The Department of Labor (“DOL”) has undertaken a nationwide compliance initiative to ensure that retirement plan participants receive the benefits that they were promised when they reach their retirement age. To that end, the DOL… more

As noted in our prior blog post, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (the Act) includes several types of relief for flexible spending accounts (FSAs), impacting both health FSAs and dependent care FSAs. The FSA relief provisions… more

The Department of Justice (DOJ) recently announced that it obtained more than $2.2 billion in False Claims Act (FCA) settlements and judgments in the fiscal year ending September 29, 2020. Notably, DOJ reports that “matters that… more

On Friday January 8, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) published a final rule that provides multiemployer pension plans with additional methods to help calculate employer withdrawal liability. The rule includes relatively… more

In response to ongoing pleas for guidance, the Department of Labor (DOL) has published an informal outline expressing its views on how retirement plan administrators should be addressing missing or unresponsive participants. Through… more

New Year’s resolutions are often thought of as individual self-improvement goals that frequently include aspirational health and wellness, financial discipline, habit forming or breaking, and similar goals. But these aspirational… more

After a decade of ups and downs on the question of federal preemption, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (“FMSCA”) decision to preempt California’s meal and rest break… more

On January 18, 2021, the incoming President’s Transition Team announced additional key administration post nominees, including Mr. Gary Gensler as SEC Chair. The announcement specifically provided the following regarding Mr. Gensler’s… more

On Friday, the USDA published a long, long awaited Final Rule regulating the production of hemp in the United States. The Final Rule, which arrives more than two years after Congress first allowed for the widespread cultivation… more

On January 8, 2021, the SEC issued a cease-and-desist order, Release No., 90875 (available here), formally resolving proceedings against Deutsche Bank AG. Deutsche Bank agreed to pay over $125 million as part of a global resolution of… more

The California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board adopted its Emergency Temporary Standards (ETS) on COVID-19 prevention in the workplace on November 19, 2020, which we covered here. Shortly after their adoption, the ETS… more

Key Points - In Swales v. KLLM Transport Services, LLC, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit established a new standard for determining whether, and to whom, court-authorized notice of a collective action lawsuit filed… more

Vermont's legislature adjusts to a new normal - The legislature convened remotely last week and seamlessly began its virtual session. While things are running smoothly technologically, lawmakers are operating under the pall of last… more

With 11 million square kilometers of territorial waters under French jurisdiction and 20,000 kilometers of coastline, France has both an extensive and wind abundant seafront. France benefits from the second largest source of wind for… more

What Happened - On December 15, 2020, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) adopted a final rule, effective April 1, 2021, setting forth conditions, commitments, and requirements for the approval of deposit insurance… more

The Situation: On January 1, 2021, the U.S. Congress enacted the most significant reforms to U.S. anti-money laundering laws in decades. The Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 ("AMLA") and the Corporate Transparency Act ("CTA"), both… more

The Korean-War era Defense Production Act ("DPA")1 has already loomed large in the federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Recent press reports suggest that it may be invoked even more broadly in the coming weeks and months as the… more

In January 2020, we analyzed a split among the Circuit Courts regarding whether a non-debtor holding a debtor’s property on the petition date has an affirmative obligation under section 362(a)(3) of the Bankruptcy Code to return that… more

The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued its ruling in the landmark HIPAA case between The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (MD Anderson) and the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The… more

Today, the far-reaching HIPAA Privacy Proposed Rule, initially released on December 10, 2020, was posted for public inspection on the Federal Register website. The rule is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on January… more

On the last full day of the Trump administration, the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) clarified that staffing firms can qualify as “retail or service establishments” under FLSA section 7(i).  Prior to May 2020… more

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues across the United States, states, payers, and providers are looking for ways to expand access to telehealth services. Telehealth is an essential tool in ensuring patients are able to access the… more

As the incoming Biden Administration takes shape, energy companies will be monitoring potential tax policy initiatives, especially those that could impact the energy sector. Companies throughout the sector could be treated disparately… more

As COVID-19 continues to surge nationally, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) continues to provide and revise its guidance to sponsoring institutions and their graduate medical education (GME) programs to… more

The Situation: Under the federal Physician Self-Referral Law ("Stark Law"), many physician arrangements must meet one or more of the so-called "big three" requirements: that the arrangement be "commercially reasonable," that the… more

The Supreme Court has dismissed insurers’ appeals and substantially allowed the FCA’s appeal in the conclusion of the FCA test case litigation. The result means significantly greater coverage of claims and the focus will now shift to… more

Con el fin de actualizar la normatividad a las recomendaciones de organismos internacionales, a la política general de supervisión de la Superintendencia de Sociedades de Colombia y a la coyuntura actual, la Superintendencia modificó… more

As the trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to unfold, government officials at all levels are reevaluating their health and safety protocols and adjusting workplace guidance based on ever-shifting case metrics. While all… more

COVID-19 Rates Plateau, Although Pause May Be Temporary - The County’s seven-day average test positivity rate has declined from a high of nearly 22% on January 6, 2021, to 16.5% as of Monday, January 18, 2021. While this remains… more

With no clear guidance and different factors being given different weight by different courts, employers have struggled for years with whether workers can be properly classified as independent contractors, rather than employees, under… more

Website operators can consider a host of potential legal claims against entities that scrape their sites’ content without authorization, such as breach of a well-crafted terms of service agreement, copyright infringement, trespass… more

Massachusetts federal and state courts issued a number of important product liability decisions in 2020. These involved a number of rulings on issues surrounding personal jurisdiction. The Product Liability practice group at Nutter… more

"The world's most valuable resource is no longer oil, but data" (The Economist, 6.5.2017). This catchy (albeit not quite accurate) comparison is likely to take the leading position among modern digital markets truisms… more

On January 15, 2021, the Fifth Circuit vacated a $4.3 million penalty that the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) had issued against the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center… more

The end-of-the year omnibus (H.R. 133) is a massive $2.3 trillion spending bill containing appropriations for Fiscal Year (FY) 2021, COVID-19 relief funds, the first energy authorization in over a decade and extensions of a number of… more

Proposition 65 mandates that companies doing business in California provide warnings about exposures to chemicals listed as known to the state to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity. The California Office of Environmental Health… more

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought with it a host of novel legal issues, and just as nature abhors a vacuum, the legal profession abhors a lack of precedent. A case in point relates to mezzanine loan foreclosure sales under the New York… more

Vaccine approval and administration are the next steps in the fight against COVID-19. As with nearly everything about this pandemic, guidance and action plans vary by jurisdiction, and are constantly evolving… more

It was quite a week for the gig economy in California. This is the second of a two-part update; last week we reported on a union- and driver-led California Supreme Court challenge to Proposition 22, the November 2020 voter initiative… more

On 14 January 2021, German Parliament passed a comprehensive reform of the German Act against Restraints of Competition ("ARC"). The most important amendments concern the regulation of digital business models. The reform is therefore… more

In late December 2020, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed S.B. 5470 into law, which will impose a range of Truth in Lending Act-like disclosure requirements on providers of commercial financing in amounts of $500,000 or less. In… more

The victories by Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff in the Georgia elections mean that incoming majority leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) will preside over the narrowest possible majority in the U.S. Senate under which Vice… more

On January 14, 2021, the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) issued its annual press release highlighting its recoveries from False Claims Act (“FCA”) enforcement over the last fiscal year. Total recoveries in FY2020 exceeded… more

On January 9, 2021, China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) issued Rules on Counteracting Unjustified Extra-territorial Application of Foreign Legislation and Other Measures (Blocking Rules), effective immediately. The Blocking Rules (i)… more

In a release, Komisi Pengawas Persaingan Usaha (KPPU) – the Indonesian Competition Authority, published its first Article 20 (Predatory Pricing) decision. The KPPU Decision No. 03/KPPU-L/2020 was issued on a virtual hearing on 15… more

The latest ruling by the UK's Supreme Court is a victory for policyholders. Following the High Court's September 2020 Judgment in the COVID-19 Business Interruption Test Case ("Test Case") brought by the UK Financial Conduct Authority… more

After over 25 years of proposals and negotiations among key stakeholders—including Ohio employers and their supporting associations, the Ohio plaintiffs’ employment law bar, and various employee-rights advocates—on December 22, 2020… more

On January 13, 2021, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia denied a motion to compel arbitration filed by First Premier Corp. (“First Premier”) in a Fair Credit Reporting Act case, on the grounds that First Premier did… more

The US Department of Labor (DOL) provided three long-awaited pieces of sub-regulatory guidance on January 12 on the issues of missing participants and uncashed checks. This is an area that has been the subject of a focused DOL… more

Overview - The year 2020 began with the optimism of advancing numerous pieces of legislation and promises of strong bipartisan cooperation, but activity suddenly halted in March with the onset of shutdowns due to the COVID-19… more

Vendors that hold government contracts with Bergen County are required to file pay-to-play disclosures in January and July of each year. This requirement to file the Bergen County Sunshine Form and the REVUE 2 Form was enacted in 2013… more

On January 5, 2021, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Taskforce on Federal Consumer Financial Law (Taskforce) issued a final report (Report) with recommendations on how to improve consumer protection in the financial… more

On December 31, 2020, the IRS released Notice 2021-05 (the “Notice”) on its website, in its advance of its official publication. As discussed in our earlier blog post, the Notice provides favorable guidance for offshore renewable… more

On January 7, 2021, the original 15-day comment period ended for a proposed rule announced by the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) that would impose new reporting, recordkeeping and… more

Recent developments include updated DOJ compliance guidance, a continued rise in FCPA proceedings and penalties, and new investigatory approaches in light of the pandemic. 2020 saw many important developments in US white collar… more

With the Decrees of the President of the Council of Ministers (“DPCM”) no. 179 and 180 dated December 30, 2020 (effective from January 14, 2021), the Legislator has significantly innovated the Golden Power regulation set forth by Law… more

On 30 December 2020, the EU and China concluded in principle the negotiations for a wide-ranging investment treaty, the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment ("CAI"), after seven years of discussions. The CAI is expected to replace… more

Yesterday the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the U.S. Small Business Association (“SBA”) have fully reopened the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) loan portal to participating lenders to submit first- and second- draw loan… more