Employment law in a time of COVID: Singapore and the Philippines (Webinar)

Date:      10 June 2020
Time:     4.00pm to 5.00pm (Singapore Time) GMT +8

MODERATOR

Ranajit Dam
Managing Editor, Legal Media Group
Thomson Reuters

Ranajit Dam is the managing editor of Thomson Reuters’ Legal Media Group, which includes Asian Legal Business, Asia’s foremost monthly publication covering the legal industry. In his role, he tracks developments in the legal sector across Asia, and also legal and regulatory developments that impact the business and investment climate. 

A former lawyer, Dam has been a journalist for more than 15 years, after graduating from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. Since then, he has worked in the United States, India, China and Singapore, where he is currently based. Dam has been with Thomson Reuters since 2011.

PANELISTS

Emerico O. De Guzman 
Managing Partner, ACCRALAW

Emerico O. De Guzman is a senior partner and currently the managing partner of ACCRALAW. He was the head of the firm’s Labor and Employment Department from 2008 until his election as managing partner in February 2014. He obtained his Bachelor of Science (Psychology) and Bachelor of Laws degrees from the University of the Philippines. He attended the Executive Program in Negotiation of NUS and Kennedy School in 1999, the Academy of American and International Law in Dallas, Texas, U.S in 2005 and the Leadership in Law Firms Program of Harvard Law School Executive Education in 2018.  He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Southwestern Institute for International and Comparative Law.  Prior to ACCRALAW, De Guzman was exposed to human resource management in both the private and public sectors for six years. As a partner of ACCRALAW, De Guzman served four terms as Chairperson of the Industrial Relations Advisory Committee of the People Management Association of the Philippines (PMAP). He was a member of the PMAP Board of Directors for four years and was its director-in-charge of Government Affairs for a year. In November 2005, he was elected president of the association for the year 2006. De Guzman was also in the Board of Directors/Officers (1997-2000) of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (Makati Chapter). He was the managing editor of the IBP Journal for 2003-2005. In June 2007, De Guzman was elected to the Board of Directors of the Philippine Bar Association (PBA).  In 2013, he became a vice-president of the PBA.  In July 2014, he was elected as the president of the PBA for the term 2014-2015.  

He has consistently been recognised by legal publications, such as Chambers Asia and Asia Pacific Legal 500, as a Leading Individual in Philippine Employment Law practice.  In 2011, he was appointed as vice-chair of the Employment and Immigration Committee of the Inter-Pacific Bar Association (IPBA). In July 2011, De Guzman was appointed as a member, representing Employers of the National Tripartite Industrial Peace Council (TIPC). In March 2018, he was appointed as co-chair of IPBA’s Legal Practice Committee.  In January 2019, he became chair of the Human Capital Labor Committee of the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP).

De Guzman’s practice areas include employment law, labor relations and litigation involving employment related issues. He is also advising several multinational corporations with labor and employment concerns. He has been assisting clients with their contracting arrangements as well as the conduct of compliance audits and the resolution of disciplinary cases and termination disputes. De Guzman also actively gives seminars and lectures on current employment law issues.

He is the Philippine chapter author of: the International Bar Association’s Handbook on Global Recruiting, Screening, Testing and Interviewing Criteria, published by Wolters Kluwer; the Guide to International Employment and Labor Law published by Littler Mendelson; the International Survey on Restrictive Covenants and Trade Secrets in Employment Law published by the American Bar Association; of Getting the Deal Through’s Outsourcing 2016 published by the Law Business Research; and of the Chambers Global Practice Guides 2019 for Employment and for Outsourcing. 

 
Jacqueline Chua
Managing Director, Jacque Law (Singapore)

Jacqueline Chua is the founder and managing director of Jacque Law, a Singapore law firm specialising in litigation and disputes resolution.  Before setting up the firm, she was a partner in one of Singapore’s Big Four law firms. 

Chua is experienced in both contentious and non-contentious aspects of employment law, and is particularly focused on resolving high-value employment disputes, including those involving large-scale investigations, terminations, and contentious team moves.  

She has successfully represented clients in numerous proceedings and achieved extremely favourable outcomes for her clients.  Highlights include representing a prominent healthcare conglomerate in the Singapore High Court to obtain an urgent injunction against an errant employee for the delivery and restraint of use of confidential information; representing a senior executive in negotiations with his employer (a multi-national agriculture conglomerate) and achieving discontinuance of a claim in the Singapore High Court without any form of monetary payment to the employer and on a without admission of liability basis.  

Chua has substantial experience in handling sensitive, high-stakes investigations arising from employee misconduct or whistleblowing allegations, including advising a financial institution in internal investigations against a team of ex-employees for possible breaches of fiduciary duties as well as non-solicitation and non-compete clauses, and advising a healthcare institution on resolving workplace harassments allegations.  

On the non-contentious front, she regularly advises on the interpretation and implementation of employment laws and regulatory obligations, and drafts and reviews a wide range of employment documentation, such as employment letters, termination agreements, staff handbooks and policies, and employee share option scheme rules. In order to provide sound and pragmatic advice, Chua ensures she thoroughly understands her client’s commercial and strategic objectives. 

Relatedly, she also advises on corporate governance and compliance issues, and routinely advises on matters relating to the Securities and Futures Act, the Companies Act and other corporate regulatory statutes and regulations.  This year alone, she has represented two clients involved in high-stakes investigation and pre-enforcement actions, amidst characteristically short timelines and real-time developments. 

Her clientele spans a wide range of different sectors that include financial services, healthcare, technology, petrochemical, hospitality, and agriculture.  Chua also provides training to human resources teams and in-house counsel on a variety of topics, including work-place harassment, discrimination, director’s fiduciary duties, termination and enforcement of restrictive covenants, and general employment law issues.   

Chua graduated from the National University of Singapore with an LL.B. (2nd Upper Hons) degree and is admitted to the Singapore Bar.  She is fluent in both English and Mandarin.