Last month, Shoosmiths hosted a second event with leading industry body, Regen on REMA, The UK’s Review of Electricity Market Arrangements – Second Consultation, which closed [this week ]. The event featured insights from Dan Osgood, the director of energy markets and analysis at Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, as well as a number of expert panel discussions around the key parts of the consultation ...
May 10, 2024 By: Dylan W. Wiseman and Sarah Andrzejczak On April 23, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission approved and issued its final rule effectively banning employers’ use of non-compete agreements (subject to very few exceptions). The rule becomes effective 120 days after publication in the Federal Register, heralding yet another stride towards enhanced employee mobility. Despite the unfavorable reception from many employers, it’s important to understand that all is not lost ...
Five years ago, the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (the “SECURE Act”) made several significant changes to certain distributions required pursuant to Internal Revenue Code (“Code”) Section 401(a)(9) (“Required Minimum Distributions” or “RMDs”). The changes related to the RMD ‘10-Year Rule’ (summarized in greater detail below) have proven to be particularly difficult to interpret ...
Cabinet Office has developed and published a standard Carbon Reduction Contract Schedule which provides standard terms and conditions to support contract-specific decarbonisation objectives to be set and delivered and provides a framework to monitor and assess the Suppliers’ decarbonisation performance ...
Shoosmiths’ energy & infrastructure partner Chris Pritchett hosted a panel discussion at the Solar and Storage Live London last week, focussing on the often-overlooked elements of the low carbon transport transition, namely accessibility, regional parity, and the regulatory and industry code barriers to rolling out some of the solutions that this transition so desperately needs ...
In our fourth article in the series focusing on the risk of discrimination in the workplace, we consider the protected characteristic of pregnancy and maternity, the common issues that arise and what employers should do to avoid claims of discrimination. Despite the Equality Act 2010 (EqA) making it unlawful to discriminate against women because of pregnancy or maternity leave, women continue to face significant challenges in the workplace when they become parents ...
On 23 April 2024 the U.S.A.’s Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a final rule banning non-compete clauses in employee contracts. The rule will take effect six months following formal publication.1 The scope of the rule is an absolute and immediate prohibition of non-compete clauses, with the obligation on employers to serve notice on employees informing them they are no longer bound by the clause ...
As the first round of H-1B Cap selections ended on April 1, 2024, employers began looking for options to sponsor highly qualified employees to fill positions of need. We outlined some options for those not selected in a previous client alert, including L-1 visas for intracompany transfers, O-1 visas for extraordinary ability individuals, J-1 and F-1 visas for students and other country-specific options ...
By: Sarah Andrzejczak On April 29, 2024, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued new enforcement guidance on workplace harassment in a step toward fostering a more inclusive workplace environment. This guidance serves as a crucial resource for employers striving to uphold fairness and equality for all employees, irrespective of gender identity. The new guidance builds on the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2020 decision in Bostock v ...
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) has submitted its final version of enforcement guidance on workplace harassment. We previously reported on the new guidance when it was proposed in early October of 2023. This is the first time the EEOC has updated its workplace harassment guidance since 1999. Some of the new topics addressed include remote work, the #MeToo movement and the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia ...
On April 23, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) published its final rule increasing salary threshold amounts required for certain employees to be exempt from federal Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) overtime requirements. The new rule is scheduled to take effect on July 1, 2024. Based on DOL estimates, the rule will expand overtime protection to cover more than 4 million additional workers within the first year ...
By: Leah Lively and Alexandra Shulman On April 23, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division (WHD) announced a final rule, “Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional (EAP), Outside Sales and Computer Employees,” increasing the salary threshold for an employee to qualify for exempt status under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The final rule takes effect on July 1, 2024 ...
As noted in our May 3, 2023 and August 14, 2023 client alerts, Congress enacted the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) in late 2022, expanding protections for pregnant workers. Pursuant to the Act, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was directed to make rules to implement the statute. On April 15, 2024, the EEOC issued its final rule and interpretive guidance, which will go into effect on June 18, 2024 ...
On April 23, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) held a public hearing where members voted 3-2 to adopt a final rule effectively banning employers from enforcing non-compete clauses against employees with very limited exceptions. This rule, which is largely similar to the proposed rule first announced by the Commission in January of 2023, imposes a “comprehensive ban on new non-competes with all workers ...
On 12 April, the Cabinet Office published the second tranche of its official guidance documents on the Procurement Act. The guidance documents cover: The National Procurement Policy statement (‘NPPS’); Technical Specifications; Pipeline Notices; Planned Procurement Notices; and Preliminary Market Engagement. Each guidance document clearly sets out the key points and the policy intent in respect of these discrete parts of the Procurement Act ...
The EU published a report on 18 April 2024, ‘Much More than a Market’.1 The reasons behind the call for the report are the EU’s concerns that just over 30 years after its creation there are important aspects of the Single Market that are not complete, and that the world is very different to what it was 30 years ago ...
April 18, 2024 By: Leah Lively and Alexandra Shulman The Supreme Court of the United States issued an opinion on Wednesday, April 17, 2024, that will make it easier for employees to pursue discrimination claims against their employers based on job transfers or other non-pecuniary personnel decisions. In Muldrow v. City of St. Louis, Muldrow, a female police officer, alleged that she was transferred to a less desirable unit because a new supervisor preferred a male officer for the role ...
The United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) has issued a final rule to implement the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (“PWFA”). The final rule, which aims to provide clarity regarding the protections afforded to employees and duties imposed upon employers under the PWFA, is set to be published in the Federal Registrar on April 19, 2024. It will thereafter become effective on June 18, 2024, 60 days after its publication ...
18 – 24 March 2024 marked Neurodiversity Celebration Week, a week held annually which aims to challenge misconceptions regarding neurological differences. We look at what employers can do to improve neurodiversity support in the workplace going forward. Neurodiversity is an umbrella term which is used to describe alternative ways of thinking and learning and it includes conditions such as autism, dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) ...
The Sexism in the City inquiry was set up to establish what progress has been made in tackling sexism in the financial services sector. We discuss the findings and offer advice for those in the sector trying to navigate the current regulatory landscape. The financial services industry is crucial to the UK economy. It employs more than 2 ...
In recent years, a growing number of construc- tion companies have established employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs).1 The interest in an ESOP is often generated by the need for an exit strat- egy for one or more of the owners of a closely held business, a common scenario in the construction industry ...
Watch the webinar video and study our key takeaway points from our latest webinar focused on avoiding illegal working and managing risk. Our 2024 webinar programme is focused on supporting HR teams to protect the employee brand proposition of the organisations they work for. Presented by our leading team of employment lawyers these sessions will equip you on how best to handle key risks that could undermine the organisation’s employee brand ...
