As seen in the National Law Review: Attorney General Jeff Sessions has caused chaos in the marijuana industry and is forcing those who have made efforts to create legalized businesses in compliance with state laws to ponder whether their anticipated profits will go up in smoke. In a memo to all U.S. attorneys, Sessions rescinded Obama-era decrees that restrained prosecutors from enforcing federal drug laws in states that acted to legalize marijuana under their own laws ...
With a new proxy season fast approaching, it’s time for public companies to do a deep download of key securities law updates and business developments of the past year so the company is positioned for success in 2018. Below is a review of the 2017 proxy season, along with a summary of new and anticipated changes that may impact reporting and disclosure requirements for the upcoming 2018 proxy season ...
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the "TCJ Act") signed into law by President Trump on December 22, 2017, creates sweeping changes in the way individuals and businesses are taxed. One of the most important changes involves the taxation of pass-through entities and directly implicates the standards for qualified small businesses stock ("QSBS") under IRC section 1202 ...
The Basic Laws of Israel that comprise the county’s constitution specifically grant Israel’s citizens the right to privacy as a basic human right. This practice note provides an overview of the regulation of data protection and privacy in Israel, presented in a question and answer format. Legislative Framework • Question 1: Summarize the legislative framework for the protection of personally identifiable information (PII) ...
As seen in Bank Director The process of establishing a de novo bank always has been complicated and time-consuming, and occasionally even painful. But since the beginning of the financial crisis, it seems that obtaining deposit insurance for a de novo bank has become a nearly impossible task. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. received 1,738 applications for deposit insurance from 2000 through 2008, and approved 1,258 of those applications—an approval rate of 72 percent ...
As you likely know, Brexit negotiations are underway, with the UK scheduled to withdraw from the EU on March 29, 2019. As a result of the withdrawal, all EU laws will cease to apply to the UK as of March 30, 2019 unless additional agreements or transitional processes are put into place before the scheduled exit ...
On October 16, 2017, EPA Administrator Pruitt issued the “Directive Promoting Transparency and Public Participation in Consent Decrees and Settlement Agreements.” At the same time, Pruitt issued a memorandum to EPA assistant administrators, regional administrators and the office of general counsel explaining the rejection of “sue and settle” tactics by his administration ...
For many years EPA has taken the position it could take enforcement action based on agency review and calculation of projected emissions in determining New Source Review (NSR) applicability for pre-construction permitting for modification of an existing source ...
On October 16, 2017, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt signed an order reversing a long-standing EPA position that EPA has the authority to review previous state decisions on new source permitting applicability when reviewing Title V permits. The order denied a petition by Sierra Club requesting that EPA object to the issuance of a Title V operating permit to the Hunter Power Plant in Castle Dale, Utah ...
Kentucky Regulatory Amendments On September 15, 2017, the Division for Air Quality submitted amendments to 401 KAR 59:015 for new indirect heat exchangers and 401 KAR 61:015 for existing indirect heat exchangers. The Division stated the amendments were necessary to provide clarity for regulated entities and to remove duplicative requirements covered by federal regulations ...
EPA continues to make progress in its effort to repeal and replace the Clean Power Plan (CPP). EPA held public hearings on November 28-29, 2017, in Charleston, West Virginia to take testimony on its October 10, 2017, proposal to repeal the rule. EPA is accepting comments on the proposal to repeal the rule through January 16, 2018. EPA announced it will hold three additional public comment sessions due to the “overwhelming response” to the West Virginia hearing ...
The Ohio General Assembly voted unanimously in 2015 to pass House Bill 207, which created a rating exception rule where a state-funded employer would not be adversely impacted by claims arising from motor vehicle accidents caused by third parties ...
The U.S. International Trade Commission (“ITC”) issued a determination at the end of 2017, finding that solar panel imports are hurting domestic businesses that operate in the solar industry. The ITC’s determination was issued in connection with a trade case filedby a Georgia-based company, Suniva, Inc., shortly after filing for bankruptcy protection. SolarWorld Americas, Inc. joined Suniva’s petition ...
On December 14, 2017, in a pair of employer-friendly decisions, the National Labor Relations Board overturned its momentous 2015 Browning-Ferris Industries[1] joint-employer decision, as well as its 2004 Lutheran Heritage Village-Livonia[2] standard for weighing the legality of employee handbook policies. In Hy-Brand Industrial Contractors Ltd. and Brandt Construction Co ...
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) released several significant decisions last week affecting all employers and their obligations under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). First, the NLRB overruled Lutheran Heritage and established a new standard for determining whether facially neutral workplace policies unlawfully interfere with Section 7 rights ...
In its bill, Extended Environmental Crime Provisions, from earlier this year, the government has proposed extending the scope of offences for environmental crime committed in conjunction with waste management. The proposal means that all waste management that can cause significant pollution, which is harmful to human health, animals or plants or that can cause other significant environmental nuisance is to be punishable. The penalty for the crime is a fine or imprisonment for up to two years ...
At a time when tolerance seems to be an increasingly precious commodity, society can celebrate an awakening intolerance for sexual harassment. For all of the scandal and salacious detail dominating the media in recent months, there is the hope that victims of depravity can find empowerment and healing, if not justice, too ...
Effective January 1, 2018, the State minimum wage increases to $11.00 per hour for employers with 26 or more employees, and $10.50 per hour for employers with 25 or fewer employees. Several California cities and counties have passed their own minimum wage ordinances with a more aggressive schedule of minimum wage increases. Local minimum wage increases that go into effect on January 1, 2018 include the following: Locality Minimum Wage Eff. 1/1/18 Cupertino $13 ...
The past year has seen a number of high-profile instances of employees resigning, allegedly to avoid disciplinary proceedings against them. This issue was dealt with in the case of Mtati v KPMG Services (Pty) Limited.The employee in this matter was informed by her employer that an investigation was being conducted into allegations of misconduct levelled against her. She then provided her employer with a letter in which she tendered her notice of resignation ...
On 17 November 2017, the National Minimum Wage Bill was gazetted for public comment. Given that the Bill was the subject of negotiation and agreement at the National Economic Development and Labour Council (“NEDLAC”), its progress through the legislative process is likely to be fairly smooth. The Bill envisages that it should be in force by 1 May 2018. We highlight its most important provisions below ...
The draft laws implementing AMLD 4 set out strict rules to allow for protection against improper access to the information on BOs. At the of 2017, the Luxembourg Parliament published two draft laws to implement new transparency measures provided by Directive 2015/849 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing (“AMLD 4”) ...
On December 11, 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to accept an application to appeal the court of appeals decision in Evans v. Georgia Regional Hospital, leaving unresolved a circuit split on whether federal law prohibits employment discrimination based on sexual orientation.[1] In Evans, the plaintiff, a security officer at a Georgia hospital, claimed she had been harassed and passed over for a promotion because she was homosexual ...
The 41st session of the administrative council of the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (“ARIPO”) recently took place in Lilongwe, Malawi. Several documents on the administrative aspects of the organisation were discussed at the meeting, including the proposed programme of activities for 2018, and proposals to amend some ARIPO treaties to continually keep them in line with international trends ...
If you have ever received a trade mark letter of demand, the chances are that you thought one or more of the following things: long, scary, legalistic, absurd, incomprehensible. It is far less likely that you thought any of these things: perfectly reasonable request, clearly explained, a tricky issue handled with charm and tact – but things may be changing. Recently, the trade mark counsel of US company TGI Fridays sent a letter of demand to a bar in Chicago called Moneygun ...
The trade mark laws of many countries specifically mention product shapes among the items that can enjoy trade mark protection – shape trade marks are often referred to as “3D trade marks”. Yet, registering and enforcing 3D trade marks can be very difficult, particularly in Europe. This is evident from the latest UK court decision regarding London taxis ...
