What types of PRC individuals can be employed in the PRC? Basically any PRC individual can be employed in China except for any person under the age of 16.
US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Revenue Ruling 2008-13 (the “Ruling”), available at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rr-08-13.pdf, describes an incentive compensation arrangement that was generally intended to provide payment only if certain performance goals were attained, but also provided for payment by reason of an executive’s involuntary termination of employment (which included termination by the company without cause and termination by the executive for good reason) or by reason of retirement, in each case without regard to satisfaction of the performance goals.
The Ruling held that the incentive compensation would not satisfy the “performance-based compensation” exemption from the $1 million limit on deductible compensation imposed by Internal Revenue Code section 162(m), even if the compensation was actually paid upon the attainment of the applicable performance goals. The holding reversed the holdings of earlier IRS private letter rulings.
Employers must act by the end of 2009 if they want to take advantage of transition relief provided by Notice 2008-113 (the Notice) for certain types of operational violations of the rules under Internal Revenue Code Section 409A that occurred prior to 2008.
Section 409A. As discussed in many of our prior client alerts, Section 409A imposes adverse tax consequences on participants in nonqualified deferred compensation arrangements that fail in form or in operation to meet the requirements of Section 409A at any time during a taxable year.
The Act regarding the Appropriateness of the Management Board’s Remuneration (Gesetz zur Angemessenheit der Vorstandsvergütung, VorstAG) came into force on August 5, 2009. It falls into line with a number of legislative reactions regarding the current financial and economic crises.
The Race Discrimination Ordinance ("RDO") comes into force today, 10 July 2009. This is the same day as the final version of the Code of Practice on Employment under the Race Discrimination Ordinance is published on the Equal Opportunities Commission ("EOC") website!
12 June 2009 - Mayer Brown LLP, a leading global law firm, announced today that 124 of its attorneys are ranked in the 2009 edition of Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, including 32 who achieved top-band ranking or higher in 26 national and/or state categories.
June 4, 2009 - Mayer Brown LLP, a leading global law firm, announced today that the 2009 edition of Legal 500 United States ranks the firm’s practices in 24 categories, including top-tier rankings in five categories.
On 27 April 2009, the government of Hong Kong amended the Prevention and Control of Disease Ordinance to include Swine Influenza as one of the notifiable diseases under the Ordinance. As such, medical practitioners are under a statutory obligation to notify the Director of Health of any suspected or confirmed case of Swine Influenza.
On 2 March 2009, the Court of First Instance held in Warham & Ors v. Cathay Pacific Airways Limited & Anor (the "CPA Case") that Cathay Pacific Airways Limited ("CPA") was obliged to follow its disciplinary procedure before terminating the employment of a pilot where the underlying reason for the dismissal is CPA's belief that the pilot is guilty of misconduct.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (commonly being referred to as the Stimulus Bill) included new rules relating to continuation of health coverage, including rules relating to premium subsidies and special coverage elections. These rules were summarized in our February 20, 2009, Client Update, “2009 Economic Stimulus Package Provides for COBRA Subsidies IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED.”
The Court of Final Appeal has recently undertaken a comprehensive review of the extent to which the law will protect information obtained by an employee in the course of employment following the cessation of his employment. The case in question specifically concerned the interplay between confidential information and information protected by legal professional privilege (LPP).
Many employers struggle with the idea of allowing absent employees to take holiday during sick leave. Holidays are often seen as (perhaps much needed) time off from work. If employees are not at work due to ill-health, particularly if they are on long term sick leave, employers would be forgiven for assuming that these employees do not need a holiday.
One of the thorny issues for US-listed multinationals in recent years has been whether a prospectus is required for the operation of their employee stock plans in Europe, particularly employee stock purchase plans. Recently issued guidance on prospectuses may make the operation of employee stock plans in Europe by multinationals listed in the United States cheaper and more straightforward.
With a series of new employment laws and regulations coming into force during the last year, the Supreme Court of the PRC is now drafting a set of judicial interpretations ("the Draft") for the resolution of labour disputes. The Draft is reported to cover the following issues, which should not however be taken as confirmed until the Draft is officially announced.
The Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (CHIP), enacted on February 4, 2009, imposes significant new obligations on sponsors of group health plans. The law expands health insurance coverage assistance made available to certain low-income individuals, and it also expands the groups of individuals who may be eligible for assistance.
Even though the E‐Proxy rules permit distribution of proxy materials via the Internet, sponsors of defined contribution retirement plans (such as 401(k) plans) should be mindful of the disclosure obligations under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA), if the materials are being distributed in connection with a plan that is intended to be a “404(c) plan.”
On January 26, 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Kennedy v. Plan Administrator for DuPont Savings and Investment Plan (U.S., No. 07-636), unanimously ruled that a plan correctly distributed retirement benefits to a participant's ex-spouse who was named as the participant's beneficiary under the plan, despite her purported waiver of the benefits in a divorce decree.
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