On June 28, 2018, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex M. Azar III announced the ninth year of the national health care fraud takedown. The takedown resulted in the largest government action against health care fraud, which involved more than 600 defendants from over 50 federal districts. The targeted fraud schemes accounted for more than $2 billion in false billings ...
Don Stuart, a partner in Waller’s Tax Practice Group and current Chair of the Tax and Finance Practice Group of the American Health Lawyers Association (AHLA), and Kim Looney, partner in the firm’s Healthcare Compliance and Operations group, are authors on two chapters in the AHLA’s new publication The ACO Handbook: A Guide to Accountable Care Organizations, Second Edition ...
The Austin Court of Appeals has temporarily blocked implementation of an Austin city ordinance that would require employers to provide paid sick leave to employees. The ordinance was set to take effect on October 1, 2018. The City of Austin passed the paid sick leave ordinance in February of 2018. The State of Texas immediately filed suit to challenge the ordinance claiming that it was preempted by the Texas Minimum Wage Act ...
Short-time work is generally understood to be the temporary, foreseeable reduction in normal working hours (by at least 10% to a maximum of 90%). A special feature of Corona Immediate Assistance Short-Time Flex is that working hours can even be reduced to zero. Short-time work requires a social partner agreement and contact with the Austrian Labour Market Service (Arbeitsmarktservice – AMS) ...
On May 10, 2016, the Québec Court of Appeal1 confirmed a Superior Court decision allowing an application for authorization of treatment and placement to a patient. The application had been brought by the Douglas Mental Health University Institute, commonly known as the Douglas, or the Douglas hospital ...
In this matter, the employer, Enforce Security Group (“Enforce”), was a private security services provider contracting out security officers to its clients. The security officers were employed on the basis that their period of employment would endure until the termination of the service contract between Enforce and the client whose premises the employee would be assigned to. This type of provision is commonly referred to as an “automatic termination clause” ...
Michigan Governor Whitmer signed Executive Order 2020-77 today, permitting manufacturing workers to resume work as part of the MI Safe Start Plan. Manufacturing workers, including workers in the automotive industry, are allowed to resume work on May 11, 2020, one week ahead of the planned restart date of certain Michigan automakers. See Executive Order No. 2020-77, Section 10(k) ...
The coronavirus disease continues to cause headaches for businesses all over the globe. Travel restrictions are leading to cancellations of small meetings and large-scale conferences; factory shutdowns are causing massive supply shortages; employees are being told to stay home from work. Whatever challenges you face in these uncertain times, it is important to remember that your business is not immune from government scrutiny ...
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 ...
Most employers know their employee handbooks need to be living documents that are reviewed and updated when conditions change. If any employer doubted the need for doing this, the past two years should have convinced them otherwise – with the need to incorporate policies to address statutorily mandated COVID-19 sick leave and/or vaccinations. While many of the mandatory COVID-19 sick leave policies are sunsetting, the sun is just rising for remote work issues ...
Technological advancements coupled with a desire to reduce inefficiencies in the workplace, has led to an increase in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) by employers, typically in recruitment and performance management. Data protection considerations However, employers need to be aware of their data protection obligations and great care is needed when contemplating the use of AI processes to make decisions without human involvement ...
As British Columbia battles the third wave of COVID-19, the government has introduced legislation[1] which, if passed, will provide employees with paid leave to get the COVID-19 vaccine. On April 1, 2021, the British Columbia government introduced an unpaid job-protected leave of absence for employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine, or to assist a dependent in getting vaccinated against COVID-19 ...
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 new Family Law Act (“FLA”) came into force today, March 18, 2013. It replaces and repeals the Family Relations Act (“FRA”). The FLA carries forward the basic structure established under the FRA, with some fine tuning to deal with issues not adequately addressed under the FRA. This bulletin highlights the major changes to pension division under the new FLA ...
On September 17, 2020, the British Columbia government released its economic recovery plan for the province, Stronger BC for Everyone: BC’s Economic Recovery Plan. The plan details various new support measures for B.C. businesses, including a new refundable tax credit for employers. The B.C ...
Sponsored wellness plans that include incentives to employees who voluntarily disclose personal health information as part of disability-related inquiries or medical examinations are in legal limbo after the EEOC removed the underlying rules from the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) and Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (“GINA”) ...
Back to 2020 - Forward to 2021 2020 was a busy year – and a uniquely challenging one to say the least. Legal and regulatory changes, many of them linked to the COVID-19 crisis, have impacted your business and will continue to impact it in the new year. That is why we are pleased to provide you with an overview of the major recent legal and regulatory developments that have taken place under Luxembourg and EU law ...
With workers returning to work on-site, the Department of Labor and Employment (“DOLE”) issuedLabor Advisory No. 1, series of 2022, or the Isolation and Quarantine Leaves of Employees in the Private Sector, to guide employers ...
In one of the most highly anticipated decisions in the employment law arena, the Employment Appeal Tribunal has found that Maya Forstater’s ‘gender-critical’ belief is a philosophical belief worthy of protection under s10 of the Equality Act 2010 (“EqA”). Ms Forstater complained to the employment tribunal that she was discriminated against because of her gender-critical belief that sex is biologically immutable and that ‘transwomen are men’ ...
Decree-Law 36/2021, which amends Decree-Law 176/2006 of 30 August ("Medicines Statute"), was published on 19 May. The new Decree-Law introduces a ban on the advertising of discounts on the price of medicines subject to medical prescription that are reimbursed by the National Health Service ("NHS") or that contain narcotic or psychotropic substances ...
IP landscape While the world is in the grip of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic, the patenting of pharmaceutical and biological compositions and the launch of generic products is even more hotly debated than before, particularly in the world's developing and least-developed countries ...
On March 31, 2020, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara counties plus the City of Berkeley issued new Shelter-in-Place orders, further restricting construction and extending Shelter-in-Place restrictions until May 3, 2020. Under the new orders, most construction, including residential and commercial, is now prohibited. Healthcare, low income housing, specially designated public works projects, shelters, and temporary housing projects may continue ...
The BC Privacy Commissioner recently issued two decisions which address “employee personal information”, as well as some other issues of interest under the BC Personal Information Protection Act (“PIPA”) ...
