The emergence and subsequent spread of the Delta variant has led several countries, most notably the United States, into adopting more stringent health and safety protocols. On 29 July, President Biden declared that the US government would be imposing vaccination requirements in certain cases and offering additional incentives for its citizens to be vaccinated.
On 5 August, Legal500 and Baker McKenzie held an employment law roundtable discussing best practices for LATAM employers navigating the new normal. Tatiana Garcés (Colombia), Javiera Medina (Mexico) and Leticia Ribeiro (Trench Rossi Watanabe in Brazil) were joined by general counsels Gabriela Rodríguez (Stryker) and Catalina Robledo (Nissan). Together, the panel shared insights around remote work, hybrid work and managing mental health issues in the workplace.
Our quarterly “Working with Unions” bulletin is designed to keep employers updated with key cases and legal developments affecting trade unions and employee representative bodies. Our latest bulletin covers the period of April to June 2021 and includes an interesting Central Arbitration Committee decision considering the effect of Brexit on UK European Works Councils and a decision of the Employment Appeal Tribunal reading down section 146 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 to give workers protection from detriment for taking industrial action.
The Online Safety Act 2021 (Cth) (“Act”) passed Parliament on 23 July 2021 and commences on 24 January 2022 (being six months after it received royal assent, unless proclaimed earlier). A key element of the Act is the proposed “basic online safety expectations” (“Expectations”), which specify the core expectations (to be determined by the Minister) for:
• social media services;
• relevant electronic services (services that allow communication with other end-users e.g., email, IM, chat and certain gaming services); and
• designated internet services (including, with a few exceptions, those that deliver or allow access to material via an internet carriage service).
We are pleased to provide this tracker, which identifies the relevant state-wide shelter-in-place orders and their related expiration dates, as well as the applicable state-wide reopening plans, in each of the 50 United States plus Washington, D.C. This week saw a dozen states extend their state-wide orders and/or the duration of the current phase of their reopening plans, five states imposed new mask mandates, and only two eased restrictions.
Regulators around the world are seeking to strengthen governance frameworks to deter and prevent the perpetuation of employee misconduct and to stem the “rolling of bad apples.”
In this webinar recording, Eunice Tan and Grace Fung from our financial services regulatory team, and Zhao Yang Ng and Sonia Wong from our employment and compensation team discuss and analyze regulatory developments proposed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority in meeting these objectives.
On 4 August 2021, the Ministry of Health (MOH) issued Official Letter No. 6288/BYT-MT on shortening the period of centralized quarantine for people who have received sufficient doses of COVID-19 vaccine (“Official Letter No. 6288”).
On 23 June 2021, Taiwan’s Ministry of Labor issued the “Occupational Safety and Health References Guidelines on Working from Home”, indicating that working from home has become a mainstream work model regulated by the labor authority.
On 4 August 2021, the High Court overturned the Full Federal Court’s decision in Rossato (and the findings in Skene), holding that Mr Rossato was, in fact, a casual employee. The result is that Mr Rossato was found not to be entitled to any back payments. The decision represents a shift in how Courts have approached issues related to casual employment and provides employers with comfort in relation to casual employment arrangements.
On 19 July 2021, most COVID-19 related restrictions were lifted in England. However, the government cautioned against an immediate full return to the office, saying that it expects and recommends a gradual return over the summer, emphasizing employers’ obligations to ensure a safe place of work.