Investors were awarded compensation under a bilateral investment treaty, but under EU law, payment of the award constitutes unlawful State aid. This Catch-22 situation is at the heart of a long-running case across jurisdictions. In the latest development, the European Commission has decided to refer the United Kingdom to the European Court of Justice in relation to a judgement of the UK’s Supreme Court to lift the stay of enforcement of an ICSID arbitration award against Romania ...
The federal agency now well-known as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was established by Congress in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. The CFPB is a uniquely independent agency, shielded from the executive branch in a way that other agencies are not. Doing away with that independence has the potential to significantly alter the CFPB and its regulatory work ...
As seen in Human Resource Executive Online In the aftermath of the events in Charlottesville, Virginia, over the weekend, a Twitter account with the handle @YesYoureRacist began soliciting the assistance of the general public to identify rally attendees based on photographs. “If you recognize any of the Nazis marching in #Charlottesville, send me their names/profiles and I’ll make them famous,” the Twitter-detective tweeted ...
As it is known, the second paragraph of Article 5 of the New Constitutional Procedure Code (Law 31307) provides that "In constitutional proceedings against judicial decisions, judges or magistrates of the Judiciary are not notified or summoned with the lawsuit". In this regard, the Constitutional Court (TC) in the order issued in Case No ...
The Panama Papers represent a leak of some 11.5 million files from a Panamanian based advisory firm, Mossack Fonseca. The leak provided information on offshore bank accounts and offshore trusts based in Panama, the British Virgin Islands and the Seychelles, among other jurisdictions. Many politicians and celebrities have been named, including the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, who is perhaps the highest profile individual named in this leak ...
Employers must review their action plan on a daily basis to promote prevention, manage possible or proven contagion among their employees and ensure that business operations continue. Two actions are key: Seeking accurate information from public health officials and governments daily; Taking this information into account when deciding how to meet your obligations to employees while maintaining operations ...
Tourism and event industries are suffering and it is expected that manufacturing enterprises will soon be affected as well. Short-time work can provide a remedy and reduce the economic consequences of the coronavirus for employers and employees ...
In light of the first Coronavirus case being confirmed in South Africa yesterday, employers will need to be more stringent in their approach to managing what the World Health Organisation (“WHO”) has declared to be “a global health emergency” in their workplaces. It has been said that false information about COVID-19 (otherwise known as the Coronavirus) is spreading faster than the virus itself ...
Class Action 30633-05-18 Smuelitz v. Korean Air Co., Ltd Our firm successfully represented Korean Air in a motion to certify a class action suit alleging a failure to refund airport taxes on unused flight tickets. As part of its motion, the plaintiffs requested that Korean Air automatically reimburse airport taxes for unused flight tickets, and pay substantial monetary compensation, for failure to reimburse ...
In Canada, as elsewhere in the world, intellectual property owners have made numerous attempts to control their distribution channels through trademark law, copyright law, or exclusive contracts, without much success. However, in a recent decision ( Costco Wholesale Canada Ltd. v. Simms Sigal & Co. Ltd ...
On February 29, 2012, the Quebec Court of Appeal reversed the judgment of the Quebec Superior Court that had dismissed the motion to authorize the bringing of A Class Action filed by Mr. Michel Dell'Aniello ("Dell'Aniello") in connection with changes made unilaterally by Vivendi Canada Inc. ("Vivendi") to the extended medical insurance benefits plan for retirees. THE FACTS In 1977, The Seagram Company Ltd ...
On June 14, 2012, the Quebec Court of Appeal confirmed the validity of the second paragraph of section 56 of the Act Respecting Industrial Accidents and Occupational Diseases1 (hereinafter the “AIAOD” or the “Act”)2. Although this paragraph establishes a distinction based on age, the Court of Appeal is of the opinion that it is neither invalid nor discriminatory. The Court came to this conclusion in particular because the appellant, Mr ...
On September 14, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Quebec rendered a significant decision in the context of the labour dispute which occurred at the Journal de Québec (the “Journal”) in 2007-2008. This decision sheds some light on the scope of the “anti strikebreaker” provisions of the Labour Code (Quebec)1 ...
THE FACTS The complainant, a non-unionized employee, was hired by McGill University (hereinafter the “University”) in 1987 to be a member of the administrative staff. After working as an administrative assistant since 1994, she was dismissed by the University on June 30, 2009 for fraud. The University’s administrative staff is subject to a Dispute Resolution Policy (the “Policy”), which also covers their employment conditions ...
The Quebec Court of Appeal rendered an important decision on the legality of termination of employment for some 190 employees of the Wal-Mart store in Jonquière. In the context of several proceedings which were filed to obtain compensation for those job losses, the United Food and Commercial Workers, local 503 (hereinafter the "Union") argued that the store's closure in April 2005 was contrary to section 59 of the Labour Code (hereinafter the "L.C.") ...
On December 6, 2007, the Quebec Court of Appeal declared that part of Goodyear’s alcohol and drug detection policy implemented in its Valleyfield plant in the summer of 2004 was valid.The Court of Appeal’s judgement maintained in part a decision rendered on April 21, 2006 by the Superior Court that upheld grievance arbitrator Mtre Denis Tremblay’s April 12, 2005 ruling ...
Considering the state of emergency declared in the Republic of Latvia as a result of the spread of the Covid-19 infection, we have summarized the most important matters to be considered by employers at this time ...
In 2020, as offices and workplaces across Canada closed or reduced staffing capacity due to COVID-19, many Canadian workers who normally performed work at their employer’s worksite were suddenly required to work from home, either fully or partially. While this has not always been an easy transition, the silver lining is that such workers may be eligible for an income tax deduction in respect of their work-from-home situation ...
Much has been and continues to be written about applications for cost-sharing under section 329 of An Act respecting industrial accidents and occupational diseases (the “AIAOD ”).Art. 329 I n the case of a worker already handicapped when his employment injury appears, the Comm ission may, on its own initiative or on the application of an employer, impute all or part of the cost of the benefits to the employers of all of the units ...
On March 19, 2015, the competition regulator in India – the Competition Commission of India (“CCI”), passed an order rejecting charges that Suzuki Motorcycle India (“Suzuki”) had abused its dominant position in the market for manufacturing and sale of two-wheeler vehicles ...
Although Cyprus usually tends to be associated with company formation (in an international tax planning context), Cyprus has an efficient trust legislation in force. The latest legal reform of trusts has enhanced the appeal of Cyprus International Trust (CIT) to both professionals and high net-worth individuals.Legislation and Legal Requirements CITs used to be governed by the International Trusts Law of 1992 ...
The Davis Tax Committee Issues Its Second Report on Estate Duty The Davis Tax Committee (“DTC”) released its much-anticipated second (and final) interim report (the “Report”) on estate duty on 24 August 2016. The Report has been published with amendments taking into account the public’s comments that were submitted in respect of the first interim report ...
Under the new system, GPs will indicate whether the patient is "unfit for work" or "may be fit for work". In the latter case, he will advise of any adjustments to the employee's role or work environment from which the employee may benefit. These might include a phased return, restricted duties, altered hours or even physical adaptations to the workplace ...
On Nov. 30, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments from a coalition of hospital plaintiffs who are challenging Medicare’s nearly 30% reduction in outpatient drug reimbursement rates for 340B Program-participating hospitals ...
