Key developments in COVID-19 reopening this week include extensions of the current reopening plans in Delaware, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wyoming. Additionally, New York has removed many travel quarantine requirements for domestic and international travelers. New Hampshire allowed its state-wide mask mandate to expire, while Colorado issued a limited requirement mandating face masks in some contexts.
In brief The California Supreme Court recently established new law on two important topics for meal period compliance…
In South Africa, the draft Amendments to Regulation 28 of the Pension Funds Act were published by National Treasury earlier this month. These amendments will allow retirement funds to invest up to 45% of their assets in infrastructure. This is set to open a huge potential source of funding for domestic infrastructure projects, but there has been some debate around whether this will be enough to help bridge the country’s infrastructure gap.
In brief The Minister of Home Affairs in South Africa has extended the validity period of legally issued visas, which expired during the period of the national lockdown in South Africa. These visa holders are permitted to remain in South Africa, under the existing conditions of their visas, until the expiry date…
The UK Supreme Court has confirmed that Asda retail employees (who are nearly all women) can continue their claim for equal pay as compared to Asda’s distribution centre employees (who are nearly all men). The fact that they worked exclusively at different sites did not prevent the comparison. The decision removes one potential hurdle for claimants in equal pay litigation.
In brief In two separate appeals concerning the same individual, the Court of Appeal has held that a…
As vaccines become more readily available in Mexico through the National Vaccination Policy, employers have lots of questions about how this changes the return to the workplace. In this video, our Labor and Employment lawyers discuss the vaccine policies and procedures being adopted by Mexican employers, as well as the legal and practical considerations to address.
The Italian government and the National Trade Unions signed on 6 April 2021 the new Protocol on Health and Safety measures in the workplace (document in Italian here), with the aim of containing the spread of the COVID-19 virus and which updates the previous protocol signed on 14 March 2020 and updated on 24 April 2020 (see our newsletter on the protocol of 14 March here and the one on the protocol of 24 April here).
The use of algorithmic decision-making in recruitment to help improve the effectiveness and efficiency of process is unsurprisingly on the rise. Put simply this technology can enable companies to review far greater numbers of applications at speed, and, in theory, allow for an unbiased approach to recruitment decision making. However, as the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has set out in its recent guidance on this topic, employers should take a critical and careful approach to when and how this technology is applied. If not applied carefully these tools can serve to actually exacerbate the inequalities that they are aiming to address, and could cause employers to fall foul of the UK’s equality and data protection legislation.
On 1 April 2021, Decree-Law No. 4/20201 has been published in the Italian Official Gazette whose Section 4 introduces the compulsory vaccination against COVID-19 for healthcare professionals and operators and provides a detailed procedure for its operation and sanctions in case of non-compliance.