In a prior issue, we discussed how blockchain technology is poised to change the way various industries work. Many have theorized this technology is a game-changer that threatens to usher in a new way of conducting business worldwide. Those industries have continued to invest in blockchain technology at an ever-increasing rate. Banks and other financial institutions have not been left out of this as several have joined large consortiums that aim to study and implement this technology ...
As a new wave of book banning appears to be to be sweeping the nation, public school libraries are relying on a 1982 plurality opinion for guidance and coming up with more questions than answers ...
The Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act (“PUMP Act”), enacted by Congress in late December 2022, provides more nursing mothers with reasonable break time to express breast milk after childbirth and requires employers to designate private locations (other than bathrooms) that are free from intrusion and shielded from view for this purpose ...
Trademark owners with registrations in EU where the UK is designated should soon receive notification for treatment of registrations and applications following the Brexit transition period. The Brexit transitional period, during which EU laws and rights have continued in force in the UK, will end on December 31, 2020. Thereafter, EU Trade Mark and Design applications and registrations (and designations of the EU) will only cover the remaining 27 EU member states ...
What follows is a cautionary tale for anyone involved who fails to follow a natural disaster preparedness plan. Taking short cuts and failing to follow agreed upon emergency preparedness plans are a recipe for disaster. While the litigation we analyze in this article stems from bridge construction in Florida, the lessons learned from this real situation are applicable all across the country ...
In the last edition of The Site Report, we discussed the legal issues surrounding the damage caused by Skanska's construction barges to the new Pensacola Bay Bridge ("Bridge") between Pensacola, Florida and Gulf Breeze, Florida during Hurricane Sally ...
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has long contended that when employers use criminal histories to make employment decisions, they run the risk of violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act by basing their decision on information that has an unfair impact on minorities. The EEOC recently stepped up its enforcement efforts and publicly settled with Pepsi for $3.13 million over the beverage company’s use of a blanket exclusion policy of people with criminal records ...
The federal Endangered Species Act is designed to prevent the taking of endangered species and imposes a regulatory program geared toward the protection and conservation of federally listed species and their critical habitat ...
On April 27, 2020, a group of petitioners asked the Supreme Court of the United States to stay the enforcement of Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf’s March 19, 2020, executive order that closed many of the Commonwealth’s businesses. The case Friends of Danny DeVito et al. v. Wolf et al., No. 19A1032, reaches the Supreme Court from the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, where the petitioners’ King’s Bench petition was denied on April 13, 2020 ...
This past year the North Carolina Legislature has been incredibly active. Among the legislation proposed and adopted, a few bills will create changes in how contractors interact with various public entities. Most notably, big changes are on the horizon for contractors that work with the NCDOT and with school systems. Sitting with the Committee on Transportation, H.B ...
Data privacy professionals have characterized the data privacy risks associated with ChatGPT as a “nightmare.” In order to function, open artificial intelligence programs (“OpenAI”) like ChatGPT require huge amounts of data in order to learn and evolve. Where do the programmers get that data? From you and me without our knowledge or permission ...
In times of emergency, the Secretary of Health and Human Services (the "Secretary") has authority to issue temporary waivers or modifications of certain Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, and HIPAA requirements. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services ("CMS") has released a substantial number of waivers in response to the coronavirus national emergency ...
"Earnings for North American coal miners may plunge by more than half this year as the coronavirus pandemic makes a weak market even worse, according to Moody’s Investors Service." Why this is important: The COVID-19 outbreak continues to wreak havoc with U.S. coal companies as the outbreak has exacerbated an already weak coal market. Moody’s Investors Service has just announced it expects U.S. coal production to drop 25 percent this year ...
The pandemic generated a migration of employees from metro-based offices to smaller, more affordable communities where they could work from home. New complexities – mostly centered around pay scale – have arisen with this shift to remote work. Many companies have struggled to find equitable ways to compensate employees, and some employers have decided to pay them less ...
The Families First Coronavirus Relief Act ("FFCRA") was passed by Congress this spring to mandate two weeks of paid sick leave for COVID-19 reasons and to extend the FMLA by creating a new reason for FMLA leave relating to the need for child care because of COVID-19. The details of the FFCRA were covered by the Spilman COVID-19 Task Force at the time of passage here ...
What is workplace artificial intelligence or AI? In its simplest form, AI in the workplace is the use of technology or software to monitor employees’ work performance, gather data, problem-solve, or aid in decision making ...
Everyone likes pie of some sort, especially around the holidays. For those working in the construction industry, the rapidly developing energy sector appears to be an ever-expanding “Job Pie” for contractors designing, managing, supplying, engineering, clearing and erecting projects for participants in the energy sector. For clues on how to follow the pie crumbs to real construction jobs, I turned to Melvin Stroble of Black & Veatch. Here is a slice of the information Mr ...
For those of us who commonly represent lenders, there is nothing more unsettling than hearing the words “course and pattern of conduct” or “dominion and control” or some variation of the same. Any suit where someone seeks to impose liability on a bank for something above and beyond the amounts loaned and repaid is a scary one for lenders (and ultimately should be a scary one for anyone who may need to borrow money in the future) ...
Construction continues to be one of the deadliest industries in the United States, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) is heavily targeting construction workplaces. In 2022, OSHA inspected construction workplaces more than any other industry, and OSHA’s focus on construction employers is expected to continue this year ...
Recently, the Supreme Court of Virginia issued two decisions which have some potentially far-reaching implications for construction and development contracts. First, the Supreme Court issued an opinion in Uniwest Construction, Inc. v. Amtech Elevator Services, Inc.,280 Va. 428, 699 S.E.2d 223 (2010), which involved several issues regarding the scope and effect of certain indemnification provisions typically seen in development and/or construction contracts ...
In the past several years, there has been an increase in cases asserting claimsunder the West Virginia Consumer Credit and Protection Act, W. Va. Code§ 46A-1-101, et seq. (“WVCCPA”) relating to illegal debt collection. The success of early suits has lead to an increased number of these lawsuits ...
At Spilman, we are often asked to review the "colder" legal aspects of human events of all types. The COVID-19 pandemic will be no different. To get a jump start on some of the questions we have faced or will face, we offer some thoughts on the contractual implications of COVID-19. Over the past week, Americans have witnessed countless unprecedented responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. The NBA postponed its season. The NHL soon followed ...
Both houses of the United States Congress have now passed the CARES Act and sent it to the President for his expected signature. Among the provisions in the 880-page Act are critical ones dealing with aid to small businesses, sole proprietors, and independent contractors ...
With the surge of coronavirus cases across the United States, and in West Virginia, questions arise concerning compensability of work exposures. Are coronavirus claims compensable under West Virginia workers’ compensation law? The answer depends on whether the coronavirus is considered an occupational disease under West Virginia law ...
When much of the country locked down in March 2020, very few expected us to still be dealing with this pandemic in December 2020. And yet, here we are. In fact, coronavirus cases are rising sharply throughout much of the country, and the prospect of additional shutdowns is growing more probable by the day. Not all news is bad. Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca have produced what appear to be viable vaccines that could be available as early as this month ...
