Vol. XIII, Issues 2 & 3 of the Employment & Immigration Update includes the following articles:Ease of Doing BusinessOutplacementTwo-Tiered Wage SystemHighly engaged employeesSocial Safety NetsMore UK firms eye investments in PHThe issue also contains information on recent Supreme Court decisions, labor and employment news, immigration news, additional legal resources, and SyCipLaw updates.Download the Employment & Immigration Update 2015 2-3Q ...
On September 9, 2015, the Department of State and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced a transformation of the way the Department of State’s visa bulletin functions. This change will allow many individuals who have been waiting in visa backlogs to file green card applications before an actual green card is available ...
Amendments to the Labour Relations Act, 66 of 1995 (“LRA”), which came into force in January of this year, introduced important and controversial provisions dealing with temporary employment services (“TES”), commonly known as labour brokers. The most important of these provisions is found in the newly-enacted section 198A. It makes a distinction between what can be regarded as the “acceptable” use of a TES services and the “unacceptable” use of its services ...
On September 30, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a Continuing Resolution that will fund the government and extend the Immigrant Investor (EB-5) Pilot Program through December 11, 2015. The short-term extension will allow lawmakers seeking to reform the EB-5 program additional time to refine and advance legislation that would make investing in the program more difficult. To read the full alert, click here ...
The Government of Indonesia has recently issued a series of regulations in an attempt to further regulate pension securities and amend the old age security programs in Indonesia, namely Government Regulation No. 45 of 2015 on the Management of the Pension Security Program (“GR 45/2015”) and Government Regulation No. 46 of 2015 as amended by Government Regulation No. 60 of 2015 on the Management of the Old Age Security Program (“GR 46/2015”) ...
Across Africa, investments in infrastructure have failed to keep pace with growth and demand, creating a tremendous infrastructure deficit. Less than 40pc of the population across the continent, and only 26pc of the population of sub-Saharan Africa, has access to electricity.Approximately, 34pc of the population has access to improved sanitation facilities, and 35pc lack access to clean drinking water ...
SyCipLaw Partner Leslie C. Dy participated in the World Bank Group’s Women, Business and the Law 2016: Getting to Equal. The 2016 edition, the fourth in the series, continues to cover and collect data about legal restrictions on women’s entrepreneurship and employment. The series aims to inform policy discussions and promote research on linkages between the law and women’s economic opportunities ...
The Court of Justice has issued a judgment invalidating the European Commission’s Safe Harbour decision. This means that participation in the Safe Harbour programme by US entities is no longer grounds for European companies to transfer personal data of EEA citizens to the United States. On 6 October 2015, the Court of Justice of the European Union held that the European Commission’s decision approving the Safe Harbour programme is invalid (Schrems v Data Protection Commissioner, Case C-362/14) ...
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (“TPP”) is a free-trade agreement among Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam and the United States (the “TPP Members”). While, as reported, an agreement on the TPP was reached on October 5, 2015, each of the TPP Members must still enact the TPP. On November 5, 2015, the full text of the TPP trade agreement was released to the public for the first time ...
UPDATE: On December 21, 2015, Common Pleas Judge Joseph James struck down the employee sick leave ordinance, ruling that Pittsburgh’s City Council lacked authority to “to enact any ordinance determining any duty, responsibility or requirement of a business or private employer.” The ordinance would have required employers of more than 15 employees to provide up to 40 hours of paid sick leave per year and smaller employers to offer up to 24 hours of paid sick leave ...
A federal appellate court in the Midwest suggests that while unions do not have blanket approval to inspect an employer’s worksite, the union’s interest in safety generally will outweigh an employer’s interest in confidentiality and property rights. The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, in Caterpillar, Inc. v. NLRB, 803 F.3d 360 (7th Cir ...
As a veteran of the United States Marine Corps and someone who has seen the challenges that veterans face firsthand, I can attest to the benefits of giving veterans an opportunity to return to work following periods of service and providing families with the opportunity to manage the needs of their servicemembers. At Spilman, we feel that employers should adhere to best practices guidelines and prepare to implement and facilitate such enforcement ...
In October, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) employed a little-used procedural doctrine to issue a consolidated complaint against a parent company of a chain of hospitals located throughout the U.S. The NLRB issued the consolidated complaint, which included 29 unfair labor practice charges, against Community Health Systems, Inc ...
The Parliament of the Republic of Serbia adopted the Law on Conditions for Secondment of Employees Abroad and their Protection (the “Law”). The Law will be applicable two months following its coming into force, i.e. 13 January 2016. The Law regulates the secondment of employees abroad in a more modern manner compared to the currently applicable Law on Protection of Citizens of FR of Yugoslavia working abroad ...
Last April 27, the Court of Appeal of Quebec dismissed the appeal, from the bench, by the Attorney General of Quebec concerning the use of English trademarks on public signs ...
The Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP is a free-trade agreement among the members: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam and the United States.On Nov. 5, the full text of the TPP trade agreement was released to the public for the first time. While, as reported, an agreement on the TPP was reached Oct. 5, each of the members must still enact it.An important component is the chapter on investments, which protects investors ...
Equity crowdfunding will soon have a new framework in which to operate in Canada and this is excellent news for investors and startups alike ...
A number of recently announced initiatives could introduce potentially significant changes to the rules governing the workforce in the UAE. Earlier this year, the Ministry of Labour promulgated Ministerial Resolutions Nos. 764, 765 and 766 of 2015. According to the reports of Ministry of Labour spokesmen that appeared in the local press, the new resolutions were designed to deter a number of undesirable practices ...
LCS has provided a 2015 Taiwan Employment Law Update. 1. Five-Day Workweek to Kick Off Next Year An amendment to the Labor Standards Act (the "LSA") will take effect on January 1, 2016, paving the way for a five-day workweek and for working hours per week to be reduced to 40 hours. The LSA currently sets a ceiling of regular working hours of 84 hours fortnightly. 2 ...
Cuba’s stated goal of attracting billions of dollars in foreign investment combined with the United States’ effort to re-establish diplomatic ties with Cuba have sparked intensified interest amongst potential investors seeking to enter the Cuban market.As with any emerging market, potential investors must balance the potential risks faced in doing business with the potential return on their investment ...
Two recent Labour Court decisions have highlighted the duty of trade unions and their officials to act to prevent unprotected strikes and unlawful actions during the course of a strike. These add to the growing list of decisions in which the court has indicated that it will hold unions accountable for unlawful acts by their members ...
The current Constitution of Ecuador was enacted in 2008. In the past seven years it had few changes. The last one was introduced by a resolution of the National Assembly (Congress), which was issued on December 21th 2015. This last amendments are: Reelection of popular election authorities (elected by voting).- The amendments allows to the current authorities to run as candidates to be re-elected indefinitely ...
On 23 January 2015, the Supreme Court delivered a judgment concerning the moderation of an invalid non-competition clause in a business transfer agreement. This judgment arose after the Ghent Court of Appeal had refused to moderate a non-competition obligation lasting for period of 17 years. In line with previous case law, the clause was declared absolutely null and void and the Ghent Court of Appeal ruled that the clause could not be mitigated in any way ...
On December 18, Congress voted to reauthorize the Immigrant Investor (EB-5) Pilot Program without change through September 30, 2016. The EB-5 program was scheduled to sunset on September 30, 2015 but was granted two short-term reprieves while lawmakers debated several changes which would have made investing in the program more difficult, including increases to the minimum investment amount and restrictions on the calculation of indirect job creation ...
On Tuesday, December 22, 2105, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a much- anticipated opinion regarding the constitutionality of the prohibition against “disparaging” trademarks. In an 9-3 en banc opinion, the Federal Circuit held that the exclusion of disparaging trademarks under Section 2(a) of the Lanham Act violates the First Amendment.Many of the marks rejected as disparaging convey hurtful speech that harms members of stigmatized communities ...
