Winter can be a hectic time of year, with stress levels heightened by frantic planning for the festive season and employers may be overwhelmed by annual leave requests. How can employers keep employees happy while balancing the needs of the workplace? Annual leave requests Most employees are likely to request time off during the winter months to spend time with family and friends, especially where this aligns with school holiday periods, religious festivals and national bank holidays ...
The Haryana State Employment of Local Candidates Act, 2020 (“Act”) was enacted to encourage private employers in Haryana to boost local employment. The Act was called upon for application from January 15, 2022, for a period of 10 years. The constitutionality of the Act was challenged in multiple writ petitions before the Punjab & Haryana High Court (“Court”). The Court stayed the implementation of the Act on February 3, 2022 ...
The new Home Secretary, James Cleverly, announced a five-point plan aimed at reducing the recently announced record high net-migration figures. The planned changes will have a big impact on many employers’ ability to sponsor workers from overseas. The changes will be brought into force in the Spring, although an exact date has yet to be confirmed. The Government estimate that these changes will reduce net migration by 300,000 (based on estimations of new entrants to the UK last year) ...
The Environment Agency has been found in breach of the Regulators’ Code by failing to provide a proper appeal mechanism for challenging Compliance Assessment Reports. It must now decide how to provide permit holders with a new appeal mechanism ...
The much-anticipated judgment in the Court of Appeal case of Churchill v Merthr Tydfil County Borough Council [2023] EWCA Civ 1416 has now been handed down. The case concerns a claimant that alleges the Council allowed Japanese knotweed to spread from its land onto the claimant’s private property ...
A judgment has been handed down in the Supreme Court case of Wolverhampton City Council and others v London Gypsies and Travellers and others [2023] UKSC 47. The case considered whether the court had the jurisdiction to make injunctions against not only ‘persons unknown’, but also against unidentified and unknown persons that have not yet performed, or even threatened to perform, the acts which the injunction prohibits. Such persons are known as “newcomers” ...
December 1, 2023 By: Leah Lively California Business and Professional Code sections 16600 to 16607 already invalidate agreements restricting California employees from pursuing any lawful profession, trade, or business, with limited exceptions mainly in the sale of businesses. Starting January 1, 2024, things are going to get more difficult (and potentially costly) for employers ...
The Seventh Circuit issued the third in a trilogy of opinions in October establishing the metes and bounds for criminal prosecutions of “spoofing”—a form of market manipulation, mostly in the commodities markets—that Congress expressly prohibited in the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act. The decisions create a roadmap for government enforcers to bring more cases ...
Are you a recruiter? Do you engage employees to temporarily send them to work at a user undertaking? Do you engage employees to provide contracting services to your clients? As from the 1st April of next year, the Employment Agencies Regulations will come into force, establishing a new regime for these operators, now termed as ‘employment agencies’ ...
Workplace Christmas parties are just around the corner. While such celebrations are a great opportunity to strengthen team spirit and acknowledge everyone?s hard work, it is important to remember that it is not only up to employers to make sure they run smoothly?their entire workforces, managers and employees alike, are also responsible. Just think of potential situations of harassment where alcohol and fun times are combined ...
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) recently published revised figures showing that net migration figures for the year ending 2022 were in fact much higher than initially expected. You may remember our previous article published in June 2023 regarding increases to net migration figures released by the ONS; Net migration figures continue to increase, according to ONS ...
Christmas parties are designed to be fun, but a few festive drinks can quickly get out of hand if not managed correctly. A sobering thought is that employers can be vicariously liable for the action of employees during work events such as Christmas parties. In order to minimise the risks, we explore the steps employers can take before and after any work social event ...
In the New Year, the United States Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments over the damages a plaintiff can recover in a copyright infringement lawsuit. The Supreme Court will consider the question of whether damages are limited only to the three-year period before the plaintiffs filed suit, or whether they can be retrospectively awarded for a longer period, as long as the plaintiffs filed within three years of discovering the infringement. In Warner Chappell Music Inc. v ...
After companies with at least 250 employees[1]have already had to do so, it is now the turn of companies[2]with at least 50 employees to set up an internal reporting channel as the 17 December 2023 deadline rapidly approaches. In this blog, we focus on a number of practical points for attention that companies should take into account when setting up an internal reporting channel. The company already has a whistleblowing scheme in place… ...
Given the current economic climate, many employers are reformulating their businesses or are aiming to cut costs, which may give rise to more cases of proposed redundancies. We discuss how affected employees can best navigate these uncertain times. A redundancy situation is rarely welcomed by both employers and employees; they can represent financial hardship, both for employers struggling with profitability, and the inevitable direct impact on individual employees and their families ...
On November 3rd, the Ministry of Labor and Social Security published Decree No. 36 (the "New Decree") in the Official Gazette. This decree amends Supreme Decree No. 64 of 2017, issued by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security (the "Decree No. 64"), which approves the Regulation of Chapter II of Law No. 20.015 "on the Labor Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities" (hereinafter the "Labor Inclusion Law"), in Title III of Book I of the Labor Code ...
The Employment Agencies Regulations of 2023, which will come into force as from the 1st April 2024, introduce a new regime for regulating the services provided by employment agencies, which were, until now, largely unregulated. These Regulations target employment agencies that provide recruitment services, temporary work services and/or outsourcing services ...
On November 2, 2023, in response to certain controversy, the Canada Revenue Agency (?CRA?) sought to clarify the application of the new disclosure rules, in force since June 22, 2023. The CRA?s comments relate, in particular, to the impact of reporting obligations on severance agreements, a topic we initially covered a few weeks ago1. We believe it is appropriate to go over these clarifications ...
Watch the webinar video and study our key takeaway points from our latest seminar focused on attendance. Our 2023 webinar programme is focused on supporting HR teams to improve the effectiveness and productivity of the organisations they work for, equipping them to best handle key issues and improve their business through reducing their risk, developing their talent and future proofing their organisation #HRImprove ...
SyCipLaw Partners Ricardo P.G. Ongkiko (head of Litigation Department), John Christian Joy A. Regalado and Ma. Patricia B. Paz-Jacoba have written "International Commercial Arbitration in the Philippines," a chapter in the recently released Chambers International Arbitration 2023 Global Practice Guide (GPG) ...
As expected, the new Maritime Law significantly improves the maritime landscape in the UAE, and will no doubt seal the UAE as a shipping-hub in the region. On the precautionary arrest of a vessel front, the new law requires the applicant seeking an arrest of the vessel to provide security to cover the expenses of the crew, and to maintain the vessel ...