Employers in Kentucky are now expressly permitted to require an employee or prospective employee to agree to arbitrate or engage in some form of alternative dispute resolution as a condition of employment. On March 25, 2019, Gov. Matt Bevin signed a statutory amendment authorizing this change to KRS § 336.700. This law applies retroactively to agreements that have already been executed by employees before March 25, 2019. This amended statute does a number of things ...
On March 13, the Ninth Circuit issued its highly anticipated opinion in HomeAway.com v. City of Santa Monica, upholding the City's ordinance restricting short-term home rentals on popular websites like Airbnb.com. Background In light of the severe housing crisis currently afflicting California, concerns have arisen over the impact of short-term home rentals on the supply of long-term housing ...
A number of cases have looked at worker status in recent years, focused mostly around the ‘gig economy’ with claims against companies including Uber and Deliveroo. The gig economy typically involves individuals working in temporary positions in the service industry, such as food delivery or private couriering. The sharp increase in the number of people working in this sector has led to a huge shift in the cultural and business environment ...
Special allowances under the EPF Act need to be special On February 28, 2019, the Supreme Court of India passed a landmark order on whether special allowances fall within the scope and meaning of “basic wages” under the Employees Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 (the “EPF Act”) ...
The West Virginia Ethics Commission issued a new Advisory Opinion on March 7, 2019, which is going to impact the way some teachers arrange for substitutes. The opinion sought was whether it is a violation of the Ethics Act for teachers to prearrange a relative to substitute teach in their absence or place relatives on a preferred list of substitutes for their classrooms ...
Sponsored wellness plans that include incentives to employees who voluntarily disclose personal health information as part of disability-related inquiries or medical examinations are in legal limbo after the EEOC removed the underlying rules from the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) and Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (“GINA”) ...
On March 4, 2019, the California Supreme Court ruled in Cal Fire Local 2881 et. al. v. California Public Employees' Retirement System that public retirement system members do not have a vested right to purchase "airtime" – nonqualified service credit unrelated to public service ...
Are the two trade marks confusingly similar? It’s the question that’s most commonly asked in trade mark law. The issue of confusion can arise in the context of registration: should the trade mark be registered in the face of the earlier trade mark? It can also arise in the context of use: does the trade mark that’s being used infringe the registered trade mark? The two cases that we will consider here both involve registration ...
Every so often, a judgment is passed that upsets settled ways of doing business. When the hue and cry has hushed, upon closer and sober examination, it is often discovered that the old way of doing business was indeed wrong thus a new era is born.International Development Consultants Ltd -V- Jimmy Muyanja and others Misc. 133 of 2018is one such decision ...
In the recent matter ofVodacom & others v the National Association of South African Workers and 1 other, which was handed down on 4 March 2019, the South African Labour Court grappled with the issue of its jurisdiction to grant interdictory relief against a trade union where the entity seeking the relief is not the employer of the trade union’s members. The Labour Court also dealt with the rights of unregistered trade unions ...
If an employer suspects an employee of committing an act of misconduct, it is possible that the employer will want to place that employee on what is usually referred to as a “precautionary suspension”. The question that arises is whether the employer must give the employee a chance to make representations on why he or she should not to be suspended, prior to a decision being taken in this regard ...
TheBig Maccase has enjoyed considerable publicity – many publications have reported on it, includingWorld IP Review. The decision shines a spotlight on some important aspects of trade mark law. In this case, an Irish company called Supermac’s applied for the cancellation of the EU trade mark registration for Big Mac (belonging to McDonald’s) on the basis of non-use ...
On March 7, 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) proposed a rule that would significantly change the pay standards for overtime exemptions under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Since 2004, the minimum salary necessary to qualify for an administrative, executive, or professional exemption under the FLSA has been $455 per week ($23,660 per year). Under the proposed rule, this minimum would increase to $679 per week ($35,308 per year) ...
The much awaited revised new regulations governing who qualifies for the FLSA white collar exemption has finally been revealed by the Department of Labor. It did so on March 8 by publishing anNPRM(“Notice of Proposed Rule Making”). In December of 2016, a Texas federal court entered a nationwide injunction halting the implementation of new regulations which would have dramatically increased the salary threshold for exempting most white collar employees from overtime ...
The most important corporate tax measures concern the reduction of the maximum corporate income tax (“CIT”) rate and the introduction of the option provided by the anti-tax avoidance directive (“ATAD”)[1]. This allows for the application of the interest limitation rules at the level of a fiscal unity: For the time being CIT is levied at a rate of (i) 15% in case the net profits do notexceed EUR 25,000 and (ii) 18% in case the net profits exceed EUR 30,000 ...
In this context, the judgements provide useful guidance on the concepts of abuse and beneficial ownership. Abuse concept According to the CJEU, it is settled case-law that there is, in EU law, a general legal principle that EU law cannot be relied on for abusive or fraudulent ends ...
Public bodies in the UK (government departments, regulators, local authorities etc.) are legally accountable for the decisions that they make. But what does that mean in practical terms to someone looking to raise a legal challenge to a particular decision? This short blog post provides some very high level guidance in FAQ form. Q. If I think a decision is wrong, am I able to raise a legal challenge against it? A. Maybe ...
One of the few things that is becoming clearer amidst the Brexit fog is that a ‘no-deal’ is no longer a fanciful possibility. The UK Government, in itsWhite Paper on Immigration Reformpublished at the end of last year, claimed the changes it proposed would lead to the most significant changes to immigration control in 45 years. However, that historic change, scheduled for December 2021, may come sooner than anticipated ...
Since the EU referendum, ourImmigration Team has been advisingEU nationals and their familiesimpacted by the UK’s decision to leave the EU. The result has thrown up a whole host of issues for EU nationals in the UK, not least how it affects their rights as a family unit. Our earlier post,British passports for EU children, looked at the position for EU children in the UK and how their parents can obtain a British passport on their behalf ...
USCIS recently announced that beginning March 11, 2019 it will require use of a new version of Form I-539 Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status, a form commonly used to extend or change the status of H-4 and L-2 dependents. USCIS stated it will also require use of a new Form I-539A, Supplemental Information for Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status ...
An unfortunate by-product of strike action in South Africa is the common occurrence of unlawful and sometimes violent conduct on the part of certain members of the trade union embroiled in the strike. It then frequently becomes relevant whether individual employees should be held accountable for the “actions of the masses” on the basis of the doctrine of common purpose ...
It is becoming increasingly easy for employees in the workplace to record conversations, meetings and disciplinary enquiries without the consent of the employer to do so. The advancement of cell phone technology makes it easy for employees to do so without anyone knowing simply by placing their cell phone in their jacket or trouser pocket or on a table in a meeting ...
