On April 1, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued a temporary rule regarding the implementation of the emergency paid sick leave and Expanded Family and Medical Leave (“EFMLA”) requirements established by the recently enacted Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”). The DOL temporary rule covers significant ground in terms of delineating workers’ and employers’ rights and responsibilities under the FFCRA ...
South Africa is a party to a number of international environmental agreements, including the UN Framework Convention on Climate Control (“UNFCCC”), 1992, the Kyoto Protocol, 1997 and the Paris Agreement. In terms of the Paris Agreement, governments have made a commitment to ensure that global average temperatures remain below 2°C above pre-industrial levels. For South Africa, a country that relies heavily on fossil fuels to generate energy, this is a mammoth task ...
As employers try to comply with the new Families First Coronavirus Response Act’s (FFCRA) paid sick leave and expanded family and medical leave requirements, the Department of Labor has thrown them a curveball by quietly changing the answers to some of its Guidance about the FFCRA as well as adding 19 more FAQs to its prior compendium ...
In an apparent attempt to further reduce the spread of COVID-19 in Michigan, on Friday, April 3, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer issued Executive Order 2020-36, which provides protection to all employees who stay home when they are at “particular risk” of infecting others with COVID-19 ...
Impact of Supreme Court's order of March 23, 2020 A three-judge bench of the Hon’ble Supreme Court (“the Court”) in the matter of Suo Moto Writ Petition (Civil) No. 3 / 2020 titled as,In Re: Cognizance for Extension of Limitationinitiated suo - moto proceedings on 23.03 ...
Litigation and Dispute Resolution Group, Kochhar & Co. Delhi Health and safety are everyone’s priority today as COVID-19’s unprecedented impact continues to grow each day. Needless to say, the outbreak of Covid-19 has left its impact on litigation and arbitration in various ways, ranging from an increased use of remote hearings to general court closures, depending on the countries and institutions concerned ...
What is known to exist but is not visible is surrounded by mystery. It excites the imagination and people spin yarns about it. Though that is not true when it comes to novel coronavirus (“COVID-19”), the outbreak of which has been globally reported. COVID-19 has caused worldwide unprecedented disruptions to business operations; and the commercial turmoil continues ...
In its continuing efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19, on April 3, 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”) recommended that the general public wear, on a voluntary basis, “cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain (e.g., grocery stores and pharmacies) especially in areas of significant community-based transmission” of coronavirus ...
With most of the country working from home, many are wondering how to get their documents notarized. Thankfully, several states, including Texas, have authorized online notarization ceremonies. Under the new telecommunications statutes, individuals can have documents notarized from a healthy distance. Historically, Texas required both in-person notarization and the filing of the original notarized document, which precluded any possibility of a telecommuting notary ...
We are facing the growing and exponential spread of COVID-19 and a state of emergency was recently declared in Portugal. As a result, it is important to assess what impact this situation may have on the ability of businesses to meet the obligations they have assumed under the contracts they have made. The current situation is generating tensions in contractual relationships between companies ...
In our previous legal alert we informed that Act on Employment Services[1]was amended so that allowances to maintain job positions and to maintain employees during the emergency situation, state of emergency and state of distress (the “State of Crisis”) can be provided to a broader group of employers compared to the currently available options under the Act on Employment Services ...
Below is a summary of key new measures, as well as clarifications on previous measures we reported on, that have been implemented by various UAE authorities since 5 April 2020 and the time of this inBrief, 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, 7 April 2020 ...
Effective on April 6, 2020, an Order was published to establish the technical guidelines (the “Technical Guidelines”) for the activities described in Article 1, Section II, sub-sections (c) and (e) of the order that adopted extraordinary measures to deal with the health emergency caused by the SARS-CoV2 virus” (the “Order”). (We published an article on the Order, which may be foundhere ...
On April 6, 2020, Law No. 21,227 came into force, allowing access to unemployment insurance benefits under Law No. 19,728, in exceptional circumstances. This law, in its Article 14, Title III "Final Provisions", provides for a new criminal offense consisting of fraudulently obtaining supplements, benefits and / or profits due to the pandemic caused by Covid-19 ...
The Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) published an administrative resolution declaring the extension of the suspension of all terms and proceedings before such authority until April 30, 2020. This resolution was published in the Federal Official Gazette on April 07, 2020. The administrative resolution A / 014/2020 published today amends CRE's prior resolution A / 010/2020 dated March 24, 2020 (which previously suspended all terms and proceedings from March 24 to April 17, 2020) ...
In March, the Estonian Government decided to implement first steps to help the employers in order to avoid lay-offs and introduced also few other reliefs to support the companies. Below you can find summaries of these measures. Relief measures for employers Compensation of salary The Estonian Government approved the relief measures for the employees subject to salary cut ...
On March 27, 2019, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the “Act”) was signed by President Trump. The Act provides significant relief for employee benefit plan participants and includes both required and discretionary changes. Plan sponsors should immediately review their benefit plans to ensure that amendments are properly and timely implemented to ensure that their plans continue to operate in accordance with applicable law ...
The Supervisory Agency for Investment in Energy and Mining ("OSINERGMIN") and the Ministry of Energy and Mines ("MINEM") have carried out a series of pre-publications of draft regulations in the electricity and hydrocarbons sector, including: Minimum Power: on July 31, 2020, through OSINERGMIN Resolution No ...
The pandemic of COVID-19 has severely affected functioning of various business activities across the globe and has posed a threat to legal services. The risks to legal services posed by the spread of COVID-19 were highlighted a few weeks back when international law firm Baker McKenzie closed its London office after a staff member was suspected to have been at risk of contracting the novel coronavirus ...
