Leave As a Reasonable Accommodation
December 27, 2012
The time has come for the minority of circuits to join the majority, and explicitly hold that non-indefinite unpaid leave is a reasonable accommodation under the ADAAA. As discussed in more detail below, cases prosecuted by women with difficult pregnancies would be particularly compelling impact cases to push the remaining circuits to explicitly accept non-indefinite leave as a reasonable accommodation.
CA Workplace Religious Freedom Act
December 27, 2012
Employers often are faced with tricky legal dilemmas when employees ask to display religious symbols and take time off for religious observance. The most common religious request by retail employees is time off for a religious holiday, followed by requests to be excused from a dress code. Recent developments in both legislation and case law suggest that employers should only deny a religious accommodation when it would cause a quantifiable undue burden.
When Discovery Clashes with Privacy Law
December 26, 2012
Businesses that want to use data analytics and comply with privacy rules have an additional burden when the data in question become or could become part of discoverable information in litigation. Then, businesses must make choices about how to handle PII data, which of it to produce and the justifications to support those decisions. Balancing these data-driven issues requires an understanding of the ever evolving landscape of each competing concern.
Insurance Coverage for Data Breach Claims
December 26, 2012
This article examines insurance coverage for data breaches. Counsel may be surprised to learn that coverage for data breaches is not limited to specialty policies, and can often be found under standard CGL or property insurance policies. Any time a potential data breach occurs, it is essential for an insured to consider all forms of insurance that it carries and to provide prompt notice to its insurer(s) of any policy that even potentially could apply.
Protecting Weak Online Trademarks
December 26, 2012
Creating a brand name that is trademark-worthy and can be defended in the market requires a thoughtful strategy. The standards of the USPTO for trademark registration are nuanced, and the wrong choice of words can make it challenging to obtain a defensible registered mark.
The Sending and Receipt of Metadata
December 26, 2012
This article provides an overview of the ethical and legal considerations in both of those contexts with respect to both the sending and receipt of metadata by in-house counsel and the company's outside counsel.
Success in Mediation
December 26, 2012
In-house counsel contemplating or involved in mediation should take a step back and consider whether the standard ways of doing things really serve their or their clients' needs. Do they promote your dispute resolution goals? Surprisingly often, the answer is no.
Privileges, Clawbacks, and Inadvertent Disclosures
December 26, 2012
Several issues and concerns populate corporate counsels' minds when confronted with e-discovery demands, but two rise to the top: 1) collection and production cost; and 2) inadvertently producing information protected by evidentiary privileges. And these two concerns overlap, producing a Catch-22 dilemma for in-house lawyers.
Quarterly State Compliance Review
December 26, 2012
This edition of the Quarterly State Compliance Review looks at some legislation of interest to corporate lawyers that went into effect between Nov. 1, 2012 and Jan. 1, 2013. It also reviews some recent decisions of interest, including two from the Delaware Supreme Court.
