An employee or witness who is fearful of giving evidence as part of a disciplinary process can cause difficulties for an employer. We look at the issues you should consider when dealing with such an individual. Can anonymity be guaranteed? Where an employee is accused of misconduct, your first step will be to investigate the matter and gather accurate evidence as part of a fair disciplinary process ...
Bonnie Mayfield, Bloomfield Hills-based attorney and member in Dykema’s Litigation Practice, co-authored an article—“Tangible Results Speak Louder Than Well-Intentioned Inclusion Words,”—which appears in the August issue of DRI’s monthly publication, For The Defense. Thomas L. Sager, then Senior Vice President and General Counsel for DuPont Legal, was the other co-author ...
During the month of July of the current year, three relevant labor laws have been published in the Official Gazette: 1) Law No. 20,761 that extends the right of feeding children to working fathers and establishes new regulations regarding maternity.On July 22nd, 2014 the Law No. 20,761 was published in the Official Gazette ...
The World Pension Summit (Africa), first of its kind in Africa, was hosted in Abuja on 7 and 8 July 2014. The summit focused on African developments in the pension industry and coincided with the 10th anniversary of the pension reform in Nigeria that led to the enactment of the Pension Reform Act No 2 of 2004 (“the 2004 Act”) ...
Under the provisions of the Tax Administration Act, the Commissioner: South African Revenue Service (‘SARS’) is entitled to request that a taxpayer submits relevant material that SARS requires in terms of section 46 of the Tax Administration Act No. 28 of 2011 (‘TAA’). Section 1 of the TAA in turn defines ‘relevant material’ as meaning: “any information, document or thing that is foreseeably relevant for the administration of a Tax Act as referred to in section 3 ...
The implications of FATCA in South Africa (written exclusively for Bloomberg BNA, Tax Planning International, European Tax Service, volume 16, number 7, July 2014) Written by Hanneke Farrand, director, and Caroline Rogers, senior associate, both in the tax department at ENSafrica. I. Background The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) was enacted in 2010 by the USto target non-compliance by US taxpayers using foreign accounts ...
Loose lips sink ships. They also can sink the protections of the attorney-client privilege. A case in point is a recent decision from the Southern District of Florida. Guarantee Insurance Co. v. Heffernan Insurance Brokers, Inc., Case No. 13-23881-CIV (S.D. Fla. June 13, 2014). In that case, Guarantee Insurance had been sued for the alleged bad faith handling of a worker’s compensation insurance claim ...
Five years after the enactment of Decree 330/2009 that regulated Law No 18.360 referred to the obligation of providing, on both public spaces and private spaces with influx of people, with Automatic External Defibrillators (AED), we remind you that the general obligation of instructing personnel about Basic Cardiac Resuscitation (BCR) technics is now effective ...
On December 12, 2013, A second act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on March 21, 2013 and other measures1 (“Bill C-4”) received royal assent. Bill C-4, which consists of more than 300 pages, proposes a significant number of legal amendments, some of which relate to the Canada Labour Code2 (“CLC ”). On June 18, 2014, the amendments were set to take effect on October 31, 2014 ...
On 3 August 2014, Law of Ukraine "On Amending the Tax Code of Ukraine and Certain Other Legislative Acts of Ukraine" No. 1621-VII which was adopted on 31 July 2014 for creating conditions to increase financial inflow into the state budget (the "Law"), came into force. Implementation of the proposed regulations will provide a possibility to boost in 2014 the resources of Ukraine's unified budget for nearly UAH 10.3 bn ...
The National Labor Relations Board’s (“NLRB” or the “Board”) general counsel Richard Griffin announced July 29, 2014 that he had authorized complaints in 43 unfair labor practice cases alleging that franchisor McDonald’s, USA, LLC is a joint employer with its franchisees ...
On 25 July 2014, Cyprus signed and ratified an Agreement for the avoidance of double taxation with the Swiss Confederation, with respect to Taxes on Income and on Capital, as well as the relevant Protocol. The Agreement will contribute to the further development of trade and economic relations between Cyprus and the Swiss Confederation, as well as other countries ...
In Québec, the objective of the Act Respecting Occupational Health and Safety1 (the “Act”) is the elimination, at the source, of dangers to the health, safety and physical well-being of workers. Recently, the Supreme Court of Canada rendered a decision in the Dionne v ...
On July 25, 2014, the Supreme Court of Canada rendered its decision in Québec (Commission des normes du travail) v. Asphalte Desjardins inc.1 In this ruling, which overturned a judgment by the Québec Court of Appeal,2 the Supreme Court concluded that an employer who receives notice of termination within a reasonable time period, as stipulated under article 2091 of the Civil Code of Québec3 (“C.C.Q ...
This decision of the Superior Court of Québec addresses a pregnant worker’s right to preventive withdrawal where said worker is employed by a business under federal jurisdiction.1 In this case, questions of constitutional jurisdiction were raised and the Superior Court confirmed that article 36 of the Québec Act Respecting Occupational Health and Safety2 (the “Act”) is not applicable to businesses under federal jurisdiction ...
The U.S. Supreme Court during its 2013-2014 term decided on six patent cases, the last on June 19, 2014. These cases will have significant consequences for companies as they work to advance their strategy for protecting their intellectual property. The following summary provides highlights of each case. Medtronic Inc. v. Mirowski Family Ventures LLC Question: First some background: The Supreme Court in MedImmune, Inc. v. Genentech Inc., 549 U.S ...
THE FACTS Wal-Mart Canada Corporation (hereinafter “Wal-Mart”) opened its Jonquière establishment in 2001. After the United Food and Commercial Workers, local 503 (hereinafter the “Union”), was certified to represent the employees in 2004, negotiations were initiated in view of concluding a first collective agreement ...
It is no hidden secret that unemployment in South Africa remains considerably high. According to the World Economic Forum Global Risk 2014 Report, structural unemployment and underemployment appears second overall in the Ten Global Risks of Highest Concern as many people in both advanced and emerging economies struggle to find jobs. The youth and minorities are especially vulnerable ...
The Parliament of the Republic of Serbia adopted Amendments to the Labour Law (the “Law”) on 18 July 2014. These amendments are long awaited and have been avidly discussed for some time due to divided public opinion. The Law will come into force 8 days after it is published in the “Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia”. Main novelties introduced by the Law are: Definite term employment The maximum duration of definite term employment has been extended to 24 months ...
Foreign investors in Australian entities may be unaware that in some circumstances the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) can assess them for Australian tax on gains made from the sale of their investment. The circumstances in which tax can arise are described in this article. In addition, law changes are proposed which (amongst other matters) would, from 1 July 2016, require purchasers to withhold 10% from the purchase price and pay that to the ATO in some circumstances ...
According to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), commission should be taken into account when calculating holiday pay (see Lock v British Gas). At the end of July, the Employment Appeal Tribunal will consider whether voluntary and/or regular overtime and emergency call-out payments, should also be taken into account when calculating holiday pay (see Neal v Freightliner) ...
The Commission des relations du travail, both in its initial decision and on review, dismissed the complaints challenging the dismissal of an employee despite the absence of prior disciplinary measures. The complainant, who was hired in April 2011, held a position as an administration technician for the Human Resources Department of a CHSLD. In 2004, the complainant sought a position as staff management officer ...
