Doctors working in public hospitals claimed that, in breach of their employment contracts as well as the Employment Ordinance, for many years the Hospital Authority had required them to work long hours without proper compensation. The doctors in this latest round of confrontation with the HA successfully claimed compensation for "rest days" and "holidays" for which they had been deprived but lost their claim on compensation for "overtime" worked ...
Introduction Since June 1, 2004, the Labour Standards Act (hereinafter the “L.S.A.”) requires employers to provide a work environment free from psychological harassment. Thus, employers must, as a first step, take reasonable measures to prevent psychological harassment and then, whenever they become aware of such behaviour, put a stop to it. These duties imposed on employers are obligations “of means” as opposed to obligations “of result” ...
In April 2005 a new Disability Discrimination Act was passed by Westminster. The Act extends existing non-discrimination legislation, primarily the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. While some provisions of the Act came into force in December 2005, many others will be coming into force over the course of 2006. It is essential that businesses are aware of their new responsibilities under the Act and prepare for its implementation ...
A 100% Quebec Parental Insurance Plan A new Quebec Parental Insurance Plan (QPIP) came into force on January 1, 2006. This plan provides for payment of benefits to all workers eligible for the plan who take a maternity leave, parental leave, paternity leave or adoption leave. This plan replaces the federal employment insurance plan. Beginning in 1996, Quebec informed Ottawa that it wanted to implement its own parental insurance plan ...
Some important changes to the Act respecting the legal publicity of sole proprietorships, partnerships and legal persons (the “Act”) took place effective January 1st, 2006.The Act generally applies to all legal persons, partnerships and individuals carrying on an activity in the Province of Québec and requires those entities to register with the Enterprise registrar ...
On 13 December 2005, the European Court of Justice ("ECJ") found Marks and Spencer plc ("M&S") could claim group tax relief from UK tax authorities in relation to the losses incurred by its former European subsidiaries that had ceased trading in Belgium, France and Germany in 2001. M&S argued that just as UK resident companies in a group may set off their profits and losses among themselves, so the same should be possible for the losses of foreign subsidiaries ...
Gas Natural’s high profile courting of Endesa has had a choppy ride on the roller coaster ship of public takeovers. Not only is the desired companion resisting the marriage, but also is she summoning the high waves of competition law in her defence. Not much of the public debate of the competition law aspects is focussed on the merits of perhaps one of the last industry transforming mergers in the Spanish energy markets ...
On 6 April 2006, new regulations, called the Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment - TUPE - Regulations 2006 came into force to replace the well-known 1981 Regulations. These are the Regulations that make provision for protection of employees ? from dismissal and in their terms and conditions - where a business is transferred from one company to another. TUPE 2006 differs in a number of ways from the 1981 Regulations ...
In Hong Kong, some employers grant to employees more than one day off per week while the Employment Ordinance (“EO”) only requires the employer to grant one rest day in every period of seven days. Under such circumstances, there is a question as to whether the employees are entitled to an alternative holiday when the statutory holiday falls on a day off ...
In Hong Kong, it is quite common for employers to grant commission or allowance in addition to basic salary to the employees as part of the remuneration package. Under the EO, eligible employees are entitled to holiday and annual leave pay in respect of holiday or annual leave taken by the employees. There is a question as to whether commission is to be included in “wages” for the purpose of calculating the holiday and annual leave pay to the employees ...
On 23 December 2005, the District Court delivered its judgment on a sex and family status discrimination claim in the case of Lam Wing Lai v YT Cheng (Chingtai) Ltd DCEO 6/2004. The Defendant was a Hong Kong company carrying on the business of trading in industrial raw materials and the Plaintiff was employed as the secretary to the director between 21 May 2001 and 11 November 2002 ...
The Ministry of Labour and Social Security (“MLSS”) issued the Letter on Issues Relevant to the Occupational Qualification Certificates Held by Foreigners Seeking Employment in China on 13 September 2005. The Letter is likely to make it more difficult for foreigners to take up employment in China in positions or jobs for which Occupational Qualification Certificates must be held ...
The State Council promulgated the Regulations for the Administration of Direct Sales (the “Direct Sales Regulations”) and the Regulations for the Prohibition of Pyramid Sales (the “Pyramid Regulations”) on 23 August 2005. The Direct Sales Regulations, which entered into effect on 1 December 2005, allow the reintroduction into China of the direct sales business model that was banned in 1998 ...
The Central Government of the People’s Republic of China (“the Mainland”) and the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (“Hong Kong”) reached a further understanding regarding the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement between the Mainland and Hong Kong (“CEPA”) (as discussed in the July 2003 and November 2003 issues of China Legal Update) on 27 August 2004 ...
The Ministry of Finance promulgated the Measures for the Examination and Approval of the Advanced Recovery of Their Investment by Foreign Partners in Chinese-foreign Cooperative Joint Venture Enterprises on 9 June 2005. The Measures, which entered into effect on 1 September 2005, specify the conditions that foreign investors must satisfy to obtain advanced recovery of their investment in a Chinese-foreign cooperative joint venture (“CJV”) ...
The National Development and Reform Commission promulgated the Provisional Measures for the Administration of Venture Capital Enterprises on 15 November 2005. When they enter into effect on 1 March 2006, the Measures will be the first national statute governing venture capital investment in China ...
The Ministry of Labour and Social Security (“MLSS”) issued the Letter on Issues Relevant to the Occupational Qualification Certificates Held by Foreigners Seeking Employment in China on 13 September 2005. The Letter is likely to make it more difficult for foreigners to take up employment in China in positions or jobs for which Occupational Qualification Certificates must be held ...
The new Irish Commercial Court is living up to expectations by providing a fast and effective means of resolving commercial disputes. A&L Goodbody recently secured for a full hearing within two days of a case being accepted by the Court. The matter involved an arbitrator's referral of a point of law. The speed as well as the terms of decision were crucial in protecting the client's interest ...
From 1 October 2006, new legislation comes into effect intended to combat age discrimination. During a recent series of seminars, commercial law firm Shepherd and Wedderburn carried out a survey of delegates to understand employers' concerns and see what efforts they are making to take the new law on board. More than one in four delegates claimed they themselves intended to work past the anticipated default retirement age of 65 while a further 15% were unsure ...
Scottish Enterprise has a number of schemes to make it easier for small to medium-sized businesses to access growth funding, such as a loan, equity finance - where the investors take shares in your company - or a combination of the two ...
Under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA), employers who provide group health plans and have 20 or more employees must offer continuation coverage to “qualified beneficiaries” who have lost health coverage as a result of certain qualifying events. This article addresses a number of common COBRA-related issues ...
The Wider Economic Environment In 1978, the Government of the People’s Republic of China embarked on a comprehensive program to reform China’s state-planned economy and introduce a free market economy. The new capitalist structures were initially intended to co-exist with the state-planned economy, but a massive surge in foreign investment has since stimulated the free market economy to eclipse the public sector in the industrialised south and eastern seaboard of the country ...
“We consider that the Competition Act, 2002 captures the bulk of the anti-competitive practices which the Groceries Order was originally designed to prevent. However, we consider it desirable to significantly strengthen the Act in some respects and particularly to specially prohibit resale price maintenance, unfair discrimination and “hello money”. Such provisions will, henceforth, be enforced by the Competition Authority ...
