Alerts

The vast majority of class action litigation in the logistics industry over the past quarter, and indeed the last few years, has been focused on the issue of worker misclassification.

Enrolling in such a CMS-sponsored innovation model now has an added benefit: a new Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) safe harbor.

Class actions brought under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) continue to trend upward in favor of plaintiffs.

In November 2020, Montana joined Arizona, New Jersey, and South Dakota in legalizing recreational cannabis use.

Folgers Coffee Co., and its parent company, J.M. Smucker, were sued in federal court for allegedly inflating the number of servings contained in certain canisters of Folgers’ ground coffee.

The latest trends and developments in the class action world.

Last week, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (the EEOC) proposed two final rules: One under the Americans with Disabilities Act (the ADA), and the other under the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA). 

Our initial alert highlighted various hospitality and service industry businesses suing their insurers to recover for losses arising out of closure and stay-at-home (Civil Authority) orders.

Earlier this week, the federal government reopened the Paycheck Protection Program – and emphasized a renewed focus on preventing fraud and abuse.

On January 11, 2021, Mayor Muriel Bowser signed into law the Ban on Noncompete Agreements Amendment Act of 2020, passed by the Council of the District of Columbia in December 2020.

Effective January 1, 2021, every private employer in Florida must either use E-verify, a federal web-based program, to verify the identity and work authorization for each new hire.

The new guidance includes helpful information about additional ‘eligible costs’ for which PPP funds may be used.

Headlines that Matter for Companies and Executives in Regulated Industries

The recently-passed Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (the “CAA”) augments the CARES Act by expanding the existing Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) and adding additional stimulus programs in an attempt to lay some traction to the most troubled sectors of the US economy.

It may come as some surprise that embedded within the over 5,500-pages of the recent COVID-19 relief and government funding bill (the Consolidated Appropriations Act) are several (not-insubstantial) changes to copyright and trademark law and procedure.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published a Final Rule in the Federal Register on December 2, 2020, overhauling the regulations governing the federal Physician Self-Referral Law (Stark Law).

Arent Fox International Trade Group Partner Marwa Hassoun and Government Contracts Group Counsel Travis Mullaney chat about Section 889 of the National Defense Authorization Act.

On January 6, the US Department of Labor announced a final rule, aimed at clarifying the distinction, under the FLSA, between employees and independent contractors.

In March 2020, photographer Michael Barret Boesen filed suit against the owner of sports news website, LongIslandTennisMagazine.com claiming that the website infringed on his copyrights by embedding an Instagram post featuring his photograph of tennis player Caroline Wozniacki.

AFC Gamma’s SEC filing illustrates the importance of proper risk assessment and adequate risk factor disclosures to investors in the rapidly-shifting regulatory landscape of cannabis production, sales, and lending.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit recently analyzed whether and to what extent a relator can survive the False Claims Act’s public disclosure bar when the relator alleges continuation of a fraud scheme.

On January 6, 2021, the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) location requirements go into effect for fixed multi-line telephone systems (MLTS) and interconnected VoIP services, which now include outbound-only VoIP services for purposes of emergency calling.

The Final Rule of the Stark Law revises the definitions of Fair Market Value and includes a definition of General Market Value to better align with actual practices without unduly restricting innovative relationships between physicians and entities providing designated health services.

Turning to the business of exports from the United States, the next section is a must-read for any company doing business in the United States or from the United States.

On December 31, 2020, the Administrator of the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division issued an opinion letter addressing whether certain travel time that occurs on a partial telework day is compensable under the FLSA. Opinion Letter FLSA2020-19 (December 31, 2020).