Insights Search

World Fair Trade Day 2022 is fast approaching on May 14, 2022, but the need for businesses to focus on their supply chains doesn’t hit the headlines just once a year.

P&O Ferries (“P&O”), a British shipping company, recently hit the headlines in the UK when it abruptly terminated the employment of almost 800 workers without prior warning or consultation, in some cases via Zoom, as part of a restructuring plan.

Even as supply chains face increased pressure due to COVID-19, the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, sanctions imposed upon Russia, and extreme weather, businesses continue to implement and develop Supplier Codes of Conduct in order to make their supply chains more ESG-compliant.

As more companies are struggling to hire and retain talent in the midst of the “Great Resignation,” I am beginning to get more questions from clients who have never considered sponsoring an applicant for a visa about the feasibility of hiring foreign workers for hard-to-fill positions.

In May 2019, Mexico’s Congress passed a new law to ensure that Mexican labor standards conformed with those of the International Labour Organization Convention, the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement and the new North American Free Trade Agreement (“USMCA”), all of which require their signatories to ensure that workers have collective bargaining rights that satisfy certain standards, including having the bargaining representative of their choice.

Following the passage of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act in late December 2021, companies are facing increasingly high standards to import goods from China.

After my previous blog post regarding recent labor enforcement actions taken under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (“USMCA”) impacting U.S. companies with facilities or subsidiaries in Mexico, I received questions regarding employer rights under Mexican labor law.

Within the last few months, U.S. employers doing business in Mexico have felt the effects of the enforcement mechanisms of the “U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement” (“USMCA”).

The ‘gig’ economy has been the subject of much commentary in recent times, particularly with regard to the legal status of its workers.

Ten years is a long time in the rapidly-developing world of human rights law. V&E Attorney Martin Luff joins leading professionals on the State Bar of Texas IHRC Podcast to discuss how these developments are affecting multinational employers and why in-house lawyers and HR professionals need to be aware of their businesses’ obligations around the world.

On June 17, 2021, in Nestle USA Inc. v. Doe, the United States Supreme Court reversed a Ninth Circuit decision that would have allowed foreign cocoa workers to pursue claims against Nestlé USA, Inc. (Nestle), Cargill, Inc. (Cargill) and others for alleged human rights abuses committed by foreign suppliers under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS).

Partners Maggie Peloso and Tom Wilson recently sat down to continue the “conVErsation” about the origins of the firm’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Taskforce.