On Nov. 8, 2021, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office of the Inspector General (OIG) updated and renamed its Provider Self-Disclosure Protocol. Now called the Health Care Fraud Self-Disclosure Protocol (SDP), the OIG’s revisions are the first changes to the SDP since 2013. We report on the key elements of these changes below ...
Key Points New tax reporting provisions on cryptocurrency, as well as criminal consequences for noncompliance, survived in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (H.R. 3684) set to become law. The legislation imposes potential felony charges for failures to report certain "receipt" of digital assets, as well as expands the definition of "broker" to target crypto exchanges ...
On Nov. 4, 2021, the IRS announced in Notice 2021-61 cost-of-living adjustments ("COLAS") to the tax-qualified retirement plan dollar limits for 2022. Most of the applicable dollar limits currently effective for 2021 will increase significantly compared with prior years. Below is a summary of the limits that are generally relevant for most retirement plans. Effective Jan ...
We are seeing renewed interest in these types of structures – particularly from fund managers who have not previously targeted Shariah investors - as (i) sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and HNW individuals from the Middle East and South East Asia diversify into alternative assets like private equity (PE), and (ii) traditional or "western" managers look to expand into the Shariah market by establishing bespoke feeder or parallel funds in Guernsey which offer a Shariah complian
The financial sector has seen its fair share of discrimination cases and the trend continues. In Lacatus v Barclays Executive Services Limited the Employment Tribunal turned its mind to sexism. A female Analyst in the Rates Options Structured Trading Middle Office department brought a number of claims against the bank, including a sex discrimination and harassment claim centred around her line manager’s repeated use of the word “bird” to describe a woman ...
In this update, we’re looking at the hot topic of returning to the office post-pandemic. Q: What’s the direction of travel on working from home in financial services? While many industries have embraced hybrid working, financial services has generally been less enthusiastic about the idea of staff continuing to spend a significant proportion of their working time at home ...
University of Strathclyde v. Clear-Vu Lighting LLC, Appeal No. 2021-2243 (Fed. Cir. Nov. 4, 2021) In this week’s Case of the Week, the Federal Circuit reversed an inter partes review decision finding claims directed to light-based disinfecting methods to be obvious over the prior art. This case provides a helpful example of how negative claim limitations can affect an obviousness determination ...
The Carey Olsen chapters provide analysis and commentary on blockchain and cryptocurrency regulation in Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and Jersey ...
On Nov. 4, 2021, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) released a new Interim Final Rule (IFR) regarding staff vaccination at facilities that participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. The IFR requires covered employers to ensure that staff receive their first dose no later than Dec. 5, 2021 and achieve full vaccination no later than Jan. 4, 2022. The vaccine rule that was also released on Nov ...
To mark Charity Fraud Awareness Week on 21 October Shoosmiths hosted a webinar with Jonathan Taylor, head of charities and care at Innovation Broking, entitled ‘Charity fraud and cybercrime: prevention and cure’. New figures show charities reported £8.6 million of lost funds in the last financial year and more than 1,000 incidents of fraud to Action Fraud, but the true scale of fraud against charities is believed to be much higher ...
In association with Macmillan Davies and led by Employment Partner, Emma Morgan and Associate, Lauren Bholé, this webinar focused on the menopause in the workplace. With World Menopause Day having just passed (18 October 2021) and a parliamentary debate on the menopause having entered the House of Commons in September 2021, the menopause has been a focal point for media coverage ...
OSHA’s long-anticipated (as we have previously discussed) COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard ("ETS") is out and, as promised, it will require companies with at least 100 employees – across all facilities – to either institute a vaccine mandate or compel unvaccinated employees to submit to weekly testing and workplace masking for at least the next six months ...
In February 2012, the FATF published the revised FATF Recommendations (also known as the Standards). The Standards continue to develop to detect and prevent new money laundering and terrorist-financing techniques impacting the international financial system, such as misuse of virtual assets and COVID-19 related threats ...
A recent Fifth Circuit ruling suggests a softening of the SEC’s obligation to return disgorgement awards directly to victims, says Elisha Kobre, a partner at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP. The issue is relevant because the Dodd-Frank Act created a specific fund to hold monetary sanctions collected by the SEC, including disgorgement amounts not directly distributed to victims or used in other specified ways, he explains. The U.S ...
Some West Virginia businesses have implemented COVID-19 vaccine mandates for employees. While the West Virginia COVID-19 Jobs Protection Act (W. Va. Code § 55-19-1 through § 55-19-9) protects people, businesses, and entities from some COVID-19 related claims, the Act does not address whether employees who suffer an injury from a COVID-19 vaccine mandated by their employers may bring a workers' compensation claim ...
On 30 July 2021, the Financial Services Authority (“OJK”) has issued OJK Regulation No. 12/POJK.03/2021 on Commercial Banks (“POJK 12/2021”). POJK 12/2021 was issued to anticipate, amongst other things, a business development and banking trend including the development and innovation of information technology. One of the interesting topics of POJK 12/2021 is the introduction of provisions on digital banks ...
There is no doubt that the pandemic catapulted society and businesses into a new and different world, which saw old working practices replaced by new and which advanced the adoption of new technology at a rapid pace. However, one thing didn’t change at law firm Shoosmiths, and that was how Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) considerations still firmly lay at the heart of the business strategy ...
On October 29, 2021, the following resolutions were published in the Official Gazette: Exempt Resolution No. 1,080 of the Undersecretary of Public Health amending Exempt Resolution No. 994, of 2021, of the Ministry of Health, which establishes the fourth Step-by-Step Plan; and Exempt Resolution No. 1,079 of the Undersecretary of Public Health, which amends Exempt Resolution No. 672, of 2021, of the Ministry of Health, which establishes the Protected Borders Plan ...
On Monday, November 1, 2021, CNBC reported the Office of Management and Budget ("OMB") completed its review of OSHA's Emergency Temporary Standard ("ETS") that will require larger employers to either adopt a policy for mandatory employee vaccinations or an alternative allowing weekly testing and masking for all unvaccinated employees. OMB approval of the ETS is the last step prior to finalizing the rule and its publication in the Federal Register ...
This initiative is a significant departure from the current position where an application for the appointment of a 'light touch' provisional liquidator, for the purpose of restructuring, must be made as part of the winding up process. Under the changes, a restructuring officer can be appointed by a company acting by its directors without a resolution of its members or an express power in its articles of association ...
In her speech to the Principles for Responsible Investment and the London Stock Exchange Group, SEC Commissioner Allison Herren Lee made it clear that a climate change disclosure proposal is no longer a question of if, but when and provided some hints about what the proposal will look like. After remarking that “[c]limate change is . . ...
Last week, in the culmination of a process that began in 2016, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a Final Rule to update the Safeguards Rule promulgated under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act ...
About a year ago, on Nov. 20, 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued two final rules implementing sweeping changes to the Physician Self-Referral Law (Stark Law) and the Anti-Kickback Statute regulations. For the most part, those new rules went into effect on Jan. 19, 2021 ...
