Many businesses rely upon restrictive covenants with their employees. These include noncompete agreements, nonsolicitation agreements and confidentiality agreements. These agreements are intended to ensure that the investment a business makes in its employees, its customer relationships and confidential information are adequately protected. Recently, multiple new rules have been proposed that could see many of these agreements ruled unlawful and unenforceable in the United States ...
Blood donation plays a critical role in healthcare, and with the continuous increase of the Maltese population, staff blood donation is becoming all the more important. Malta relies heavily on blood donations to meet the needs of its healthcare system. While voluntary blood donation is always encouraged, staff blood donation can help spur those who would otherwise be hesitant about donating blood or who might even have never donated blood before ...
December 2015 By: Bailee Pelham "Previous research on the mental health of firefighters has shown that they are at a greater risk than the majority of the population to develop various mental disorders, such as depression, anxiety, alcohol abuse, suicidal ideation, and post-traumatic stress disorder ...
Following the announcement that visa fees are to be increased, the government has announced a hike in civil penalty fines for employers and landlords who employ or let properties to foreign nationals who do not have the right to work or reside in the UK. The planned increases come as part of government announcements on policy to reduce the number of people living and working in the UK without a legal immigration status ...
As published in Corporate Compliance Insights 08/07/2023 European Whistleblower Report Provides Critical Country-by-Country Updates What’s in this report from World Service Group: The World Services Group (WSG) Employment and Labor Group collaborated with WSG network law firms in more than 20 European jurisdictions to create the European Whistleblower Report, which provides knowledge on the implementations of the EU Whistleblowing Directive in the differen
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) has announced its proposed rules for the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment (“OPPS”) and Ambulatory Surgical Center (“ASC”) Payment Systems, as well as its calendar year (CY) 2024 proposed Physician Fee Schedule (“PFS”), (collectively the “Proposed Rules”) ...
In its second tranche of major standards reduction, The Joint Commission will eliminate or consolidate 210 accreditation standards across many of its programs. The modification to the affected standards will be effective August 27, 2023. The reduction is part of a major review effort of Joint Commission requirements announced in September of 2022 ...
This week, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) adopted a somewhat new standard for evaluating employer work rules when they are challenged as being “facially unlawful” under Section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”). This standard builds off the previous standard announced in Lutheran Heritage Village-Livonia ...
On June 27, 2023, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (“PWFA”) went into effect. This new law requires covered employers to provide “reasonable accommodations” for the known limitations of a worker relating to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, unless the accommodation would cause the employer “undue hardship ...
On July 9, 2023, major amendments to the Canada Labour Code 1 (the ?Code?) came into force, and further amendments are set to come into force shortly. These amendments relate to Part III of the Code, which covers labour standards. They were provided for in the Budget Implementation Act, 2018, No. 2 2, which was assented to on December 13, 2018, but are only now coming into force ...
The concept of "patient-centered" has become the core guiding principle in current research and development ("R&D") of drugs. "Patient-centered" drug R&D refers to the process of drug discovery, design, implementation and decision-making based on the patient's point of view, with the aim of efficiently developing clinically valuable drugs that better meet the needs of patients ...
The Virginia General Assembly made significant amendments to general rules for construction contracts, as well as the specific rules for public entity construction contracts in the Prompt Payment Act, that largely remove the option of “pay when paid” contracts between general contractors and subcontractors. Beginning in 2022, Virginia Code section 11-4 ...
Although developments in higher education on the issue of affirmative action in admissions may not seem relevant to private employers, the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision should prompt employers to reexamine their own diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”) and voluntary affirmative action initiatives to ensure that employment decisions are not unlawfully based on membership in protected classifications ...
Mamo TCV Advocates contributed to the World Services Group Employment and Labour Group European Whistleblower Report. More than 20 European countries have contributed to this Report which provides a country-by-country update on how European Member States have transposed Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2019 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law (the “Directive”) ...
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced that the policy it put in place in March of 2020 allowing employers to remotely review Form I-9 employment authorization verification documents during the COVID-19 pandemic will end on July 31, 2023. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services also announced that employers must complete the required physical (in-person) inspection for all Forms I-9 created under the temporary policy no later than August 30, 2023 ...
This year, the Federal Trade Commission (the “FTC”) and the Department of Justice (the “DOJ”) have been modifying antitrust guidance related to healthcare, and recently enacted three notable changes. First, the FTC and DOJ jointly issued updated Draft Merger Guidelines (the “Draft Guidelines”) to address the way the agencies evaluate a merger to determine its effect on competition ...
25 July marks World In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) day (or World Embryologist Day) recognising the day in 1978 the first baby was born following successful IVF treatment. To mark the day, we ask what employers can do to support employees undertaking IVF. Background Louise Joy Brown was the first ever baby in the world to be born following IVF treatment ...
A recent survey conducted by the charity Pregnant Then Screwed, reported that almost a quarter (24%) of women who told their boss about their fertility treatment did not receive any support at work.In vitro fertilization (IVF) can place an emotional, physical and financial stress on women ...
On 10 July 2023 in his Mansion House speech, Chancellor Jeremey Hunt announced the government’s plans to transform the UK’s financial services sector. The announcement was followed the next day by a raft of consultation documents from the DWP addressing a range of pension reforms aimed at boosting outcomes for pension savers and supporting growth across the wider economy ...
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On 13 July 2023, the UK government planned increases to fees across a range of immigration and nationality routes including the immigration health surcharge. The immigration health surcharge (IHS) is set to see a huge increase of around 66%. The current standard IHS rate is £624 per person per year of leave to remain granted and this will increase to £1,035. Similarly, the discounted rate for students and under-18s will increase from £470 per year to £776 ...
In this article we highlight the most significant employment law cases since April 2023 and the lessons that employers should take from them. Pregnancy discrimination In dismissal situations, the motivation of the decision-maker to dismiss is key rather than the motivation of other employees who may be indirectly involved, as the case of Alcedo Orange Ltd v Ferridge-Gunn demonstrates ...
On July 14, 2023, the Ministry of Science and Technology of the PRC ("MOST") issued the Notice on Updating the Guidelines on Administrative Approval Items and the Scope and Procedures for Filing and Prior Reporting of Human Genetic Resources, which unveiled six documents, including the administrative guidelines on collection approval, biobanking approval, exportation approval and international collaboration approval of human genetic resources ("HGRs"), as well as the scope and procedures for int
On 16 June 2023 the High Court handed down its first instance decision in the case of Virgin Media Limited v NTL Pension Trustees II Limited and others, dealing with the impact on amendments affecting contracted out rights of failing to obtain a section 37 certificate ...
