North America

February 22, 2012

News You Can Use: Handling IP assets in your estate plan

By Lommen Abdo

Lommen Abdo’s January/February 2012 e-newsletter is fresh off the virtual presses with news about:

New attorneys (Greg Perleberg and Jeff O’Brien) and new practice group leaders — check out what’s happening in Lommen Abdo’s business practice!

Lommen Abdo helps make child’s wish come true.

Sharing knowledge, experiences and business tips are keys to success of Lommen Abdo’s seminars, whether addressing closely held companies or entertainment issues.

Buying music to own — like physical records and CDs — is a disappearing concept. Learn what Ken Abdo has to say about the new music business.

And there is a lot more news about Lommen Abdo and our clients. Click on the link above. Please let us know if you have questions, if we may be of assistance in any way or if you have suggestions for future newsletters. Enjoy!

Posted in Newsletters | North America
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February 22, 2012

EEOC reports provide insight for employers

By Miriam L. Rosen of McDonald Hopkins

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) had a busy month in January 2012 issuing two key reports about agency activity.   Employers should take note of what the EEOC had to say in those reports for insight into where the Agency’s been and where it’s going.

Report on FY 2011 EEOC statistics

The EEOC released its FY 2011 enforcement and litigation statistics revealing that 2011 was a record year for charges of discrimination.  EEOC charges hit an all-time high with 99,947 charges filed.  Following FY 2010’s trend, the largest number of charges– 37.4%–were based on claims of retaliation under all EEOC enforced statutes.  Charges were also up for sex, disability, and age discrimination.  The report also revealed that merit lawsuits brought by the EEOC under the Americans with Disabilities Act nearly doubled in 2011—the highest percent increase of any category.

Posted in Legal Updates | North America
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February 21, 2012

Text Free Zone: OSHA’s Distracted Driving Initiative Kicks Into Gear

By Eric J. Conn of Epstein Becker & Green

By Casey M. Cosentino and Eric J. Conn

“Texting while driving” is an epidemic in America, which has prompted forty-two states and the District of Columbia to ban (completely or partially) this conduct for drivers.  Here’s a map of the U.S. states that have enacted some ban on texting while driving.  Studies suggest that texting while driving distracts drivers’ cognitive focus and removes their eyes from the road and hands from the wheel.  It is not surprising, therefore, that distracted driving is attributed with sixteen percent (16%) of all traffic fatalities in 2009.

The consequences of texting while driving are also seen in work-related accidents, as motor vehicle accidents are among the leading cause of worker fatalities.  Due to the political attention that texting while driving is garnering and the high number of employee deaths caused by motor vehicle accidents, OSHA has launched a Distracted Driving Initiative in partnership with the Department of Transportation to combat this safety issue.

Posted in Legal Updates | North America
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February 21, 2012

HEALTH REFORM: The Clock Is Ticking: CMS Issues a Proposed Rule on Reporting and Returning Overpayments

By EBG RSS of Epstein Becker & Green

On February 16, 2012,[1] almost two years after the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act[2] (the “ACA”), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) issued a proposed rule (“Proposed Rule”) regarding overpayments to providers and suppliers, as provided for under Section 6402(a) of the ACA and codified at Section 1128J(d) of the Social Security Act (the “Act”). Specifically, Section 6402(a) states that “[i]f a person has received an overpayment, the person shall (A) report and return the overpayment to the Secretary, the State, an intermediary, a carrier, or a contractor, as appropriate, at the correct address; and (B) notify the Secretary, the State, intermediary, carrier, or contractor to whom the overpayment was returned in writing of the reason for the overpayment.”

Posted in News | North America
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February 21, 2012

CMS Proposed Rule on Overpayments – A 10 Year Burden

By Elana Zana of Ogden Murphy Wallace

CMS recently published its proposed rules on reporting and returning overpayments.  These rules are intended to implement the 60 day overpayment reporting requirement pursuant to the Affordable Care Act (the “ACA”).  The ACA created a new section 1128J(d) of the Social Security Act requiring a person who receives an overpayment to return and report the overpayment to HHS, the State, a carrier or a contractor and notify the recipient of the reason for the overpayment.  The statute requires that all  overpayments be refunded within 60 days after the date the overpayment was identified or the date of any corresponding cost report (as applicable), whichever is later.

Posted in Legal Updates | North America
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February 20, 2012

OSHA Finally Releases Its Watered-Down Fall 2011 Regulatory Agenda

By Eric J. Conn of Epstein Becker & Green

By Paul H. Burmeister and Eric J. Conn

At the end of January 2012, OSHA finally released its Fall 2011 regulatory agenda, which is intended to be an overview of what OSHA plans to accomplish in the next few months.  The agenda includes updates about the status of several major OSHA rulemaking efforts.  Below is a brief summary of the Reg Agenda.

This Reg Agenda was far less ambitious than each of the previous agendas set forth by the Obama Administration’s OSHA, but it does reveal the agency’s top priorities that will continue to be pressed even during an election year.  The highlights include:

Posted in Legal Updates | North America
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February 20, 2012

Hotel Operators and Managers Remain Vulnerable to Wage and Hour Class Actions

By Epstein Becker & Green, P.C.

By:  Casey Cosentino

A hotel management company was recently hit with a putative class action in federal court for allegedly failing to compensate hotel employees overtime pay at one and one-half times their regular rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 hours in a workweek. As the chief engineer, the lead plaintiff was classified as an executive employee and, thus, was exempt from overtime requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). The lead plaintiff asserts, however, that he was misclassified under the Executive exemption because he “regularly and routinely performed non-exempt tasks . . . including but not limited to, upkeep of the hotel and its grounds, and building and property maintenance; and supervised no more than one other employee.” As such, the complaint contends, among other things, that he and other similarly situated employees unlawfully worked between 50 and 60 hours per week without receiving overtime pay. 

Posted in Legal Updates | North America
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February 20, 2012

The administrative exemption from overtime pay continues to plague employers: Is there a cure?

By Epstein Becker & Green, P.C.

By: John F. Fullerton, III, Douglas Weiner, and Meg Thering

The plague of lawsuits for unpaid overtime compensation by employees who claim that they were misclassified by their current or former employer as “exempt” from overtime under the “administrative” exemption of the Fair Labor Standards Act shows no signs of receding.  These lawsuits continue to present challenges to employers, not just in terms of the burdens and costs of defending the cases, but in the uncertainty of the potential financial exposure.

Read the full article online.

Posted in Legal Updates | North America
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February 20, 2012

DOL issues notice of proposed rulemaking to amend FMLA regulations

By Lori Adelson of Arnstein & Lehr
Arnstein & Lehr attorney Lori Adelson

Lori Adelson

The U.S. Department of Labor has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to implement recent statutory amendments to the Family Medical and Leave Act contained in the 2010 National Defense Authorization Act.

The proposed changes affect military servicemember leave and include new provisions for certain airline employees, who would otherwise be ineligible for leave. According to the DOL, the proposed regulations cover the following:

Posted in Legal Updates | North America
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February 17, 2012

Joel B. Rothman writes article for Nutritional Outlook on class action versus individual lawsuits over advertising claims

By MLB of Arnstein & Lehr
Arnstein & Lehr Attorney Joel B. Rothman

Joel B. Rothman

Arnstein & Lehr West Palm Beach Partner Joel B. Rothman authored the article “Class Action Lawsuits and Dietary Supplements: Not Always a Fit?,” which appeared in the February 8 edition of Nutritional Outlook. In the article, Mr. Rothman discusses how advertising claims should be analyzed, the different ways collective lawsuits can be brought, and which types of cases should be treated as individual lawsuits rather than collective class actions.

To read the article in full, please click here.

Posted in News | North America
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