Top 10 Headlines from All Regions Last week, Charles Oppenheim, the man behind the mysterious Visa Bulletin curtain, also known as Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division of the Department of State, made some significant predictions regarding priority date movement in the coming months. As most California employers have learned by now, it is getting more and more difficult to own a business in California due to the ever-increasing employee-friendly laws that make "extortion" lawsuits convenient and perfunctory, even with the most justified of terminations. The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has released its January 2012 Visa Bulletin. HR 3012 passed the House on November 29th and was read in the Senate and placed on its calendar on December 17th. It is not clear when it will be debated and voted on in the Senate. Recent contract law cases have considered the enforceability of the phrase "reasonable endeavours". The new .XXX top level domain name registry is being rolled out for use in the adult entertainment industry. This alert serves as a reminder that the New York Wage Theft Prevention Act requires employers to provide annual pay notices to all of their employees (whether full-time or part-time, exempt or non-exempt) between January 1 and February 1, 2012. The Government is proposing fundamental reforms to taxation of the Living Away From Home Allowance . The start of a new year often means new laws for California employers to follow, and new administrative burdens for them to bear. DOS Visa Bulletin includes forward movement of one year in the EB-2 category for China and India, and USCIS indicates that the rate of new applications for adjustment of status in recent months has been extremely low. |
