Our final Asia Employment, Pensions and Incentives update for 2019 looks at: the changes to immigration policies in China, that came into effect 1 August 2019 and relax the requirements for highly-skilled foreign workers and students which had previously been in place; in Malaysia, the amendments outlined in the Industrial Relations Bill which while not … Read more
A number of recent decisions have emphasised the importance of open justice and the limited scope for derogations from it. The case of Curless v Shell International (see our blog post here) suggested that anonymity orders, at Court of Appeal stage at least, will be difficult to obtain in most cases. In L v Q … Read more
The Court of Appeal has held that an email containing advice from an in-house lawyer on redundancy was not, as the EAT had found, a cloak for dismissal on the basis of discrimination (Curless v Shell International Limited [2019] EWCA Civ 1710). The Court of Appeal agreed with the Employment Tribunal that the advice given … Read more
The EAT has held that an employer waived privilege in redacted parts of a draft dismissal letter setting out its lawyer’s comments, as a result of the employer’s decision to rely on other privileged material relating to the claimant’s dismissal (Kasongo v Humanscale UK Ltd). It is well established that, where a party to proceedings … Read more
Our Asia comparative article completes the analysis of legal privilege in investigations, looking at the rules in Malaysia, India and Thailand. You can access that information here. Read more
Taiwan’s Labour Standards Act (the Act) was amended again in January 2018 (the 2018 Amendments). In this bulletin, we consider the effect that the amendments have had on the conduct of labour inspections in Taiwan. Read more
The House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee has today published its report following its inquiry into the use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) in discrimination cases. This follows its report on sexual harassment, to which the Government responded in December 2018 announcing consultation on its own proposals to regulate NDAs (see here); the latest report … Read more
On 9 November 2018, the Legislative Yuan of Taiwan passed the third reading of the Labour Procedure Act (“LPA”). The LPA sets out procedural requirements for labour disputes. In particular, the LPA governs the process of establishing ationation proceedings, provisional remedy proceedings, as well as litigation proceedings. Implementation of the LPA is expected to promote … Read more
Two recent English decisions highlight the particular challenges when managing legal professional privilege in the context of resolving employee issues. We consider these decisions and how the principles may apply in Hong Kong in relation to dominant purpose, waiver and iniquity and the lessons that they provide to employers in the context of employee investigations … Read more
