Alerts

Let’s be clear: the Massachusetts Wage Act is draconian. If you violate it, you are on the hook for triple damages and attorneys’ fees.

The increased use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the workplace has already raised issues about working time, proper classification, and discrimination. This alert addresses some of these issues.

Headlines that Matter for Companies and Executives in Regulated Industries

2023 saw terms like “ESG,” “greenwashing,” and “circular economy” come into common use. We also saw a tsunami of other environmental, social, and governance (ESG)-related developments at the international, federal, and state levels.

US Dollar London InterBank Offered Rate (LIBOR) had been considered the world’s most important number, as it was utilized in hundreds of trillions of dollars of financial instruments worldwide. However, as a result of the LIBOR manipulation scandal that erupted in June 2012, LIBOR, as we knew it, is no more.

On October 27, the US Departments of Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services (the Departments) issued new proposed rules intended to revamp the negotiation and arbitration proceedings established under the No Surprises Act (the Act).

On October 7, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed three new bills into law mandating disclosures and reporting related to greenhouse gas emissions, climate risks, and emissions reductions claims.

Environmental and energy issues were in the headlines for much of 2023.

A major new research paper has concluded what many doctors had long believed was true – that patients can be switched between reference (or name brand) biologics and biosimilars with no issues involving the safety profiles or immunogenicity rates of the two drugs.

The City of Chicago has passed a Paid Leave and Paid Sick Leave Ordinance entitling covered employees up to 10 days of paid leave per year: 40 hours of leave for any reason (Paid Leave) and an additional 40 hours of Paid Sick Leave.

On November 29, the US Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a final rule extending the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) deadline to file initial beneficial ownership information (BOI) reports for entities created or registered in 2024.

Headlines that Matter for Companies and Executives in Regulated Industries

With the recent passage of Assembly Bill (AB) 254 and AB 1697, California’s Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (CMIA) will extend privacy protections to reproductive and sexual health information on mobile applications and internet websites.

On July 1, 2020, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) was implemented. A clear and significant negotiation objective was to position the North American vehicle and parts industries with a competitive advantage in a fast-growing global marketplace. Now, in its fourth year, Washington is seeking public feedback to determine if this objective is being realized.

On November 8, 2023, nearly thirty (30) labor groups including the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the United Auto Workers (“Labor Groups”) sent a letter to the Secretary of Transportation and the Acting Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (“NHTSA”)

On October 27, the Biden-Harris Administration announced new initiatives across various governmental agencies to support and encourage the conversion of high-vacancy commercial buildings in downtown urban environments to residential use.

A first-of-its-kind environmental justice (EJ) lawsuit filed by a group of Louisiana churches and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) was dismissed this week.

On November 7, 2023, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit concluded in National Association of Wheat Growers v. Bonta, that California’s Proposition 65 (Prop 65) cancer warning for glyphosate, a product primarily used as an herbicide and crop desiccant, violates the First Amendment.

In an early test of the interplay between artificial intelligence (AI) and copyright law, the US District Court for the Northern District of California recently allowed a copyright infringement claim to proceed against an AI developer.

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a flurry of new bills at the end of the legislative session, including numerous bills that will impact employers across various industries across the state.

In Cummings Properties v. Hines, the Supreme Judicial Court emphatically re-affirmed Massachusetts’s commitment to this “single look” doctrine.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) significantly increased the lifetime estate and gift tax exemption from $5.6 million to $11.18 million for individuals, with adjustments for inflation starting in 2018.

Headlines that Matter for Companies and Executives in Regulated Industries

Everyone loves recycling. However, when it comes to plastic, questions about how recycling occurs and whether it can meaningfully occur generate a fair amount of controversy.

In June 2023, a federal judge in the Northern District of Illinois denied Aon Corp.’s request for a temporary restraining order against Alliant Insurance Services, Inc. and nine former Aon employees after they allegedly poached 26 other Aon employees and misappropriated Aon’s trade secrets.