Key Takeaways The Supreme Court is currently weighing whether to take a case regarding Section 101 of the Patent Act as it applies to inventions involving natural laws. The Federal Circuit recently invalidated claims belonging to American Axle & Manufacturing Inc. relating to the manufacture of a prop-shaft using a natural law under Section 101 ...
With the third wave of COVID-19 in full swing in South Africa, it has never been more important for South African employers to anticipate and prepare for the various COVID-19 related disputes that may lie ahead. It is vital to learn from the challenges already confronted by employers worldwide concerning issues such as vaccination, occupational health and safety, and flexible working arrangements and their approaches to such matters ...
Litigation between the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) and the Small Business Administration (SBA) may be nearing an end (The Associated General Contractors of America, Inc. vs. United States Small Business Administration, et al.,United States District Court for the District of Columbia). AGC initially filed a lawsuit against SBA in December 2020, challenging the introductions of Form 3509 and Form 3510 (Loan Necessity Questionnaires) in October 2020 ...
In Competition Commission v W. Hing Construction Co Ltd & Ors [2021] HKCA 877, the Court of Appeal refused to determine whether the standard of proof in competition proceedings for a pecuniary penalty should be lowered from the criminal standard of proof to the civil standard of proof, after concluding that the present case was not an appropriate avenue for such issue to be argued ...
I spent about a third of my 25-year legal career as a federal prosecutor. In that job, I was trained to apply the Principles of Federal Prosecution (PFP), Justice Manual, §9-27.001, et seq., to determine whether and how to charge the white-collar cases I investigated. Sometimes that process was straightforward, but more often the answer was complicated by factors beyond the merits of a particular case ...
Starting around October 26, 2020, the Small Business Administrations (the “SBA”) asked Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) lenders to provide certain questionnaires to PPP borrowers with loans of $2 million or greater. There are two questionnaire forms on the Treasury: Form 3509 for for-profit borrowers and Form 3510 for non-profit borrowers ...
In a case concerning the validity and effect of certain deeds relating to pension increases, the High Court has handed down its judgement. The case also considers the application of scheme forfeiture clauses to arrears of underpayments. The case, concerning the Axminster pension scheme (‘Scheme’), was brought by the Scheme’s independent trustee. Many of the original issues were compromised by the parties, meaning that the court was asked to approve the compromise ...
Whilst divorce rates for younger couples seems to be on a decline, the rate of later life divorce is on the rise with the divorce rates for those 65 years and older having tripled since 1990. There are various reasons for later life divorces such as growing apart, children having left home, retirement or age-related illnesses, but a common factor is because they do not want to start the last chapter of their life unhappy ...
The Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2021 is being expedited through the legislative process. It will provide for extensions to a number of time limits, including for the passing of development plans. Importantly however it will also allow for extensions, or additional extensions, to existing planning permissions to allow projects be completed. Planning permissions have a fixed duration, usually five years ...
The draft Occupational Pension Schemes (Climate Change Governance and Reporting) Regulations 2021 (‘Regulations’) have been laid before parliament and are due to come into effect on 1 October this year. The Pensions Minister announced on June 8 the final version of the Regulations which are designed to regulate how trustees of certain trust-based occupational schemes must engage with, and report on, climate change risk as part of their duties ...
Deadlines loom, as changes to rules on the rights of EEA and Swiss citizens to live and work in the UK are fast approaching. With many developments to keep apace of, we have highlighted the key dates and points which employers need to mark in the diary. 1 ...
As many of us continue to work from home and/or have opportunities for travel and meeting up restricted, we are continuing to run our essential webinar series for employers to ensure that our clients and contacts remain up to date and equipped to deal with all eventualities! Our latest seminar focused on diversity and inclusion in the workplace ...
On June 21, 2021, the Department of Labor (DOL) proposed a new rule to restrict the amount of non-tip-producing work a tipped employee can perform when an employer is taking a tip credit. The proposed rule clarifies that if an employee performs work that directly supports tip-producing work for a substantial amount of time — at least 20 percent of the hours worked in a workweek or at least 30 continuous minutes — the worker must be paid the standard minimum wage ...
Employers who are faced with employee requests for accommodation on the basis of family status may find that the response to such requests depends on the province of employment ...
On 11 June 2021, the Minister of Employment and Labour released the much-anticipated vaccination guidelines. These are included in the amended Consolidated Direction on Occupational Health and Safety Measures in certain Workplaces (the “Directive”). While some have interpreted the Directive as giving employers carte blanche to impose mandatory vaccination policies, this is not the case ...
United States v. Arthrex, Inc., et al, Appeal No. 2019-1434 (Fed. Cir. June 21, 2021) The Supreme Court issued its long-awaited decision today on the constitutionality of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). The Court held that the Administrative Patent Judges (APJs) who make up the majority of the PTAB are not constitutionally appointed under the Appointments Clause of the U.S. Constitution ...
The pandemic has shined a bright light on the importance of safety and health in the workplace. While most employers are well aware of the rules that they are required to follow when it comes to safety and health, many have not thought about what to do when an OSHA inspector arrives at the workplace. Here in Oregon, with some exceptions, most employers fall under the jurisdiction of Oregon Occupational Safety and Health (Oregon OSHA) ...
Guided by the materiality standard from Escobar, a key safeguard for FCA defendants, the Western District of Pennsylvania found the Zaldonis relator failed to show the alleged fraud “would have any effect on the government’s decision to pay a claim.” Five years after the Supreme Court decided it, Escobar thus continues to set a high hurdle for plaintiffs ...
In one of the most highly anticipated decisions in the employment law arena, the Employment Appeal Tribunal has found that Maya Forstater’s ‘gender-critical’ belief is a philosophical belief worthy of protection under s10 of the Equality Act 2010 (“EqA”). Ms Forstater complained to the employment tribunal that she was discriminated against because of her gender-critical belief that sex is biologically immutable and that ‘transwomen are men’ ...
Shipping & Transport, MalaysiaFactsApplicable legal principlesPlaintiff's argumentDefendant's argumentDecisionCommentThis article examines the basis for an order for a sale pendente lite of a vessel that was arrested by a sheriff in in remadmiralty proceedings as security for the plaintiff's claim.(1) FactsOn 19 November 2017 the defendant's vessel, Shi Pu 1, collided with the plaintiff's bulk vessel, Winning Loyalty ...
Free movement of workers from the European Economic Area (EEA) was ended by Brexit and the UK Government introduced the EU Settlement Scheme to bridge the gap between the UK’s two immigrations systems of those coming from the EEA, and those coming to the UK from outwith the EEEA. The EU Settlement Scheme is a mechanism for any EEA citizen who lived in the UK before 31 December 2020 to remain lawfully in the UK ...
In the latest article for our Tricky Issues series, we explore what employers need to consider when seeking to change contracts of employment and the legal risks which may arise when those changes are not agreed by the employees concerned. A contract is a binding agreement between its parties and cannot normally be amended without the express consent of all signatories ...
