“Smart” television manufacturer VIZIO, Inc. has agreed to pay $2.2 million to settle charges brought by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and New Jersey Attorney General arising from VIZIO’s alleged collection and use of detailed viewing history on 11 million of its smart TVs without consumers’ knowledge or consent.
On January 31, 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it took action against a California mortgage lender, two real estate brokers and a mortgage servicer for violations of the anti-kickback provision of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA).
More changes are going into effect at the Trademark Office that may increase the vulnerability of trademark registrations both during prosecution and after registration.
In a case of first impression, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently determined whether an employer may satisfy the Fair Credit Reporting Act's (FCRA) disclosure requirements by providing a job applicant with a disclosure for consumer report that also served as a liability waiver for the employer.
The Office of Federal Contractor Compliance (OFCCP) regulations require that federal contractors invite job applicants and employees to self-identify as being an individual with a disability.
Recently, The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released a staff report titled “Cross-Device Tracking” (staff report). As the title suggests, this staff report addresses the practice of cross-device tracking and builds from the FTC’s November 2015 Cross-Device Tracking Workshop (workshop), where stakeholders and others discussed cross-device tracking, its benefits and challenges, and industry efforts to address privacy and security concerns created by the practice.
Joseph Mann, a partner in the Vorys Columbus office and a member of the tax group, authored an article for the OOGA Bulletin titled "Enhanced Oil Recovery Credits and Marginal Well Production Credits: Potential Availability for 2016."
For the first time in nearly 30 years, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has updated the Confidentiality of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Patient Records regulations (42 C.F.R. Part 2).
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney recently signed into law an ordinance designed to address gender-based wage disparities by prohibiting employers from inquiring about a job applicant’s wage history. This ordinance follows a similar law enacted by Massachusetts in August 2016 which became the first state to prohibit employers from asking about or requiring a job applicant to disclose his or her wage history. Similar legislation has since been introduced in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York City.
At the beginning of each government fiscal year, which starts October 1, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) makes available an allocation of new H-1B visas.
In a case of first impression, the Massachusetts Superior Court (the state’s trial court) recently decided when an employee’s unpaid meal break should instead be counted as paid working time.
Recently, the U.S. Department of Commerce, through the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), released a draft Version 1.1 to its Cybersecurity Framework.
California generally requires employers to provide their non-exempt employees with a 10 minute rest period for each four hours of work or major fraction thereof.
Over one year after the biggest statutory change in Medicare provider-based billing, Congress enacted the 21st Century Cures Act (the Cures Act) on December 13, 2016, providing relief to certain hospitals impacted by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (the BBA).
Nationally, 24 states and more than 150 cities and counties have enacted “ban-the-box” or “fair chance” legislation that restricts public employers or government contractors from inquiring into applicants’ criminal histories.
If your bank is in the process of a merger or has agreed to buy or sell a portfolio of mortgage loans, notices must be provided to the borrowers before and after the transaction closes.
The United States Supreme Court’s May 16, 2016 decision in Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, 136 S. Ct. 1540, may no longer be news, but how lower courts are struggling to understand and apply that decision is.
President-elect Donald Trump has promised major tax reform in 2017. With Republicans retaining majorities in both houses of Congress, there is now a real possibility that the federal estate tax and the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax may be repealed.
Joseph B. Mann
Nelson D. Cary
Michael C. Griffaton
Marcel C. Duhamel
David M. Aldous
Victor J. Ferguson
David A. Groenke
Emily S. Pan
Michael G. Schwartz
David A. Swift
Mark E. Vannatta
Suzanne R. Galyardt