On Monday the White House announced that the COVID-19 travel restrictions imposed on passengers from the UK and most of the EU would be eased, allowing fully vaccinated passengers to enter the country from early November. This will be welcomed by families that have been kept apart as a result of the ban first imposed by President Trump 18 months ago. The UK moved to end similar restrictions on US travellers in July, and both sides of the pond are once again open for business ...
ALRUD regulatory practice has prepared a review for 'Legal Regulatory Guide Russia', which summarizes the most significant changes and trends in Russian legislation, in the field of administrative regulation of business in the first and second quarters of 2021. The review was published with the participation of ALRUD experts - Maxim Alekseev, Senior Partner and Head of ALRUD Regulatory practice, Timur Akhundov, Senior Associate, Dina Kravchenko, Associate, and Boris Pribylov, Associate ...
“... an adjudicator should think very carefully before ruling out a defence merely because there was no mention of it in the claiming party’s notice of adjudication. That is only common sense: it would be absurd if the claiming party could, through some devious bit of drafting, put beyond the scope of the adjudication the defending party’s otherwise legitimate defence to the claim ...
The shift to flexible working has never been more pronounced than now as we make a steady return to the workplace following the pandemic. National headlines recently highlighted the risk for employers of failing to properly consider requests for flexible working. The case of Thompson v Scancrown Ltd t/a Manors resulted in the claimant, Mrs Thompson, being awarded just over £180,000 for indirect discrimination following the rejection of her flexible working request ...
In a recent appeal by a pharmacy, Doorstep Dispensaree Limited (“Doorstep”), against a Monetary Penalty Notice and an Enforcement Notice issued against it by the Information Commissioner’s Office (the “ICO”), Doorstep was partially successful, specifically against the level of fine imposed by the ICO under the Monetary Penalty Notice ...
Executive Summary For organisations transferring personal data from the EEA, the new form of model clauses must now be used for any new transfers agreed as of 27 September 2021. Existing arrangements using the “old” European model clauses have until December 2022 to be replaced with one of the new versions ...
The Technology and Construction Court in Downs Road Development LLP v Laxmanbhai Construction (UK) Ltd [2021] EWHC 2441 (TCC) held that an Adjudicator’s decision not to consider a line of defence was a breach of natural justice and was not enforceable, nor could part of the decision be severed. The case also contained interesting commentary as to the ‘intent’ behind the issuing of a payment notice, and how this may affect the validity of the notice ...
The government has announced a series of measures to tackle ongoing shortages of heavy goods vehicle (HGV) drivers and poultry workers in the UK. This includes relaxing immigration rules to offer over 10,000 temporary visas in the run up to Christmas. Brexit, the Coronavirus pandemic, tax changes and additional factors such as an ageing workforce have all contributed to a shortage of food processing workers and HGV drivers in the United Kingdom ...
In October 2020 the Information Commissioner’s Office (the “ICO”) announced that it was issuing a Penalty Notice to British Airways (“BA”), imposing a financial penalty of £20 million following a data breach that resulted in hackers obtaining the personal data of 400,000 BA customers. This was a significant reduction from the ICO’s original intention to issue a fine of £183 million ...
Covering employee wages since 1 March 2020, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme ("furlough") is set to end on 30 September 2021, with a deadline for final claims to be made by 14 October 2021. Employers still using the scheme should be engaging with employees about its end, and may now need to make some tough decisions that have been postponed while furlough continued ...
Particular issues may beset a sale of land between developer and Registered Provider but, by forecasting ahead, costs and delays can be avoided. As the demand for housing increases, so too will expected proportions of affordable housing provided as part of any development. Often the easiest way to provide on-site affordable housing is by bringing a Registered Provider (RP) on board. The RP might buy ready built plots or the land itself on which it will build ...
Recent cases provide a timely reminder that employers still make costly slip-ups when managing pregnant workers and those returning from maternity leave. We highlight some useful lessons from those cases on how to avoid discrimination claims. When a worker announces their pregnancy to their employer, the employer becomes subject to additional obligations until the end of the protected period when the worker returns from maternity leave ...
The UK government has announced proposals to make flexible working requests a ‘day one’ right for employees, as part of reforms to the Flexible Working Regulations 2014. Over the past 18 months, the pandemic has been a catalyst for increased flexible working. Although this has meant ‘working from home’ for most, flexible work can include other arrangements such as flexitime, job-sharing, condensed hours and part-time work ...
We are very excited to be supporting the UN Global Compact Network UK’s ‘Transitioning to a Net Zero’ webinar series ...
As many of us continue to work from home and/or have opportunities for travel and meeting up restricted, we are continuing to run our essential webinar series for employers to ensure that our clients and contacts remain up to date and equipped to deal with all eventualities! Our latest seminar focused on disability and Long COVID ...
Developments on hold, trips to the High Court, nutrient credit schemes... Ever since a European Court of Justice ruling in November 2018, being nitrate neutral has caused headaches and blockages for developers and planners. Shoosmiths partnered with Planning magazine on a virtual roundtable discussion which examined nitrate / nutrient neutrality, the rules and how developers and authorities can work within them to deliver the right kind of development ...
The National Security and Investment Act 2021 – a law that will introduce a screening process for certain acquisitions and investments. The National Security and Investment Act 2021 will introduce a new mandatory notification regime for transactions that comes into force on 4 January 2022. We take a look at what it will cover ...
In January 2020 the first signs of Covid-19 were of a commercial nature. Business activity related to China – which is a large part of the maritime industry in Asia – started slowing down considerably. Projects experienced delays, new ventures were postponed and a general slowdown could be felt throughout the maritime business world. As February and March came around, the first Covid-19 cases started being reported in Singapore ...
At the end of this month, court fees are increasing. The change is the result of a consultation led by the Ministry of Justice earlier in the year which considered whether court fees should be increased by inflation. The full consultation can be accessed here. From 30 September 2021, the cost of a divorce will rise from £550 to £593. At the moment, where the divorce is based on adultery, behaviour or desertion i.e ...
As it is known, starting from October 15 until December 31, 2021 (the deadline set for the end of the state of emergency), the obligation to possess – and to show on request – the “green pass” 1 has been extended to all workers, including those of the private sector, in order to allow their access to workplaces. With regard to this matter, Law Decree no ...
This week the government has published the draft legislation for the residential property developer tax (“RPDT”) for technical consultation. RPDT is a new tax, intended to be imposed on companies carrying out residential property development from 1 April 2022, and described by the government as being introduced “to ensure that the largest developers make a fair contribution to help fund the government’s cladding remediation costs” ...
On 23 September 2021 we hosted our latest IHL webinar on working with AI: the key types, implementing AI and what the future might bring. Ian Blackwell represented Next Retail Ltd on the panel, alongside Simon McArdle and Sebastian Price, Commercial Partners at Shoosmiths. The background: Artificial intelligence (AI) is here now, and its power is taking off. Put simply, AI is a gamechanger ...
In principle, the author of a work protected by copyright has an exclusive right to reproduce or copy it. In Austria, however, anyone has the right to make copies of such works for private use. Originally, the legislator had scenarios in mind where people recorded music from the radio with their stereo system and a blank tape cassette, or recorded films via a video recorder. Collecting societies collect a levy as compensation for this private copying right ...
A new report has found that men have substantially more private pension wealth than women, which may pose challenges when they divorce. In October 2019, Shoosmiths commissioned research to understand the gender gap in pensions and we found that a third of married couples and those in civil partnerships did not know that they were entitled to a proportion of their spouse’s pension on divorce ...
The Court of Appeal has overturned an earlier decision of the High Court in which guidance was given on the circumstances where a child might be able to give consent to the administration of puberty blockers ...
