The New England Patriots may play the first quarter of the 2015-16 season without quarterback Tom Brady, as he was suspended for failing to cooperate with an investigation related to footballs deflated below league standards being used in the 2014-15 season AFC championship game with the Indianapolis Colts ...
When not conducted carefully, internal investigations cancause more harm than good. Deciding to investigate a suspected problem is onlythe first of several key determinations. The responsible executive must planand execute the investigation deliberately to avoid self-inflicted harm. Anorganization can protect itself—while still conducting an investigation that isconfidential, full and fair—only by carefully thinking about how best touncover the alleged wrongdoing or compliance issues ...
The federal securities laws require public companies to make and keep detailed and accurate “books, records, and accounts.” One might assume that a securities law relating to books and records covers materials used in the preparation of financial statements. But in practice, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission applies a much broader definition that seems to encompass every piece of paper and data in a company’s possession ...
Argentina has thwarted debt security holders’ attempts to collect on their bond default judgments stemming from the nation’s 2001 economic collapse and subsequent repayment moratorium.EM Ltd. and NML Capital, Ltd ...
As reported in the July 2015 IOGA News, on June 24, 2015, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (“WVDEP”) filed a proposed legislative rule amending the Horizontal Well Development Rule, 35 C.S.R. 8 (the “Horizontal Well Rule”), which established a public comment deadline on July 27, 2015. Then on June 25, 2015, WVDEP filed three proposed legislative rules implementing the Aboveground Storage Tank Act, as amended, W. Va. Code § 22-30-1, et seq. (“AST Act”) ...
In a decision involving claims of underground trespass and tortious interference, the San Antonio Court of Appeals held that a surface owner could grant permission to a third-party to drill through the mineral estate underlying the surface and that the lessee “has no right to exclude others from the earth surrounding the oil and gas hydrocarbons” on the lease. Lightning Oil Co. v. Anadarko E&P Onshore LLC, No. 04-14-00903-CV, 2015 WL 4933439, --- S.W.3d --- (Tex ...
On August 27, 2015, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or the “Board”) issued its decision in Browning-Ferris Industries of California, Inc., upending decades of well-settled precedent to establish a new, broad standard for determining when two entities are “joint employers” under the National Labor Relations Act. 362 NLRB 186 (2015) ...
Global mobility is on the rise and many of the employees all over the world especially the young university graduates are keen to working overseas than ever before to strengthen personal growth and career development.The third edition of Global Mobility – An Overview of Human Resource Professionals aims to provide initial guidance to Human Resource professionals and be a ready tool to help them meet the work deliverables of this function which is vital to the organizational success ...
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 ...
Under longstanding regulations governing its risk management program, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (“BOEM”) may require an offshore oil and gas lessee or operator operating on the Outer Continental Shelf (“OCS”) to provide additional security, over and above standard security requirements, if BOEM determines that the security is necessary to ensure compliance with OCS lease obligations ...
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 ...
It is common knowledge that electricity is a main driver of the economy and a country’s electricity strategy will largely determine the long-term sustainability of an economy. The relationship between the Chinese economic miracle and the science behind the development of its electricity strategy is inseparable. Africa, as the centrepiece of development in the world, will require a practical strategy for electricity in order to guarantee the stable development of its economies ...
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 issue of decarbonisation of the economies of EU member states, and in particular Poland, generates a lot of heat. Decarbonising the economy was named as one of the EU’s five energy priorities in the Commission communication entitled “A Framework Strategy for a Resilient Energy Union with a Forward-Looking Climate Change Policy.” In European Union documents, decarbonisation means elimination of CO2 emissions because of their harmfulness to the environment ...
As is commonly held by energy sector experts, the game-changing development of the shales and the resurgence of natural gas as a virtually new, huge, versatile, long-term fuel, with a shrinking environmental footprint, is based upon the synergistic deployment of several key technologies ...
Under Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Regulation No. 23 of 2015 dated 31 July 2015 on the Delegation of Authority to Issue Oil and Gas Business License in the Framework of One-Stop Integrated Services to the Head of BKPM (“Regulation 23/2015”), the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources has delegated its authority to issue oil and gas business licenses for capital investment to the Head of BKPM ...
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”) ...
The Interior Board of Land Appeals (“IBLA”) has issued its long awaited decision on an appeal by an offshore service contractor challenging the authority of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (“BSEE”) to issue a citation directly to the service company for a violation of federal offshore regulations. As the first formal opinion issued by any appellate body on the issue, the IBLA decision has widespread implications for the offshore services industry ...
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 ...
Signing the transatlantic free-trade agreement could increase Europe’s energy security. The trick is how to compete with American companies that are already using cheaper energy and don’t have to comply with the same restrictions on CO2 emissions. The 10th round of negotiations of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership agreement, or TTIP as it is known, was held in Brussels in July 2015 ...
Quebec mining, oil and gas companies are heceforth subject to the imposing disclosure regime under theact respecting transparency measures in the mining, oil and gas industries(the "act"), which came into force last October 21. This statute echoes theExtractive Sector Transparency Measures Act(Canada),1which took effect on June 1, 2015, and follows a global trend to increase the transparency of mining, oil and gas exploration and development ...
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 ...
