The Commerce Department issued the final results of the antidumping duty administrative review and a concurrent new shipper review on freshwater crawfish tail meat from China (A-570-848) (here). The agency determined that both companies under review did not dump subject merchandise, so it will not require AD duty cash deposits for these companies until further notice and will liquidate entries from these companies between September 2012 and August 2013 without payment of AD duties.
CBP issued a memorandum setting the 2015 preliminary low-duty tariff rate quota limit at 15.9 kilograms for tuna and skipjack, in airtight containers, not in oil, in containers, weighing with their contents not over 7 kg each (here).
Mechanical tubing produced to ASTM standard A-513 is not subject to antidumping duties on circular welded non-alloy steel pipe from Mexico (A-201-805), said the Commerce Department in a preliminary scope ruling issued Dec. 3. The mechanical tube, produced by Productos Laminados de Monterrey and Prolamsa, is not suitable for carrying liquid or structural applications, putting it outside the scope of AD duties, said Commerce.
The Commerce Department issued its final affirmative countervailing duty determination on calcium hypochlorite from China (C-570-009) (here). Suspension of liquidation is currently not in effect for entries on or after Sept. 24, and Commerce will only require cash deposits of estimated CV duties on future entries if it issues a CV duty order.
The Commerce Department issued its final determination in the antidumping duty investigation on calcium hypochlorite from China (A-570-008) (here). The agency continued to find no Chinese exporters are independent from state control, and placed all companies in the China-wide entity.
The FCC established a pleading cycle Thursday on AT&T’s proposed buy of two lower 700 MHz C block licenses in the Hubbard, Minnesota, cellular market area from Consolidated Telephone Co. “Our preliminary review indicates that, as a result of the proposed transaction, AT&T would acquire 12 MHz of Lower 700 MHz C Block spectrum in this CMA,” the FCC said. It said that post-transaction, AT&T would hold 135 MHz of spectrum in the CMA, including 55 MHz of spectrum below-1-GHz. Petitions to deny are due Jan. 20; oppositions Jan. 30; replies Feb. 6.
Outreach and a pending request for proposal as FirstNet builds a network is dominating the time and attention of staff, acting General Manager TJ Kennedy told the FirstNet board Wednesday. “Almost everything else that we do in FirstNet supports these two efforts,” Kennedy said. The day after the release of a Commerce Department Inspector General report on irregularities at FirstNet (see 1412090043), the board met Wednesday, with members stressing the progress that has been made so far by the authority, established by the 2012 spectrum law.
The Supreme Court reversed a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision and unanimously ruled that warehouse workers filling orders for Amazon don’t have to be paid for time spent going through security checks. Integrity Staffing v. Busk stemmed from a lawsuit brought by workers employed by Integrity Staffing Solutions, who claimed they were entitled to compensation under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for the time spent waiting to undergo and to go through security screenings. But “an activity is integral and indispensable to the principal activities that an employee is employed to perform ... if it is an intrinsic element of those activities and one with which the employee cannot dispense if he is to perform his principal activities,” Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas said Tuesday in the court opinion. Because the employees’ time spent waiting to undergo, as well as undergoing, Integrity Staffing’s security screenings doesn’t meet these criteria, the appeals decision was reversed, he said. That time isn’t compensable under the FLSA, he said. The 9th Circuit asserted that post-shift activities that ordinarily would be classified as “non-compensable postliminary activities are nevertheless compensable as integral and indispensable to an employee’s principal activities if those postshift activities are necessary to the principal work performed and done for the benefit of the employer.” That court erred by focusing on whether an employer required a particular activity, Thomas said. That an employer could conceivably reduce the time spent by employees on any preliminary or postliminary activity doesn’t change the nature of the activity “or its relationship to the principal activities that an employee is employed to perform,” he said. Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan submitted a joint concurring statement. The allegations in this case "were simply not true," an Amazon spokeswoman said. Data show that employees typically walk through security with little or no wait, "and Amazon has a global process that is designed to ensure the time employees spend waiting in security is less than 90 seconds," she said.
The Supreme Court reversed a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision and unanimously ruled that warehouse workers filling orders for Amazon don’t have to be paid for time spent going through security checks. Integrity Staffing v. Busk stemmed from a lawsuit brought by workers employed by Integrity Staffing Solutions, who claimed they were entitled to compensation under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for the time spent waiting to undergo and to go through security screenings. But “an activity is integral and indispensable to the principal activities that an employee is employed to perform ... if it is an intrinsic element of those activities and one with which the employee cannot dispense if he is to perform his principal activities,” Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas said Tuesday in the court opinion. Because the employees’ time spent waiting to undergo, as well as undergoing, Integrity Staffing’s security screenings doesn’t meet these criteria, the appeals decision was reversed, he said. That time isn’t compensable under the FLSA, he said. The 9th Circuit asserted that post-shift activities that ordinarily would be classified as “non-compensable postliminary activities are nevertheless compensable as integral and indispensable to an employee’s principal activities if those postshift activities are necessary to the principal work performed and done for the benefit of the employer.” That court erred by focusing on whether an employer required a particular activity, Thomas said. That an employer could conceivably reduce the time spent by employees on any preliminary or postliminary activity doesn’t change the nature of the activity “or its relationship to the principal activities that an employee is employed to perform,” he said. Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan submitted a joint concurring statement. The allegations in this case "were simply not true," an Amazon spokeswoman said. Data show that employees typically walk through security with little or no wait, "and Amazon has a global process that is designed to ensure the time employees spend waiting in security is less than 90 seconds," she said.
With a key public notice up for a vote at the FCC Thursday, Verizon has been absent at the commission on any aspect of the long-awaited TV incentive auction. Industry officials say Verizon’s lack of recent advocacy at the very least creates a question mark for the auction of highly desired low-band spectrum. While Verizon had been active at the commission the first half of the year, its last ex parte filing in docket 12-268, a key auction docket, was made June 13, records show.