Features
National Litigation Hotline
National rulings of interest to you and your practice.
Labor News: 2005 in Review
More than 500 leaders and officials of the seven Change to Win federation unions met Nov. 17-19 in Las Vegas to strategize how to work together in organizing campaigns. Organizers, researchers, and communicators from each of the seven unions met to discuss campaigns and strategy to grow the labor movement. This marked perhaps the first time since the founding of the CIO in the 1930s that so many union officials met to discuss joint targeting and strategy.
Features
Genetic Testing
The rise of genetic testing has touched off a tense legal debate over when and if employers and insurance companies should be allowed access to employees' gen-etic data. At issue is whether current privacy laws related to genetics are strong enough to prevent discrimination, and if there are enough regulations governing what companies can and cannot know.
Features
Recent Developments from Around the States
Recent rulings from around the country.
Features
Courts Grapple with SOX Whistleblower Protections
Courts and administrative law judges have begun grappling with issues concerning the scope of SOX's whistleblower provisions in two types of situations that any U.S.-based multinational corporation might encounter: 1) where the whistleblower is located and the whistleblowing occurred outside the U.S., and 2) where the whistleblower's employer is a nonpublic subsidiary of a publicly traded company.
FLSA: New Supreme Court Ruling
In its first employment-related decision of this term, the U.S. Supreme Court held in <i>IBP, Inc. v. Alvarez</i> that the time food-processing workers spend walking between changing and production areas is compensable under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), as amended by the Portal-to-Portal Act. <i>IBP, Inc. v. Alvarez</i>, 2005 WL 2978311 (U.S., Nov. 8). The Court's ruling disposed of appeals from both the Ninth and First Circuits, and resolves a split among the circuit courts.
National Litigation Hotline
National rulings of interest to you and your practice.
Features
Will Health Savings Accounts Solve the Health Care Crisis?
Perhaps the fastest growing new form of employee benefit arrangements, Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) are an alternative hybrid structure of health coverage. The HSA is a two part arrangement in which participants belong to a health care plan with a high annual deductible that provides insurance coverage for expensive health care procedures and preventative care. The objective of the HSA is to allow eligible individuals who participate in High Deductible Health Plans to contribute to a tax-advantaged savings account on an annual basis an amount equal to their annual deductible, that may be carried over from year to year to cover qualified medical expenses. Contributions to an HSA from employers or individuals are generally tax deductible. In the same way, distributions from an HSA are not included in ordinary income if the amounts are used for reasonable medical expenses. Contributions on behalf of an employee are immediately vested and the HSA program is designed to be portable.
Katrina and the New Insolvency Law
Though Hurricane Katrina may flood bankruptcy courts with new filings from its victims, experts differ over whether the new Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, which took effect in October, will blow away small businesses in the Gulf Coast region.
Employee Relief in the Aftermath of Katrina
Both established and recently enacted laws may offer aid and protection to employees affected by natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina. Employees affected by natural disasters such as Katrina may be protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) if they suffer from a disability as the result of the event, or may be eligible for leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA" if they or a family member have suffered a serious health condition as the result of the storm. Additionally, affected employees may be eligible for relief under measures enacted as a direct response to the event, such as the Katrina Emergency Tax Relief Act of 2005 (KETRA), or may seek relief from previously established assistance programs, such as unemployment insurance or the federal Disaster Unemployment Assistance program.
Need Help?
- Prefer an IP authenticated environment? Request a transition or call 800-756-8993.
- Need other assistance? email Customer Service or call 1-877-256-2472.
MOST POPULAR STORIES
- How Secure Is the AI System Your Law Firm Is Using?What Law Firms Need to Know Before Trusting AI Systems with Confidential Information In a profession where confidentiality is paramount, failing to address AI security concerns could have disastrous consequences. It is vital that law firms and those in related industries ask the right questions about AI security to protect their clients and their reputation.Read More ›
- Pleading Importation: ITC Decisions Highlight Need for Adequate Evidentiary SupportThe International Trade Commission is empowered to block the importation into the United States of products that infringe U.S. intellectual property rights, In the past, the ITC generally instituted investigations without questioning the importation allegations in the complaint, however in several recent cases, the ITC declined to institute an investigation as to certain proposed respondents due to inadequate pleading of importation.Read More ›
- The Binding Effect of Plea Agreements In White Collar CrimesFederal plea agreements sometimes state explicitly that they are limited to that one office and do not bind other U.S. attorney's offices. In this article, we discuss the circuit courts' competing approaches to interpreting the binding effect of plea agreements and the Department of Justice policy.Read More ›
- Compliance and Third-Party Risk ManagementTo gauge the level of risk and uncover potential gaps, compliance and privacy leaders should collaborate to consider how often they are monitoring third parties, what intelligence they are gathering with and about their partners and vendors, and whether their risk management practices have been diminished due to cost and resource constraints.Read More ›
- Issues in Reverse Morals Clauses In Talent Influencer Contracts With Product BrandsThe next company general counsel to slide a morality clause across the desk for a celebrity or web influencer to sign shouldn't be surprised if that talent also whips out a morals clause, one to cancel the contract if the company's brand acts immorally.Read More ›