In the new issue of Take 5, our colleagues examine important and evolving issues confronting owners, operators, and employers in the hospitality industry:
Monthly Archives: March 2017
March 30, 2017
Take 5 Newsletter: A Full Menu of Potential Legal Issues for Hospitality Owner/Operators
March 30, 2017
SEC Continues Aggressive Oversight of Separation and Confidentiality Agreements
Last August, we reported on two significant cease-and-desist orders issued by the SEC that, for the first time, found certain language in the confidentiality and release provisions of separation agreements to violate the SEC’s Rule 21F-17(a), which precludes anyone from impeding any individual (i.e., a whistleblower) from communicating directly with the agency.[1] Since then, the SEC has continued its aggressive oversight of separation and confidentiality agreements, with substantial repercussions for some employers. These orders, a select number of which we summarize here, have companies engaging in a serious review and rethinking of their confidentiality restrictions and other relevant provisions in their agreements and handbooks, and considering whether and what remedial steps to take proactively to cure any issues with the language in these key documents.
March 30, 2017
Employers and franchisors take note – are you compliant?
The exploitation of vulnerable workers dominated headlines for much of 2016. As a result of the widespread issues identified, the Turnbull Government promised to strengthen laws to protect those most vulnerable to workplace exploitation.
In fulfilling this promise, the Government has introduced the Fair Work Amendment (Protecting Vulnerable Workers) Bill 2017 (Cth) (Bill). The Bill proposes a raft of changes to the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (Act) to among other things, increase penalties for certain breaches of the Act, strengthen the powers of the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) and to hold franchisors accountable for the actions of their franchisees.
March 29, 2017
How to cater for clients which “cherry-pick” legal services
Clients are shaping transactions like never before, providing major challenges for traditional law firms – and, I would argue, major opportunities.
Clients “cherry picking” legal services has become more widespread, departing from traditional approaches where clients would outsource an entire project to completion.
ILN Today Post
March 29, 2017
Still too many
In our traditional beginning-of-year review, we again counted the number of taxes levied in Hungary today. This time we got 59. Although the number of taxes has decreased by one since last year, the scale and structure of the tax system has not changed. In terms of tax revenue generated, VAT continues to top the list, bringing in approximately HUF 3,300 billion in 2016.
March 29, 2017
Russian Ministry of Health adopted regulations concerning drug quality control inspections
On 28.03.2017 Administrative regulation1 (hereinafter – the “Regulation”), outlining procedure of inspecting medical drugs circulation in the Russia, became effective. The Regulation provides for basics of checking the medical drugs compliance with relevant pharmacopeia description or the drug’s specification file. The body authorized to conduct drug inspections is the Federal Service for Supervision in Healthcare (hereinafter – “Roszdravnadzor”) and its local subdivisions.
According to the Regulation, there are two types of medical drugs compliance inspections, i.e. scheduled and random inspections. Scheduled inspections are conducted pursuant to the annual inspections’ schedule. Such schedules are annually approved by the head of the local Roszdravnadzor subdivision. Scheduled inspections may be conducted no more than once within three years.
March 29, 2017
Tips Do Not Count Towards the Minimum Wage Unless a Worker Qualified as a “Tipped Employee”
In Romero v. Top-Tier Colorado LLC, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that tips received by a restaurant server for hours in which she did not qualify as a tipped employee were not “wages” under the FLSA, and therefore should not be considered in determining whether she was paid the minimum wage.
March 29, 2017
Khoury Report – substantial reforms for small business lending
On 20 February 2017, Mr Khoury published his final report of the Independent Review of the Code of Banking Practice (Code). Mr Khoury is an independent governance expert appointed by the Australian Bankers’ Association (ABA) to conduct an independent review of the Code.
The Code applies to personal and small business bank customers and sets out the banking industry’s key commitments and obligations to customers on standards of practice, disclosure and principles of conduct for their banking services.
March 28, 2017
Drivers Win Overtime Dispute Because of Missing Comma – Employment Law This Week
Featured on Employment Law This Week – “For Want of a Comma.” It seems that punctuation was a key factor in a recent class action suit from a group of dairy delivery drivers in Maine.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ruled that an exemption in the states overtime law is ambiguous enough to support the drivers’ overtime claim. The drivers argued that the exemption applies only to workers who pack perishable food products for distribution—and not those who actually distribute the products. On appeal, the First Circuit agreed that a missing “Oxford” comma makes the drivers’ reading of the exemption a reasonable one.
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