On Thursday, May 13, 2021, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced new guidance stating it is safe for fully vaccinated people to not wear masks or physically distance in any non-health care setting.1 Per this guidance, fully vaccinated people can now resume most activities without wearing a mask or physically distancing ...
The Court of Appeal has unanimously held that a tenant’s statutory declarations given to landlords were valid even though they did not specify the precise term commencement date of the leases to be contracted out. Landlords will be relieved that the Court of Appeal did not adopt an overly legalistic and commercially impractical interpretation of the contracting-out requirements ...
Stepmother's Day exists, although it is probably not widely celebrated. Most people are probably not aware that there is a Stepmother’s Day, which falls this year on 16 May 2021. It is marked one week after International Mother’s Day, which differs from our British version. Many families are unlikely to celebrate Stepmother’s Day and there may be good reason for that ...
The Government of B.C. has tabled legislation which, for now, entitles employees to three paid sick days for leave related to COVID-19. Employers will be required to pay employees their full wages (based on an average of the prior 30 days). The proposed law (Bill 13) also allows for a permanent paid sick leave to be prescribed in the future. The B.C ...
The Law Commission recently released its third and final consultation paper on autonomous vehicles. The paper launched a consultation process with the aim of developing policy and seeking regulatory recommendations for the deployment of autonomous vehicles on British roads. Earlier consultation papers sought to collate views on overall vehicle safety and the regulation of automated passenger services (e.g. driverless buses, trains, and taxis) ...
Below, you will find the issue of our Banking and Finance and Capital Markets newsletter for the 1st quarter of 2021, which compiles the most significant news in this area. BANKING AND FINANCE I. Banco de Portugal Banco de Portugal press release on the countercyclical capital buffer for the 2nd quarter of 2021. The countercyclical capital buffer percentage in force from 1 April 2021 will remain at 0% of the total amount of exposures (link) ...
Washington communities have a new tool to drive economic development: tax increment financing. Sometimes called “TIF,” this funding method allows local governments to self-finance public improvements that encourage development without imposing new taxes. The 2021 Washington legislature passed a TIF program and Governor Inslee signed it into law on Monday, May 10, 2021 ...
On the morning of April 10, 2021, the State Administration for Market Regulation (“SAMR”) issued on its website an administrative penalty decision and an administrative guidance document against a major digital undertaking for abuse of its dominant position in the domestic digital retail platform services market due to its exclusive dealing behaviors, so-called “choosing one of two”. The administrative penalty imposed amounted to RMB 18 ...
By: Artin Betpera The Telephone Consumer Protection Act has for over a decade been a source of significant legal risk for any business that communicates with consumers by phone or text. The TCPA prohibits making calls without consent to cell phones using an “Automatic Telephone Dialing System” (“ATDS”), and contains a private right of action that provides for statutory damages of $500 up to $1,500 per offending call or text ...
For Mental Health Awareness Week, Caroline Watson, head of Shoosmiths Family Law team, offers practical advice on looking after your emotional wellbeing if you’re going through a divorce or a separation. When someone close to you dies, it’s generally accepted that there are five stages of grief: shock, denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Some psychiatrists say that the emotional stages of a relationship breakdown are the same ...
Factual background The taxpayer, Dr Leung, was a medical doctor employed by the Hospital Authority (“HA”). Part of the conditions of his employment was that he was required to be ‘on call’ on certain days including Sundays and public holidays. When ‘on call’, he was obligated, among other things, to be within the physical proximity of the hospital, to be ready to render medical services if the need arose, and to abstain from drinking alcohol ...
In a move aimed at speeding the processing of certain non-immigrant petitions, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced it will suspend the biometrics requirements for certain I-539 applicants for a two-year period beginning on May 17, 2021. Form I-539 is used to change to or extend the authorized stay of non-immigrants holding (or seeking) A, B, F, G, I, J, M, T, U and V and dependents of those holding E, H, L, O, P, R and TN status ...
Amendments to National Instrument 31-103 Registration Requirements, Exemptions and Ongoing Registrant Obligations (“NI 31-103”) and the new requirements under Client Focused Reforms (“CFRs”) The Canadian Securities Administrators (“CSA”) have amended NI 31-103 to introduce new registrant conduct requirements, with the stated objective of better aligning the interests of registrants with the interests of their clients, improving outcomes for
Cap Export, LLC v. Zinus, Inc., Appeal No. 2020-2087 (Fed. Cir. May 5, 2021) The Federal Circuit issued a single precedential patent case this week. The district court set aside a judgement and injunction originally in favor of Zinus and against Cap Export, pursuant to Rule 60(b)(3), in light of apparently fraudulent testimony offered by a critical witness. In a rare decision addressing Rule 60, the Federal Circuit affirmed ...
On May 5, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) officially withdrew from the Trump-era rule for classifying workers as independent contractors. This withdrawal has been anticipated since President Joe Biden assumed his role, and was official on May 6. The DOL is expected to publish a Final Rule in the Federal Register within the coming days. Trump-Era Independent Contractor Test Contrary to FLSA Purpose and Intent On Jan ...
On April 30, 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced it was revoking a policy related to new drug applications (NDAs) and abbreviated new drug applications (ANDAs). The FDA stated that the previous policy announced by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Jan. 15, 2021, was being rescinded because the new policy would have required the FDA to publish redundant information about new applications of NDAs and ANDAs ...
The Ohio Board of Pharmacy recently announced it will award up to an additional 73 dispensary licenses across Ohio. Dispensary licenses will be awarded through an application and lottery process that is expected to be finalized during the spring or summer of 2021. This expansion will bring the total number of dispensary licenses in Ohio to 130 and is expected to ameliorate patient dissatisfaction with regards to the price of medical marijuana products and lack of equal access ...
Dispute ResolutionThreshold to Commence Winding Up Proceedings RaisedBy the Federal Government Gazette Notification No. 4159 dated 22 March 2021, the amount of indebtedness required to commence winding up proceedings under section 466(1)(a) has been fixed at RM50,000.00 with effect from 1 April 2021.This means that a creditor may only commence winding-up proceedings against a debtor company where the debtor company has failed to satisfy a debt owed to the creditor exceeding RM50,000 ...
For some years, contractors and subcontractors have been using an effective tactic in adjudication. That is to pick off discrete elements of a large time or money claim and to obtain a series of favourable declarations in adjudications on those elements. The declarations can then be used as a bargaining tool to leverage a settlement of the full claim. Or they can be converted into payment orders by way of a further adjudication ...
The Department of Justice (DOJ) suffered an unusual defeat when its motion for late intervention in a False Claims Act (FCA)[1] qui tam case, United States ex rel. Odom v. Southeast Eye Specialists, PLLC,[2] was rebuffed by the Middle District of Tennessee, rejecting the magistrate judge’s recommendations ...
General about enterprise penalty In relation to the previous section on enterprise penalty as enshrined in section 48a of the 1902 Penal Code, discussion were had as to whether there was a requirement of Fault-based liability in the provision. In the preparatory work on section 27 of the new Penal Code, this was discussed in depth, after which it in Ot.prp. no. 27, 90 (2003-2004) s. 242 was clearly stated that the new provision should not have such a requirement ...
Background Disqus is an American company offering online public comment sharing services. These services were previously used by various Norwegian online newspapers. The Data Protection Authority has investigated whether Disqus has been sharing information about the users of the comment sections with marketing companies, without the knowledge of neither the users nor the owners of the online newspapers, and in breach of the GDPR ...
On January 6, 2021, the Small Business Administration (the “SBA”) and the Department of Treasury released an Interim Final Rule called “Business Loan Program Temporary Changes; Paycheck Protection Second Draw Loans” (“Second Draw Rules”). These rules announced the implementation of section 311 of the Economic Aid to Hard-Hit Small Businesses, Nonprofits, and Venues Act (the “Economic Aid Act”) ...
The COVID-19 pandemic has presented many novel challenges and questions for employers, from administration of Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”) leave to managing performance of remote workers. For healthcare providers, these challenges and questions have been only one of many burdens of operating during a pandemic. As vaccines become more widely available, the pandemic raises new challenges, some unique to employers in the healthcare industry ...
