In April 2021, President Biden issued Executive Order 14026 to increase the minimum wage for federal government contractors to $15 per hour. On November 23, 2021, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued its final rule implementing Executive Order 14026. The rule requires any federal “contractor” to pay employees a minimum hourly wage of $15 and overtime wages for work beyond 40 hours per week. This wage is subject to yearly increases determined by DOL ...
On March 30, 2022 the Division of Examinations of the United States Securities & Exchange Commission published the 2022 Examination Priorities. As in other years, the 2022 Examination Priorities document provides certain data regarding the scope of the examination program and the growth of the investment adviser community ...
Decree-Law 30-A/2022was published on 18 April to approve the exceptional measures intended to ensure the simplification of the procedures for producing energy from renewable sources. These measures came into force on 19 April and will be in force for a period of 2 years. These exceptional measures have been published by the Government in the current macroeconomic and geopolitical situation ...
Governor Inslee’s March 24, 2022 signing of House Bill 1329 marks the introduction of changes to the Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA), the focus of which concerns public meetings’ accessibility and participation in the same. While the majority of these changes take effect at the fast approaching date of June 9, 2022, the Governor’s signing immediately implemented others ...
Sunoco Partners Marketing & Terminals L.P. v. U.S. Venture, Inc., Appeal Nos. 2020-1640, -1641 (Fed. Cir. Apr. 29, 2022) Our case of the week has a little bit for everyone, including lost profits, reasonable royalties, enhanced damages, claim construction, and more. However, the primary issue was application of the experimental use exception to the on-sale bar. The experimental use exception, which traces to City of Elizabeth v. Am. Nicholson Pavement Co., 97 U.S ...
Governor Inslee’s March 24, 2022 signing of House Bill 1329 marks the introduction of changes to the Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA), the focus of which concerns public meetings’ accessibility and participation in the same. While the majority of these changes take effect at the fast approaching date of June 9, 2022, the Governor’s signing immediately implemented others ...
The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (“CERC” or “Commission”) on May 9, 2022 notified the CERC (Terms and Conditions for Renewable Energy Certificates for Renewable Energy Generation) Regulations, 2022 (“REC Regulations, 2022”)[1]. The reasons for framing of the REC Regulations, 2022 can be found in the Explanatory Memorandum to the draft of the REC Regulations, 2022 published by the Commission ...
Economic sanctions (also called restrictive measures) are an instrument of influence of states or international organisations (EU, UN) on states and individuals whose activities violate international law and pose a threat to peace and security. Sanctioning states impose certain restrictions on sanctioned entities (e.g ...
Niazi Licensing Corporation v. St. Jude Medical SC, Inc., Appeal No. 2021-1864 (Fed. Cir. Apr. 11, 2022) The Federal Circuit’s only precedential patent decision this week comes on appeal from a district court decision finding invalidity, granting summary judgment of no induced infringement, and imposing sanctions pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 37 ...
On March 28, 2022, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced the resolution of three investigations and one matter before an Administrative Law Judge related to compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule ...
President Joe Biden has signed into law the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021, which allows an individual asserting sexual assault or sexual harassment claims to bring such claims to court, even if they had previously agreed to mandatory arbitration. Dinsmore employment attorney Aly St. Pierre wrote about what employers need to know about this new law for The Indiana Lawyer. An excerpt is below ...
The demise of Kids Company and its aftermath has unfortunately overshadowed the pioneering work that charity did for nearly twenty years with some of the most damaged children and young people in our society. In the words of its founder “making a commitment to help maltreated children heal through unrelenting love by being resolute and kind, and over the years understanding how to help children acquire mastery over their traumas ...
Our Shoospeak HR podcast welcomes special guest Pavan Sumal who explains the options open to Ukrainians looking to flee the current conflict. Shoosmiths colleagues Andy Graham and Amy Leech are joined by special guest Pavan Sumal (Associate within Shoosmiths’ Immigration Team) to discuss visa options and other immigration support available for Ukrainians fleeing the current conflict ...
On April 7, 2022, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland tabled the federal government?s new budget for 2022. This budget includes several tax measures relevant to the mining industry in Canada. The Canadian federal government intends to provide $3.8 billion over eight years to implement Canada?s first critical minerals strategy ...
Recently, in Beal v. Outfield Brew House, LLC, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 7748 (8th Cir. Mar. 24, 2022) the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld two district court decisions, each of which found that the marketing software called “Txt Live” used by the defendants to send promotional text messages to phone numbers randomly selected from a customer database is not an automatic telephone dialing system (ATDS) under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) ...
Littelfuse, Inc. v. Mersen USA EP Corp., Appeal No. 2021-2013 (Fed. Cir. Apr. 4, 2022) Our Case of the Week focuses on the issue of claim construction, and, more specifically, the doctrine of claim differentiation. The patent at issue was directed to a “fuse end cap for providing an electrical connection between a fuse and an electrical conductor ...
On March 30, 2022, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision in Oertwich v. Traditional Village Of Togiak, No. 19-36029 (9th Cir.) that has potential implications for tribal sovereign immunity, including recognizing that tribal sovereign immunity extends to tortious conduct occurring on non-tribal lands. Ronald Oertwich (“Oertwich”) was a non-tribal member living in the City of Togiak, Alaska (the “City”) ...
HM Treasury has recently published the outcome of its UK Prospectus Regime Review. The Review Outcome sets out important reforms to the UK prospectus regime for the public issuance of securities and admission to trading on capital markets, outlining the policy approach the UK Government will take following last year's Prospectus Regime Review consultation. This briefing note sets out the key measures confirmed by the UK Government in the Review Outcome ...
The government have introduced various visa concessions for Ukrainian citizens affected by the conflict. Legal director of immigration, Rachel Harvey and Pavan Sumal, associate specialising in immigration law discuss the routes available and what you can do to assist. In country options Concessions are available for those who were in the UK at the start of the conflict ...
A recent judgement of the Court of Appeal brings welcome clarification of the principles regarding the recovery of wasted expenditure claims in IT disputes. Summary Whist wasted costs arising from failed IT implementations often form part of a subsequent loss of profit claim, the two forms of loss are separate and distinct. Consequently, in order to be effective, exclusions must specifically refer to wasted costs ...
On March 3, 2022, President Biden signed the long-titled Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021. Seen as a result of the #MeToo movement, this fairly simple amendment to Title 9 of the United States Code prohibits private employers from mandating that employees submit to arbitration of sexual assault and sexual harassment claims ...