On December 22, 2016, in Augustus v. ABM Security Services, Inc., Case No. S224853, the California Supreme Court issued a split decision on rest periods. In a decision in which four justices concurred, and two concurred and dissented, in part, the Court held that employers “must relieve their employees of all duties and relinquish any control over how employees spend their break time ...
Dear colleagues, We would like to inform you that this January 1, 2017 changes in the civil legislation with regard to rules for revocation of a power of attorney will come into force. The changes provide that a power of attorney shall be revoked either in the form it was executed or in the notarized form ...
The Competition Commission found that the company EPS Distribucija, the only operator of the electricity distribution network in Serbia, abused its dominant position in the market of electricity distribution in Serbia. The abuse consists of applying dissimilar conditions to equivalent transactions with trading parties, whereby some of those trading parties have been placed at a competitive disadvantage in comparison to their competitors ...
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A federal appeals court has rejected two challenges to the environmental review of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority's (Metro's) planned subway expansion in Downtown Los Angeles. The "Regional Connector" project, approved in 2012, will create a three-station, underground link through Downtown that will allow passengers to travel from points on the Metro Gold Line to the Blue and Expo lines without having to transfer trains ...
Witnesses giving evidence before the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (“CCMA”) should take care when making statements that may expose them to defamation claims. This issue arose in the recent case of Clover SA (Pty) Ltd and Another v Sintwa, in which the High Court heard a damages claim arising from defamatory statements made by a witness while giving evidence before the CCMA ...
Can a construction contractor automatically terminate its employees’ contracts when skills are no longer required for a construction project? This question was at the centre of the Labour Court case of National Union of Mineworkers obo Milisa and Others v WBHO Construction (Pty) Ltd ...
The November 2016 issue of the Asian Legal Business (ALB) includes a regional update article entitled “Evidentiary Issues in Arbitration”, contributed by SyCipLaw Partner Ramon G. Songco and Associate Arvin Kristopher A. Razon. The article enumerated and discussed the laws that aimed to address concerns in resolving disputes in arbitration, such as how evidence is presented, assessed for relevance and competence, and protected during arbitration proceedings ...
Although neither of the parties objects to solving the dispute in the state court, the Supreme Court of Lithuania sends the parties to arbitration after it discovers a prior written agreement to arbitrate. The issuer of a promissory note (Claimant) requested the state court to declare the promissory note null and void ...
The Danish government has presented its legislative programme for the parliamentary year 2016/2017. The programme contains a number of upcoming proposals for amendments within the area of employment and labour law, including e.g. proposals for amendments of the Danish Holiday Act, the Danish Childbirth Act and the Danish Public Servants Act ...
Article 257 of the UAE Penal Code (Federal Law No. 3 of 1987) was recently amended by Federal Law No. 7 of 2016 to introduce the concept of criminal liability for arbitrators, experts, and translators who issue decisions and opinions ‘contrary to the duties of impartiality and honesty’ ...
ENSafrica’s MOHS department recently represented AngloGold Ashanti Limited in a South African Labour Court case, which has culminated in a judgment that sets out important legal principles and requirements. These relate to the instructions issued by Inspectors of Mines in terms of section 54 of the Mine Health and Safety Act, 1996 (the “Act”) ...
SyCipLaw partner Russel L. Rodriguez contributed to the first Global Migration Section (GMS) Digest of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) year. The interview discussed the practice of immigration in the Philippines, the process of sending employees to the country, qualification of same sex spouses for dependent status, and a hot topic in Philippine immigration. Download a PDF copy of the digest. Mr. Rodriguez specializes in civil and commercial litigation ...
Much has been written regarding the enforcement of foreign arbitral awards in China, but relatively little consideration is given to the treatment in U.S. courts of awards entered by the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC), or to the enforcement of CIETAC arbitration agreements. In fact, CIETAC arbitral awards are rejected by U.S ...
On July 28, 2016, the Department of Labor and Employment (“DOLE”) issued Labor Advisory No 10-2016 (“Advisory”) reiterating the prohibition against labor-only contracting and Department Order No. 162-2016 (“Department Order”) suspending the registration of new applicants as contractors or subcontractors under Department Order No. 18-A (“DO 18-A”) ...
Latest news reports are informing us that the European Energy Community (EC) went back on their threats of suspending Serbia's membership, after a series of fruitful negotiations between EC's representatives and the Serbian Ministry of Energy. The agreement which allowed for this development stipulates that Serbia has accepted the plan of action regarding the restructuring of Srbijagas, at the same time complying with the requirements of the Third Energy Package ...
Recent news bring us an update from the Energy Community (EC), whose latest report has outlined that Serbia has not resolved the key issue of non-compliance with the aquis – something that presents a continuous violation of obligations under the EC Treaty – by not completing the separation of Srbijagas and Yugorosgaz activities in accordance with the "Second Energy Package" ...
*Information provided in this article does not represent any legal or whatsoever advice with respect to certain matter, but is intended for general informative purpose only ...
Arbitral institutions strive to provide the parties they serve with a fair and impartial dispute resolution process that results in an unassailable final award. Since “evident partiality” in the arbitrators is one of the limited means to attack an award, the selection of unbiased arbitrators is fundamental to that goal, and most arbitral institutions have some requirement or guidance on arbitrator disclosures ...
In the past several years, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration, and other government bodies have mandated recall of hundreds of products from the market.In some cases, companies have voluntarily recalled products due to their potential for risk of injury ...
On September 8th, 2016, Law No. 20,940 was published. The law is aimed at the “Modernization of Labor Relations” (hereinafter the “Labor Reform” or the “Law”). The aim of the Labor Reform is to develop labor relations that are more modern, fair and balanced between the parties, and promote dialogue and agreement ...
On August 28, 2016, the Israeli District Court of the Central District issued a decision regarding the right of publicity under Israeli Law (In re Fundacio Gala Salvador Dali v. V.S Marketing (Israel 2005) Ltd.). The right of publicity is the right of a person to financially exploit his name, picture or voice ...
According to latest media reports, the governments of Serbia and Bulgaria have agreed on the formulation of a new memorandum for the task of building a gas pipeline between the two countries, during a recent meeting of the group for gas connections in Central and South East Europe that was held in Budapest ...
The U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) has issued a final rule, effective December 1, 2016, changing aspects of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) regarding overtime exemptions. The FLSA dictates how employees must be paid overtime for working a certain number of hours; however, “exempt” employees who are salaried and who have administrative, executive, or professional job duties do not have to be paid overtime ...
