women’s rights and being too strident So, the Trump-Kim Summit has successfully concluded in Singapore, with the Leader of the Free World shaking hands with the Supreme Leader of one of its most coldblooded dictatorships. Looking at these two scions of privilege, it is hard not to be struck by how much they have in common, united not just by their comically bad hair, but also by their low regard for women ...
Download the June 2018 edition of the Haynes and Boone OSHA Newsletter PDF. No Time Limit on Look Back Period for Repeat Citations InTriumph Constr. Corp. v. Sec’y of Labor, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a look back period for a repeat violation beyond the Commission’s “general” policy of three years to determine a repeat violation. InTriumph, an employee was injured in a cave-in at an excavation site ...
In a significant decision for all public agencies, yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that the First Amendment prohibits public employees from being compelled to pay what are known as “agency fees” when they choose not to join their union. Janus v. AFSCME, No. 16-1466 (June 27, 2018). In so holding, the Court overruled its 1977 decision in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, 431 U.S. 209 (1977) ...
Employers may continue to rely on rounding systems that are neutral in policy and in practice. On June 25, 2018, the California Court of Appeal issued its decision in AHMC Healthcare, Inc. v. Superior Court of Los Angeles County (Letona), finding legal an employer's use of a payroll system that automatically rounds employee time up or down to the nearest quarter hour ...
2018 Summer Associate Molly Barham contributed to this alert. Two years ago, right after crude oil prices hit rock bottom in the middle of the worst downturn for U.S. producers since the 1980s, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”) revised its Handbook for Examination of Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Lending (“E&P Handbook”) ...
Ferdose al-Taie, Dallas-based senior counsel in Dykema’s Commercial Litigation group, authored the article “Anonymous Whistleblowers Make Millions for Reporting Their Own Companies to Federal Regulators,” forFOCUS, the quarterly newsletter of the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) South Central Texas Chapter. In the article, al-Taie shines a light on the ins and outs of Dodd-Frank Whistleblower awards and who is eligible for consideration ...
This week, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued final rules to expand access to “Association Health Plans” for small businesses that are unaffiliated, but are in the same line of business or geographic area. An “Association Health Plan” or “AHP” is a group health plan adopted by members of an employer group or association to provide health coverage for their employees ...
The rule in the case of Royal British Bank v Turquand 1 is commonly known as Turquand’s Rule or the indoor management rule. It stipulates that an “outsider” dealing with a company in good faith is entitled to assume that there has been compliance with the Articles of Association. You can also assume compliance with the by laws of the company and that the “outsider” need not question the formalities of the internal proceedings of a company ...
