On March 20, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Obduskey v. McCarthy & Holthus LLP, unanimously holding that a business engaged in nonjudicial foreclosure proceedings is not a “debt collector” under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (the “FDCPA”), except for the limited purpose of one section.
The U.S. Supreme Court has vacated the Ninth Circuit’s decision approving a settlement between Google and a class of its users, based on unresolved questions regarding the users’ standing to bring their federal privacy claim.
On March 18, 2019, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed a bill into law that bars many types of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) that arise in the employment arena.
On March 7, 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) finally released its proposed rule to expand the overtime protections in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
OSHA recently issued a final rule eliminating the short-lived requirement for establishments with 250 or more employees to electronically submit information from OSHA Forms 300 and 301.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit released a ruling earlier this month that affirmed a District Court decision that certain medical diagnostic claims of U.S. Patent No. 7,267,820 (the '820 patent) were invalid.
Ohio recently added comprehensive cybersecurity requirements to its insurance laws through Substitute Senate Bill 273, which take effect on or about March 19, 2019.
The U.S. DHS anticipates that the new procedures will result in granting more H-1B visas to beneficiaries with advanced degrees (U.S. master’s degree or higher), thus rewarding the “most-skilled and highest-paid” in support of the Buy American and Hire American Executive Order.
On February 4, 2019, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court decision upholding the constitutionality of Ohio’s statutory unitization procedures.
On February 6, 2019, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published a proposed rule that would amend the “Discounts” safe harbor under the Anti-Kickback Statute and create two new safe harbors respectively protecting “Point-of-Sale Reductions in Price for Prescription Pharmaceutical Products” and “PBM Service Fees.”
The EEOC recently announced that the filing deadline to submit the current EEO-1 has been extended to May 31, 2019. This one-time extension for the EEO-1 was due to the “partial lapse in appropriations” to the EEOC during the government shutdown
Companies in Illinois that use or collect biometric information from customers or employees must take immediate steps to ensure that they are complying with BIPA given a recent Illinois Supreme Court finding.
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker recently signed House Bill 4806, amending the state’s data breach notification law. In relevant part, the amendment expands the information that must be reported to Massachusetts regulators in connection with a data breach involving the personal information of Massachusetts residents, imposes new requirements on compromised entities, and adds some clarification to when entities are required to issue notice of a breach. These changes take effect on April 11, 2019.
On December 19, 2018, then-Governor John Kasich signed Senate Bill 263, the Notary Public Modernization Act (the Act), which, among other things, will permit online notarizations beginning on September 18, 2019.
