The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has issued its response to the consultation on the exemption of certain categories of worker from the scope of automatic enrolment. While the DWP considered a range of potential exemptions, it has decided that exemptions are only appropriate in a limited number of situations ...
CONTENTS The 2014 Federal Budget Plan sounds the death knell for two family tax planning measures much appreciated by entrepreneurs and some professionalsThe Expert and the CourtYou signed a contract for services... with an employee? How to properly identify the relationship between the parties and what are the consequences of a wrong categorization ?Application of GAAR to a cross-border debt “clean-up” transaction: The Pièces Automobiles Lecavalier Inc ...
Union Organizing Efforts in the Southeast Appear to be on the Rise - and in an Increasingly Union-Friendly Environment In the labor world, 2014 has started out with a bang. We have seen a hotly contested union election at Volkswagen in Chattanooga make national news culminating in an employer victory. Commentators have openly questioned whether this portends an era of reinvigorated union efforts to gain a toehold in the historically company friendly Southeast ...
For many HR professionals the responsibility for ensuring that their organisation can continue to employ migrant workers falls squarely at their door. This can prove daunting, especially for those with little or no business-immigration experience ...
Same sex couples will have the right to marry in England and Wales from 29 March 2014. Generally, same sex marriages will be treated in the same way as opposite sex marriages. However, in occupational pension schemes, surviving same sex spouses need only be treated in the same way as surviving civil partners and not as opposite sex spouses ...
THE FACTS On January 22, 2014, the Court of Appeal of Québec confirmed the 2012 decision of the Superior Court of Québec in Gilman v. Fieldturf Tarkett inc.2 At issue in this case was whether the payment of so-called “phantom share” bonuses were to be paid to employees whose employment was terminated by the company. The incentive program at issue was established for certain non- shareholder key employees of the company ...
The recent case of Cooper v Bank of Scotland plc has once again highlighted the problems arising where a lender takes security over a matrimonial home to support the business debts of one of the spouses. In this case, Mrs Cooper argued that she signed the security as a result of misrepresentation by her husband. The Court agreed with this and ordered that the standard security granted by Mrs Cooper over her one half share in the Property was not enforceable ...
Every year, several judgments are rendered in penal law cases involving occupational health and safety issues. However, judgments in an occupational health and safety context resulting from the laying of criminal negligence charges are more rare. While the sections of the Criminal Code1 which facilitate the filing of criminal negligence charges are now ten years old2, criminal negligence convictions in Quebec based on breaches of section 217 ...
Reform Scotland, the Edinburgh-based think tank, has proposed a wholesale reform of the UK public and private sector pension system. In its paper The Pension Guarantee, published on 27 February and available in full here, it identifies a number of issues with the current system and sets out recommendations for a possible solution ...
On February 26, 2014, the Supreme Court held that state-law fraud class actions brought against attorneys, insurance brokers and others arising from Ponzi-scheme claims involving R. Allen Stanford could proceed. In a 7-2 decision in Chadbourne & Parke LLP v. Troice, 571 U.S ...
Last year, we reported on the Employment Tribunal’s decision in Walker v Innospec Limited (ET 2411316/2011) that a pension scheme’s failure to provide survivor’s benefits for civil partners equal to those provided for spouses was unlawful discrimination ...
The Government has announced that the right to request flexible working will extend to all employees from 30 June 2014. At the moment, only employees who have children under 17 (18 if the child is disabled) or other caring duties are able to request flexible working under the statutory regime. The new provisions had been due to come into force in April but delays to the Children and Families Bill caused a set-back. The Bill is expected to receive Royal Assent in March ...
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has recently published a Q&A document on the application of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive. The Q&A includes information on a number of matters, including the application of the remuneration rules. A copy has been added to the resources page of our AIFMD microsite ...
The HMRC policy on deduction of VAT on costs relating to investment management activities of an occupation pension scheme has altered with effect from 3 February 2014. The HMRC has confirmed that a pension scheme employer may be entitled to deduct VAT paid on services relating to the administration of its pension scheme and management of assets of the pension fund ...
On February 5, 2014, the Minister of Labour announced that as of May 1, 2014, the minimum wage will be increased by $0.20 an hour to $10.35 an hour. The hourly minimum wage of employees receiving tips will be increased to $8.90 an hour, which represents an increase of $0.15 an hour. Finally, the minimum wage payable to raspberry or strawberry pickers will continue to be established on a per kilogram picked basis. From May 1, 2014, this rate will be increased to $3 ...
In the recent case of Re Storm Funding Ltd, the High Court held that where contribution notices (CN) are issued to a number of companies following the failure to comply with a financial support direction:The contribution notices may in aggregate require payment of more than the actual employer debt in the scheme - a single contribution notice cannot be for more than that amount; and It follows that, under these multiple contribution notices, there scheme may recover more than t
Last December, the Minister of Employment and Social Solidarity unveiled the Quebec government's action plan with the goal of [translation] "correcting and restoring the situation of pension plans" ...
Moody’s Investors Service has upgraded Paraguay’s government bond rating by one notch to Ba2 from Ba3, and changed the outlook to positive from stable. According to Moody’s, the “decision to upgrade Paraguay’s rating was driven by the following factors: 1. The improving standing of Paraguay’s key fiscal metrics relative to ‘Ba’ peer medians.2. A strengthened institutional framework as a result of the legislation package that was approved last year.3 ...
Scoring a win against a pandemic of class actions, Cadence Bank defeated a putative class action that had accused the bank of indifference to the Americans with Disabilities Act at its ATMs. The Plaintiff alleged that an ATM at one branch was not accessible, as required by standards that the banking and ATM industries have endeavored to meet since they became effective on March 15, 2012 ...
"Should I stay or should I go?" may be the question an employee asks himself when he faces a difficult working environment and considers filing for constructive dismissal. Constructive dismissal is when an employer indirectly encourages an employee to resign by failing to comply with the employment contract or one sidedly changing the employment terms without the employee's consent ...
On January 16, 2014, the Supreme Court of Canada1 affirmed the Court of Appeal of Québec2 judgment which authorized the class action brought against Vivendi Canada Inc. (“Vivendi”). This important decision confirms, among other things, that the rules for authorizing class actions in Quebec are more liberal than those in the common law provinces. THE FACTS Seagram Ltd. (“Seagram”), which was established in 1857, is a producer of wine and spirits ...
The proposal from the Labour Party to force banks to sell branches when they reach a certain size smacks of political opportunism as opposed to commercial and economic good sense. Whilst any meaningful and effective initiative to increase competition and in turn lending is to be applauded it is difficult to see any value for the embattled SME owner from this latest proposal. Indeed it is not as if government hasn’t been trying to increase lending with little success ...
The Court of Appeal of Québec recently ruled on the criteria for distinguishing between an employment agreement and a contract for services in the case of Bermex international inc. v. Agence du revenu du Québec.1 It is worth noting that regardless of the fact that the parties labelled their agreement as a contract for services or an agreement with a self-employed worker, such a description is not binding on a court ...
Haynes and Boone, LLP’s Immigration Practice Group reminds employers with a need for Cap-Subject H-1B petitions – those applications that are subject to the annual numerical limit – that the filing window for Fiscal Year 2015 is about to open. Over the last three years, the Cap has been reached at a much earlier date. For Fiscal Year 2014, the Cap was reached within the first week of the filing period, which ended on April 5, 2013 ...
Based on a review of recent district court cases, uncertainty remains regarding the proper standard for certifying a Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) collective action in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The absence of a definitive test remains because the Fifth Circuit, in March 2013, avoided the opportunity to apply a stricter certification standard than the one the courts have been using. Apparently, the district courts are holding out for more definitive guidance ...
