Insights

April

• 4/30/2015
  How to Remove False and Defamatory Google Reviews
  When running a search of a business on Google, chances are that an aggregate star rating (on a 5.0 scale) and a listing of Google Reviews will appear high up in the search results. While Google Reviews may not yet have the widespread appeal of Yelp, they are gaining in popularity and will continue to be prominently displayed in Google.com search results for obvious reasons.
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• April 2015
  • Monica A. Fitzgerald
  • James T. Barnish
  Figuring Out Family Responsibilities Discrimination
  Monica Oathout, a partner in the Vorys Houston office and a member of the labor and employment group, and Jim Barnish, an associate in the Houston office and a member of the litigation group, co-authored an article for Law360 titled “Figuring Out Family Responsibilities Discrimination.”
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• 4/28/2015
  • Jeffery E. Smith
  Joining Forces to Enhance Competitiveness
  Jeff Smith, a partner in the Vorys Columbus office, and Jeffrey Quayle, senior vice president and general counsel for the Ohio Bankers League (OBL), co-authored an article for the Spring 2015 edition of the Ohio Record (the magazine of the OBL) titled “Joining Forces to Enhance Competitiveness.”
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• 4/27/2015
  Client Alert: Community Bank and Thrift M&A and Capital Planning: Important Opportunities for Small Bank and Thrift Holding Companies Arising from Relief from Basel III
  Following its proposal early this year, on April 9 the Federal Reserve issued an important revision to its Small Bank Holding Company (SBHC) Policy Statement relieving bank and savings and loan holding companies with consolidated assets of less than $1 billion from the requirements of Basel III.
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• 4/27/2015
  • Nelson D. Cary
  Believe It or Not, NLRB Protects Foul Facebook Attack on Supervisor
  Nelson Cary, a partner in the Vorys Columbus office and a member of the labor and employment group, authored an article for TLNT.com titled “Believe It or Not, NLRB Protects Foul Facebook Attack on Supervisor.”
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• 4/23/2015
  Labor and Employment Alert: EEOC Proposes Rules for Wellness Programs (Could Have Been Better, Could Have Been Worse)
  For years, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission declined to provide formal guidance on the application of the ADA to wellness programs. It has now issued rules.
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• 4/23/2015
  How to Remove a Defamatory Blog Post or Site
  There are many internet forums on which disgruntled parties are initiating online reputation and brand attacks. This includes people publishing false and defamatory blog posts, which typically involves them creating a free blog through Google, WordPress or another easy-to-use blog-publishing platform for the sole purpose of disparaging other parties.
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• 4/15/2015
  Labor and Employment Alert: It’s Common Sense: Sixth Circuit Holds That (Generally) Regular, Predictable Attendance is an Essential Function of the Job
  Last year, the Sixth Circuit opened the floodgates on telecommuting as a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In EEOC v. Ford Motor, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) sued Ford under the ADA for failing to accommodate Jane Harris’ (a former employee) irritable bowel syndrome by refusing her request to telecommute as-needed up to four days a week.
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• 4/15/2015
  How to Deal with Extortionists Threatening Bad Reviews, Other Online Reputation and Brand Attacks
  Increasingly today, “extortionists” – given the significance of online reviews – are threatening businesses with potential harmful reviews or posting other damaging content online. For instance, if a business does not give that person a refund, produce replacement, or discount, he or she could make good on a promise to harm the company online.
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• 4/13/2015
  • Jackie Ford
  What Clinton's Email Troubles Can Teach Employers
  Jackie Ford, a partner in the Vorys Houston and Columbus offices, authored an article for the National Law Journal titled “What Clinton's Email Troubles Can Teach Employers.”
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• 4/9/2015
  Labor and Employment Alert: The 9th Circuit Makes it Even Harder to Restrict Former Employees’ Employment
  California courts have made it notoriously difficult to enforce noncompete agreements against former employees in California. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has just made it even harder.
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• 4/8/2015
  Oil and Gas Alert: National Zero Discharge Pretreatment Limit Proposed for Hydraulic Fracturing Oil and Gas Extraction Wastewater Discharged to Publicly Owned Treatment Works
  On April 7, 2015, USEPA proposed a zero discharge Clean Water Act pretreatment standard for wastewater from existing or new Unconventional Oil and Gas Extraction facilities discharged to a Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTW).
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• 4/8/2015
  Client Alert: U.S. Department of Labor Targets the Oil and Gas Industry for Wage-Hour Compliance
  The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently announced the results of a 2014 enforcement initiative that focused on the oil and gas industry in New Mexico and west Texas. According to the DOL, it recovered more than $1.3 million owed to some 1,300 employees as a result of this investigation. This is not the first DOL foray into wage-and-hour practices within the oil and gas industry. In December 2014, the DOL announced that employers engaged in natural gas extraction in the Marcellus Shale region of Pennsylvania and West Virginia agreed to pay $4,498,547 in back wages to 5,310 employees.
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• 4/7/2015
  Client Alert: Publication of Customer Complaints and Reputation Risk
  Despite serious concerns by the industry, as announced on March 19, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has opted to publish “personal narratives” in conjunction with complaints against banking institutions. The CFPB website will carry unverified, unsubstantiated and uninvestigated narratives, in the words of the customer, describing their purported issues with a named institution.
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• 4/3/2015
  Securities Alert: SEC Amends Regulation A Exemption to apply to Offerings of up to $50 Million of Securities Annually
  On March 25, 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted amendments to Regulation A, which provides an exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act of 1933 (Securities Act) for smaller securities offerings by private (non-SEC reporting) companies.
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• 4/3/2015
  Oil and Gas Alert: U.S. District Court Certifies Question to Supreme Court of Ohio Relating to Deduction of Post-Production Costs
  The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio recently certified an important question of law concerning the deduction of post-production costs to the Supreme Court of Ohio: Does Ohio follow the “at the well” rule (which permits the deduction of post-production costs) or does it follow some version of the “marketable product” rule (which limits the deduction of post-production costs under certain circumstances)?
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• April 2015
  Labor and Employment Alert: SEC Takes Aim at Employee Confidentiality Agreements
  The National Labor Relations Board has determined that confidentiality statements used in internal investigations are unlawful. Now, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has weighed in on employee confidentiality agreements.
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• 4/1/2015
  Oil and Gas Alert: OSHA: More Scrutiny and More Penalties Possible for the Oil and Gas Industry
  On March 18, 2015, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced that those engaged in crude petroleum and natural gas extraction, drilling, and related support activities are engaged in “high hazard” activities and will be subject to OSHA’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program. The program has been in effect since 2010, when it replaced the prior Enhanced Enforcement Program. When the program started, OSHA placed its national emphasis on the “high-hazard” industries that involved fall hazards and hazards from amputations; combustible dust, crystalline silica; excavation and/or trenching; lead; and shipbreaking. This announcement is an expansion of the program’s “high hazard” activities. This is important for the oil and gas industry because OSHA concentrates the majority of its resources to inspecting employers from “high-hazard” industries.
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March

• 3/30/2015
  Labor and Employment Alert: Virginia Limits Employer Access to Employee Social Media Accounts
  Underscoring a national trend, Virginia joined 18 states (Arkansas, California, Colorado, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin) limiting employer access to the social media accounts of job applicants and employees.
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• 3/27/2015
  Labor and Employment Alert: The Supreme Court, Pregnancy Accommodation and Unfinished Business
  On March 25, 2015, the Supreme Court announced its long-awaited decision in Young v. United Parcel Service regarding the scope of required accommodations under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA). The case involves a former driver for UPS who claimed that UPS violated the PDA by not offering her light duty when she was pregnant and subject to a 20-pound lifting restriction, despite accommodating nonpregnant drivers with the same lifting restriction.
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