Hong Kong Considers Draft Law Requiring Companies to Report on Modern Slavery -
Proposed Bill or Initiative -
The legislature recently proposed draft legislation to require companies to publish a statement outlining the...more
7/25/2018
/ Child Labor ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Forced Labor ,
Hong Kong ,
Human Rights ,
Human Trafficking ,
International Labor Laws ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Slavery
The Australian State of New South Wales (NSW) recently passed the Modern Slavery Bill of 2018 (the “NSW Act”), which requires companies with employees in NSW and with an annual turnover of over AU $50 million to release an...more
On April 24, 2018, in a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court held that foreign corporations cannot be sued in the United States under the Alien Tort Statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1350 ("ATS"). ...more
5/11/2018
/ Alien Tort Statute ,
Corporate Liability ,
Extraterritoriality Rules ,
Foreign Corporations ,
Human Rights ,
International Litigation ,
International Treaties ,
Jesner et al. v. Arab Bank ,
Judicial Discretion ,
Jurisdiction ,
SCOTUS
The Hong Kong legislature is currently considering draft legislation which, if enacted, will require certain companies—including those incorporated outside of Hong Kong—to publish a “slavery and human trafficking statement.” ...more
4/17/2018
/ Child Labor ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Forced Labor ,
Hong Kong ,
Human Rights ,
Human Trafficking ,
International Labor Laws ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Slavery
The Canadian Government recently announced two new initiatives to “strengthen Canada’s approach to responsible business conduct for Canadian companies doing business and operating abroad.” The first initiative is the creation...more
The Australian Government has announced plans to release draft legislation proposing the introduction of a “modern slavery in supply chains” reporting requirement. ...more
2/7/2018
/ Australia ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Forced Labor ,
Human Rights ,
Human Trafficking ,
Modern Slavery Act ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Public Disclosure ,
Supply Chain ,
Transparency
An ongoing debate exists regarding the nature and extent to which transnational companies should be held directly and legally liable for human rights impacts. Much of this debate has involved calls for additional regulation...more
11/10/2017
/ Burden of Proof ,
Burden-Shifting ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Corporate Veil ,
Due Diligence ,
Extraterritoriality Rules ,
Forced Labor ,
Human Rights ,
Human Trafficking ,
Multinationals ,
Supply Chain ,
UN Guiding Principles ,
Working Groups
On March 14, 2017, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“ECJ”) issued a significant ruling clarifying when an employer may prohibit employees from wearing visible signs of their religious beliefs in the workplace. The...more
In February 2017, legislatures in the Netherlands and France took significant steps to implement mandatory due diligence and reporting rules regarding the impact of an employer's operations and supply chains on human rights. ...more
3/14/2017
/ Child Labor ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Due Diligence ,
Forced Labor ,
France ,
Human Rights ,
Netherlands ,
New Legislation ,
Risk Assessment ,
Supply Chain
Effective April 6, 2017, new Gender Pay Reporting regulations to address the gender pay gap (the “Regulations”) come into force in Great Britain. The Regulations are intended to address the pay gap between men and women by...more
Courts in California and Canada have emerged as testing grounds for advancing claims of forced labor in global supply chains. The plaintiffs’ approach is to make companies more accountable to “soft law” norms like the UN...more
2/15/2017
/ Canada ,
Child Labor ,
Class Action ,
CLRA ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Costco ,
False Advertising ,
Forced Labor ,
Human Rights ,
Multinationals ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Supply Chain ,
Thailand ,
Third-Party Service Provider ,
UN Guiding Principles ,
Unfair Competition Law (UCL)
On December 16, 2016, the United States launched a National Action Plan (the “U.S. NAP”) on Responsible Business Conduct. The U.S. NAP seeks to operationalize the government’s role in encouraging responsible business conduct...more
1/18/2017
/ Business Conduct Standards ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Human Rights ,
OECD ,
Responsible Business Conduct ,
Supply Chain ,
Transparency Directive ,
Trump Administration ,
UK ,
United Nations ,
Working Groups
On November 29, 2016, France’s National Assembly adopted the text of a bill (the “Bill”) that, if enacted, would create new due diligence obligations for large French companies regarding their subsidiaries’ and supply chain...more
In 2011, the United Nations adopted the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (“UN Guiding Principles”), which provide non-binding guidelines on how employers should conduct their business activities to provide...more
A new Illinois state law requires certain employers to post notices informing employees and other members of the public of a helpline to assist any person who is subject to human trafficking. This law, effective January 1,...more
This Annual Report on EEOC Developments—Fiscal Year 2015 (hereafter “Report”), our fifth annual Report, is designed as a comprehensive guide to significant EEOC developments over the past fiscal year. The Report does not...more
1/13/2016
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Annual Reports ,
Class Action ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
GINA ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Pregnancy Discrimination ,
Religious Discrimination ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wellness Programs ,
Young Lawyers
Recent class actions have claimed that companies have violated California consumer fraud and unfair competition laws resulting from alleged forced labor in their global supply chains. These state law claims argue that...more
10/15/2015
/ Alien Tort Statute ,
Child Labor ,
Class Action ,
Consumer Fraud ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Forced Labor ,
Human Rights ,
Human Trafficking ,
Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. ,
Petition for Writ of Certiorari ,
SCOTUS ,
Slavery ,
Supply Chain ,
Transparency in Supply Chains Act ,
UN Guiding Principles ,
Unfair Competition
Non-Canadian workers are increasingly suing their employers in Canadian courts for human rights violations allegedly committed outside Canada by the companies themselves or by other entities in their supply chains. This...more
9/16/2015
/ ACTA ,
Alien Tort Statute ,
Amnesty International ,
British Columbia Supreme Court ,
Canada ,
Code of Conduct ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Due Diligence ,
Foreign Corporations ,
Foreign Workers ,
Human Rights ,
International Finance ,
Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. ,
Negligence ,
OECD ,
Royal Dutch Petroleum ,
Standard of Care ,
Supply Chain ,
UN Guiding Principles
In This Issue:
- INTRODUCTION
..I. LOOKING BACK AT FY 2014: A REVIEW OF EEOC SUCCESSES AND FAILURES, AND SIGNIFICANT CASES AND DEVELOPMENTS TO WATCH FOR IN FY 2015
..A. Key Statistics
...more
1/5/2015
/ Access To Justice ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Conciliation ,
Discrimination ,
Enforcement Statistics ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Equal Pay ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Harassment ,
Hiring & Firing ,
PDA ,
Popular ,
Pregnancy Discrimination ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Strategic Enforcement Plan ,
Wage and Hour
United States employers operating in France often face a dilemma. While they may be bound by the whistleblowing requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act ("SOX") and its Dodd-Frank amendments,1 they also are bound by the data...more