Less than one week ago the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 (coronavirus) a pandemic. In the days that have followed, the United States House of Representatives passed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) to provide access to testing, food assistance, Medicaid funding, paid sick leave and unemployment benefits to workers. The United States Senate is expected to pass a version to be signed into law in the near future ...
An Update in the World of Workplace Safety MSHA Civil Penalties On August 16, 2019, the United States Department of Labor Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) issued a report on MSHA’s civil monetary penalties (“CMP”) program ...
In November 2019, the Trump administration issued unified agenda of regulatory and deregulatory actions. Within the United States Department of Labor, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (“MSHA”) issued six notices – two in the prerule stage, three in the proposed rule stage, and one in the final rule stage. All of these actions are discussed in further detail below ...
On June 16, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced a Temporary Conditional Exemption for municipal advisors (MAs), which provides an exemption from certain broker registration requirements under Section 15 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. This order is in response to the disruption in the municipal securities markets resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic ...
On Sept. 10, 2019, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued the MV Transportation decision and adopted the contract coverage standard in evaluating whether an employer’s unilateral action concerning terms and conditions of employment violates the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) duty to bargain ...
This week, BNY Mellon (“Mellon”), the nation’s oldest bank, announced it was making good on its February 2021 plan to develop the infrastructure necessary to serve as custodian for digital assets. Mellon announced the launch of a proprietary crypto custody software developed in partnership with Fireblocks, a digital asset custody, transfer, and settlement platform. With its announcement, Mellon became the first large U.S ...
Joint employers and independent contractors need to be aware of recent announcements of both the United States Department of Labor (DOL) and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). These bodies have announced significant changes to current regulations with respect to their standards for joint employers and independent contractors ...
On January 25, 2019, the National Labor Relations Board (Board) returned to the common-law agency test for determining whether workers qualified as independent contractors. SuperShuttle DFW, Inc., 367 NLRB No. 75 (2019) The decision expressly overrules the Board’s decision in FedEx Home Delivery, 361 NLRB 610 (2014), enf. denied 849 F.3d 1123 (D.C. Cir. 2017) ...
On Nov. 10, 2021, the General Counsel’s Office of the National Labor Relations Board issued a guidance memorandum [OM 22-03] dictating employers and unions will be required to engage in decision bargaining over discretionary aspects of vaccination policies required by the OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard mandating COVID vaccinations and testing. Under the OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS), employers must create Vaccination and Testing Policies by Dec. 6, 2021 ...
In a move aimed at protecting Americans’ data security, President Joe Biden signed Executive Order 14117 on “Preventing Access to Americans’ Bulk Sensitive Data and United States Government-Related Data by Countries of Concern” (the “Order”) ...
The Renewed Proposal On Oct. 14, 2021, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler released a statement announcing the SEC would once more open comment on the Dodd-Frank Act rule regarding clawbacks of incentive-based compensation that had been improperly awarded due to since-corrected accounting errors. Should a company not comply or refuse to institute a compensation recovery policy, the SEC proposal goes so far as to threaten delisting ...
The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, one of the world’s most talked about and anticipated events, finally kicked off on Friday, July 23, 2021, after a long wait due to COVID-19. Every time the Olympics comes around, a common internet myth will persist that warns: Unless you are an Official Sponsor, you are barred from talking about the Olympics. While that may be true in certain circumstances, it is not always the case ...
On August 19, 2019, the chairman of the National Credit Union Association issued a letter with guidance to all credit unions. Prior to August 19, hemp businesses had difficulty locating banks or other entities that would permit them to conduct normal merchant banking activities. That issue has, in part, been addressed by this letter of guidance. Questions remain, however, regarding many merchant services and whether FinCEN will issue a similar guidance ...
Mexico has just announced significant tax incentives for companies in certain key industries to relocate operations to Mexico. A government decree issued on October 11, 2023 seeks to boost the nearshoring trend targeting ten export-oriented manufacturing sectors. Nearshoring is the process by which a company relocates operations offshore, but close to the market where it intends to sell its products ...
Ohio Department of Health (ODH) Director Amy Acton, M.D., MPH, has issued a comprehensive “Stay Safe Ohio” Order to be effective May 1, which, among many other things, reopens ambulatory care in Ohio. The new “Stay Safe Ohio” Order is available here and recognizes the “sacrifices and incredible efforts” of Ohioans, which make it possible to begin lifting restrictions ...
The West Virginia Ethics Commission issued a new Advisory Opinion on March 7, 2019, which is going to impact the way some teachers arrange for substitutes. The opinion sought was whether it is a violation of the Ethics Act for teachers to prearrange a relative to substitute teach in their absence or place relatives on a preferred list of substitutes for their classrooms ...
The Department for Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) recently issued a final rule under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, which prohibits federally funded health programs from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability. Consistent with the Supreme Court’s 2020 decision in Bostock v ...
In a decision that will significantly impact Ohio employers, the Tenth District Court of Appeals has ruled that workers’ compensation claimants are entitled to temporary total disability benefits even if terminated for cause. In State ex rel. Autozone Stores, Inc. v. Industrial Commission, 2023-Ohio-633, the Tenth District issued Ohio’s first appellate review of R.C. 4123.56(F), which went into effect in 2020. R.C. 4123 ...
Under a new bill adopted by the Ohio General Assembly, school boards, governmental bodies, and other third parties will be prohibited from filing complaints to increase the value of others’ Ohio real property for tax purposes, except under certain limited conditions. Am. Sub. H.B. 126 is expected to largely eliminate the practice of retroactive tax increases as a result of complaints filed based on a sale in the year currently subject to appeal. On its effective date, Am. Sub ...
New California laws could make it more difficult for employers to enforce employment arbitration agreements and now prohibit “no rehire” language in settlement agreements involving employment disputes. Arbitration Agreements The enforceability of employment arbitration agreements has long been under attack in California ...
In a recent real estate case, a court dismissed a lawsuit by a buyer to require the seller to sell him the property because the court found that the agreements between the parties contained in text messages and emails were unenforceable. This raises a significant concern over the enforceability of changes or amendments to construction contracts made by text or email, especially ones that will take a long time to perform ...
U.S. technology company Cogint, Inc. (NASDAQ: COGT) announced the termination of its proposed business combination with BlueFocus International Limited after the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States indicated the committee’s unwillingness to approve the transaction ...
In a rare move, the president of the United States effectuated the termination of a proposed hostile takeover of Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) by Broadcom Limited (NASDAQ: AVGO) over national security concerns ...
Building on previously announced waivers and emergency rulemaking, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced additional waivers on March 30, 2020, to provide hospitals, health systems, and many other providers with “maximum flexibility to respond to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic ...
On Nov. 20, 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued two final rules, which implement changes to the Physician Self-Referral Law (Stark Law) and the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) regulations (respectively the CMS Final Rule and the OIG Final Rule, collectively the Final Rules) ...
