Introduction: The new reality As a result of the sudden and dramatic fall in the oil price that had occurred between June 2014, when oil had been trading at prices of around US$115 per barrel of Brent crude, to January 2015 by which time it had fallen to around US$35 per barrel, I was prompted to prepare a “Guide for Contractors”. Parties in the offshore oil and gas sector, and in particular contractors in the industry, were facing turbulent and unpredictable times ...
COVID-19 is having a transformational impact on American workplaces, which has short- and long-term consequences. Waller partners Bo Campbell and Aron Karabel join this episode to address the transformation. Campbell, a leader on Waller's real estate team, discusses the impacts on commercial leasing and how the work-from-home phenomenon will impact office trends and future development projects. Here is a transcript of the conversation: Morgan Ribeiro, Host Welcome to PointByPoint ...
Although summer has come to an end, the OFCCP’s efforts to enforce and increase federal contractors’ affirmative action and equal employment opportunity obligations have not. On August 23, 2013, the OFCCP released an updated version of its Federal Contractor Compliance Manual (“FCCM”) ...
In our final quarterly case law update for 2021, we look at some of the key cases published since July 2021 and consider the lessons we can learn from them. Furlough and redundancy As a result of the backlog within the Employment Tribunal system, we are only just starting to see the Tribunal making decisions on the actions taken by employers during the pandemic, specifically in their use of furlough under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) ...
The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights (OCR) Spring 2019 Cybersecurity Newsletter includes new recommendations regarding how HIPAA covered entities can prepare to defend against cybersecurity attacks such as advanced persistent threats (APTs) and zero-day vulnerabilities ...
Not only are healthcare providers under attack in the daily battle against the coronavirus, criminal actors are quickly taking advantage of relaxed HIPAA enforcement and standards, teleworking and the general intensity of the situation to exploit patient and other confidential information ...
Questions abound as to whether HIPAA comes into play when COVID-19 vaccination information is provided to employers. Recently, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued clarifying guidance on the applicability of the HIPAA Privacy Rule in the context of COVID-19 vaccination information provided to employers ...
OCIE’s most recent Risk Alert, published Sept. 15, 2020, address another cybersecurity issue, this time highlighting the dangers of “credential stuffing.” Credential stuffing is a method of cyberattack that uses compromised client login credentials and can lead to loss of customer assets and the disclosure of confidential or other personal information. Hackers will obtain groups or lists of usernames, email addresses, and their passwords from sellers on the dark web ...
On July 10, 2020, the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) released a Risk Alert highlighting the dangers of ransomware to SEC-registered entities, including investment advisers. The Risk Alert is a response to a marked uptick in both the prevalence and sophistication of ransomware attacks in recent months. Ransomware is a type of malware used by criminals to gain control of your or your firm’s confidential information and customer data ...
The European Court of Justice has issued an important ruling which could have significant consequences for employers who operate occupational sick pay schemes. In the decision of McKenna v ...
The amendments made to occupational mobility, also known as functional polyvalence, are quite significant and resorting to this mechanism has become more flexible. This matter, which was governed by Article 22 (rendering of work by the employee not included or object of his/her contract) of the Employment Contract Law, is now addressed by Article 151 (Performance of Duties), Article 152 (Effects on Remuneration) and Article 314 (Occupational Mobility) of the Code ...
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”) issued an interpretive letter (the “Stablecoin Letter”) confirming that national banks and federal savings associations are permitted to take and hold fiat currency deposits that serve as reserves for fiat-currency backed stablecoins associated with hosted digital wallets (the “OCC Stablecoin Letter”) ...
The Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation will no longer offer coverage for OxyContin by the end of 2019. The agency announced this change, given the drug’s potential for abuse, misuse, addiction, and dependence. The BWC will no longer pay for OxyContin or generic forms of the medication for workers who suffer an industrial injury on or after June 1, 2019. Injured workers who are currently on OxyContin will have until Dec ...
Obesity was not a disabilityThe judgment in the obesity case - which has caused quite a stir both in Denmark and the rest of the world - has finally been delivered.The case involved a Danish childminder who for more than 15 years had worked for a municipalitywhere he had provided childcare services in his own home. On 22 November 2010, the childminder was dismissed due to a decreased number of children in the municipality ...
As states are beginning to open back up amid the COVID-19 pandemic, nursing homes and other long-term care facilities are still at the highest risk of infection and should continue to be cautious. One-third of all COVID-19 deaths are attributed to long-term care residents and workers.[1] Facilities need to take steps to manage the spread of the disease and protect their residents and staff as states begin to allow more flexibility around long-term care quarantine practices ...
1. Introduction Transmission services used in the provision of M2M services are growing in importance. As a result, in May 2019 ANACOM (the Portuguese communications regulatory authority) launched a public consultation1 to collect input on the possible creation of a specific range in the national numbering plan (plano nacional de numeração - PNN) to accommodate these services ...
The Federal Circuit released the results of its en banc hearing of a case involving the issue of what is patent eligible subject matter under section 101 of the Patent Act. (CLS Bank International v. Alice Corporation Pty. Ltd., F. 3d., Case No. 2011 1301 (May 9, 2013) ...
The Philippine National Privacy Commission (NPC), which administers the country’s Data Privacy Act (DPA), has recently made available to the public copies of its advisory opinions. These opinions had been issued in response to various queries regarding the proper application and interpretation of the provisions of the DPA and its implementing rules and regulations. Issue of consent Advisory Opinion No ...
New Law No 125-FZ amending regulation of overtime and part-time work was signed by the Russian President earlier this year (hereinafter – the “Law”). The Law went into force on June 29, 2017. Highlight below is the most important novelties introduced by the Law. Part-Time Work The parties of labour relations may now agree on any length and frequency of an employee’s working hours ...
On March 17, 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom issued an Executive Order suspending some of the notice requirements under the California WARN Act ("Cal-WARN"), the state counterpart to the Federal WARN Act. The order came in response to the sudden onslaught of workplace closings across California due to COVID-19. Under the Cal-WARN, employers with 75 or more employees must give 60-days' written notice to employees and unions before layoffs occur ...
