Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) will face large start-up costs under proposed rules issued on March 31, 2011 by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), with an uncertain outlook for savings and even possible losses. An ACO is an organization of health care providers that agrees to be accountable for cost, quality and the overall care of Medicare beneficiaries who are assigned to it ...
On 30 March 2011 the Government confirmed that the Bribery Act 2010 will come into force on 1 July 2011, the announcement being accompanied by the Government's finalised guidance on adequate procedures (see Government Guidance Report) along with non-statutory "quick start" guidance (see Quick Start Guide) ...
The Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued an opinion this week, In re DVI, Inc. Securities Litigation, that deepens the circuit split on issues related to the operation of the fraud-on-the-market theory at the class certification stage of a securities fraud case. The Supreme Court granted certiorari in the Halliburton case to address that circuit split, and is scheduled to hear oral argument on April 25 ...
In a unanimous opinion issued this week, Matrixx Initiatives, Inc. v. Siracusano, 563 U.S. __ (2011), the Supreme Court declined to adopt a proposed bright-line rule for materiality and reaffirmed the Basic “total mix” test. Specifically, the Court rejected Matrixx’s argument that adverse incident reports are never material unless they are statistically significant - overturning several lower court decisions to the contrary, including one written by then-Judge Alito ...
According to an old Russian Proverb, “A spoken word is not a sparrow. Once it flies out, you can’t catch it.” Applying this to the employment context, if an employee verbally complains that his employer is violating the FLSA, is the employee protected from retaliation? Deciding a split among the circuit courts, the Supreme Court answered the question affirmatively, eliminating the need for a net: the FLSA protects employees who file oral complaints. Kasten v ...
How is health care in your jurisdiction organised? The basic principles of the organisation of the health-care system are governed by Act CLIV of 1997 (the Health-care System Act), more specifically by sections 141 et seq. Pursuant to section 141, the state is ultimately responsible for the state of health of the population, and for the creation of a system that protects, promotes and – if necessary – restores it ...
Since the passage of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, with its heightened pleading standards for shareholder plaintiffs, it has become routine for plaintiffs’ lawyers to load their federal securities class action complaints with allegations purportedly obtained from “confidential witnesses” (or “CWs”) ...
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has recently announced two significant enforcement actions against health care providers for violating the HIPAA Privacy Rule. In the first matter, Cignet Health Care of Prince George’s County, MD was fined $4.3 million for failure to provide patients with access to their health records and for failing to cooperate with the ensuing OCR investigation ...
Employers across the country are encountering problems with successful completion of the I-9 Form, a one-page form required to verify employment eligibility of workers in the United States. Despite internal audits and I-9 training, employers continue to identify errors on their I-9 Forms. Each I-9 error is treated as a separate violation resulting in a hefty fine ...
In a case decided last week, Staub v. Proctor Hospital, a unanimous United States Supreme Court finally addressed the application of the “cat’s paw” theory of liability to employment discrimination claims, holding that an employer can be liable for an employment action motivated by a non-decision maker’s discriminatory animus ...
AVOID A $15,000 FINE FOR A FIRST OFFENCE UNDER THE ACT RESPECTING OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY. KNOW YOUR RIGHTS! * MANAGEMENT OF TAX-RELATED DOCUMENTS * DIRECTOR AND… LIABLE AVOID A $15,000 FINE FOR A FIRST OFFENCE UNDER THE ACT RESPECTING OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY. KNOW YOUR RIGHTS! On March 31, 2004, the federal legislature amended the Criminal Code (R.S.C., 1985 c ...
Article 219 of the Loi sur la protection du consommateur (Consumer Protection Act -hereinafter: “LPC”) states that no merchant may, by any means whatsoever, make a false or misleading representation to a consumer. Article 238 states that no merchant may falsely declare that they possess a status or identity ...
The decision by an employer to offer a pension plan to its employees is an important one. Various types of pension plans may be offered, and the financial risk of the employer depends on the type of plan chosen.While unions and employees generally prefer defined benefit pension plans,(1) employers are now very reluctant to implement such plans because of the financial liability they entail ...
Corporate documents provided to the government as part of an investigation of the company are not excepted from disclosure for “personal privacy” purposes under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). In Federal Communications Comm. v. AT&T Inc., the Supreme Court held AT&T did not have a personal privacy interest in documents the company provided to the FCC during an investigation ...
In an action filed this week, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged three outside directors of a public company with securities fraud based on their alleged failures to fulfill their roles and responsibilities as Board members. The SEC contends that by their actions and inaction, the outside directors – Jerome Krantz, Cary Chasin, and Gary Nadelman – facilitated and assisted in a massive accounting fraud at DHB Industries, Inc., a body armor supply company ...
The facts of the case In 1987, the Hudson’s Bay Company (“HBC”) sold one of its divisions to the North West Company (“NWC ”). In the context of that transaction, some 1,200 HBC employees were transferred to NWC (the “Transferred Employees”). On October 7, 2010, the Supreme Court of Canada rendered its judgment in the Burke v. Hudson’s Bay Co. case ...
The business community has been placed on notice. OSHA has been actively pursuing its regulatory agenda, while also arming its arsenal to enforce compliance. This alert explores the highlights of OSHA’s initiatives in 2010 and what companies can expect in 2011. OSHA 2010: Expanded Enforcement and an Active Commission OSHA’s efforts throughout 2010 included expanded enforcement, a negative publicity campaign, and clearance of several legacy cases from the OSHA Review Commission (“OSHRC”) docket ...
Creditors and debtors often enter into agreements with respect to the repayment of indebtedness. These forbearance agreements or “standstill agreements” are useful tools whereby both creditors and debtors can work together to reach a common goal without the immediate need for realization of assets in a formal insolvency proceeding. In contrast, a settlement agreement is designed to bring finality to all or some part of the credit arrangement with the debtor ...
Over the last ten years, Quebec society has frequently been called on to establish means for integrating human rights in the workplace, particularly with respect to accommodation matters ...
OSHA is implementing several changes to its administrative penalty calculation system. Many of the agency's current penalty adjustment factors have been in place since the early 1970's, resulting in penalties which are often too low to have an adequate deterrent effect. Administrative penalty adjustments will therefore be made to several factors which impact the final penalty issued to employers. These factors include: 1 ...
Combined EAD/Advance Parole Cards Citing security and durability, USCIS announced last week that it is issuing combined employment and travel authorization on one card. Currently, applicants are issued two separate approval documents – a card for employment authorization and a paper approval for advance parole ...
Here we go again! Consistent with its retaliation decisions over the past five years, the United States Supreme Court has revisited and expanded the scope of protection from retaliation under Title VII. In an 8-0 decision issued January 24, 2011, the high court expanded the scope of Title VII’s anti-retaliation provision by concluding that in certain situations, the statute allows an employee who has not personally engaged in protected activity to lodge a retaliation claim under the statute ...
In a welcome bit of good news for lenders, U.S. District Court Judge Gold (Southern District of Florida) reversed the portion of the 2009 bankruptcy court decision in the TOUSA, Inc. bankruptcy cases that had ordered the disgorgement of $403 million plus interest based on the holding that the amounts were received by certain lenders to the TOUSA parent in connection with a pre-petition transaction that constituted a fraudulent transfer ...
The Business Corporations Act (Quebec) (the “QBCA” or the “Act”) comes into force on February 14, 2011. Described as innovative by many, the Act provides a new regime for legal persons currently governed by Parts I and IA of the Companies Act (the “QCA”). The last significant amendments to the QCA dating back to the early 1980s, the QBCA has been eagerly awaited by the legal and business communities ...
On February 8, 2011, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion that will have a major impact on Chapter 11 plan confirmation. In consolidated appeals stemming from the In re DBSD North America, Inc ...
