Our colleagues Melissa L. Jampol and Yael Spiewak at Epstein Becker green have written a blog post that will be of interest to our readers in the technology industry.
Legal Updates
August 20, 2019
New York’s New Child Victims Act Expands Opportunity for Filing Abuse Claims and The Path for Victims’ Justice
August 20, 2019
Employer Insights: Illinois’ Permanent Commitment To Medical Marijuana James Oh and Kathleen Barrett
On August 9, 2019, Illinois Governor Pritzker signed legislation amending the state’s current medical marijuana pilot program. The Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Program Act (the “Medical Cannabis Act”) makes the medical marijuana program, which was initially enacted as a pilot program in 2013, permanent and expands the qualifying medical conditions for a medical marijuana card to include at least 12 new conditions, including chronic pain, irritable bowel syndrome, migraines, osteoarthritis, and ulcerative colitis. The Medical Cannabis Act also provides easier access to a medical marijuana card by expanding the range of medical professionals who can certify eligibility of applicants to the program. In addition to physicians, advanced practice registered nurses or licensed physician assistants can diagnose and certify an individual’s eligibility for the medical marijuana program. The amendments to the medical marijuana pilot program are effective immediately.
August 19, 2019
HIPAA Privacy and Security Rule Compliance: Employee Benefits Crash Course Webinar Series
Our Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation practice now offers on-demand “crash courses” on diverse topics. You can access these courses on your own schedule. Keep up to date with the latest trends in benefits and compensation, or obtain an overview of an important topic addressing your programs.
August 14, 2019
Talking Tax – Issue 167
Queensland: Payroll tax grouping win for the taxpayer
In Telgrove Pty Ltd t/as P & E Francis Plant Hire v Commissioner of State Revenue [2019] QCAT 199, Telgrove Pty Ltd (Telgrove), as the designated group employer, had made an ‘exclusion order’ to request that Telgrove and 3 other entities be excluded from a list of six entities that were determined to be a payroll tax group by the Queensland Commissioner of State Revenue (Commissioner). The Commissioner rejected this exclusion application and issued reassessment notices to Telgrove to tax the six entities (Group Members) as a group from the 2011/12 financial year and apply penalty tax and interest for the period.
August 14, 2019
What’s New in E-Cigarette Regulation?
There is little question that youth e-cigarette use has been on the rise. In 2018, an estimated 3.6 million kids reported “current use” of e-cigarettes (defined as use on at least one day in the past 30 days), up from just 220,000 kids reporting such use in 2011 (See National Youth Tobacco Survey findings). Although youth e-cigarette use raises public health concerns, there’s also a public health upside to e-cigarettes, as they have been shown to be an effective tool in helping current adult cigarette smokers kick the habit and are a safer option for current smokers than combustible tobacco products (e.g., cigarettes). Therefore, it seems that broad restrictions on everyone’s access to these products is probably not the solution here. So what is the answer? How do we keep e-cigarettes out of the hands of children, but maintain their availability for adult cigarette smokers? Let’s track what’s recently been done on the federal and state/local levels to address the issue.
August 14, 2019
Maintaining Attorney-Client Privilege During Investigations in the Financial Services Industry
In the financial services industry, investigations by the government or self-regulatory organizations are commonplace, and because they inevitably involve employee conduct (or misconduct), there is frequently an internal employment-related investigatory component. With potential financial liability and reputational harm ever-present, the strength of a company’s investigatory process is critical.
August 8, 2019
Talking Tax – Issue 166
Distributions from foreign trusts assessable under section 99B
The Federal Commissioner of Taxation (Commissioner) has had a recent win in the case of Campbell v Commissioner of Taxation [2019] AATA 2043. In this case, Ms Catherine Campbell (Taxpayer) had received distributions from a New Zealand-based trust estate totalling $463,200 across the 2013 and 2014 income years.
The Taxpayer failed to return these amounts as income and the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (Tribunal) held that the Taxpayer was in receipt of distributions from a foreign trust that are assessable pursuant to section 99B(1) of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (Cth) (1936 Act).
August 8, 2019
Financial Services in Focus – Issue 28
Funds and financial products
APRA releases update to its responses to the Royal Commission recommendations
On 7 August, APRA released its updated plans in relation to specific recommendations in the Final Report of the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry.
August 7, 2019
Homelessness Week: what can we do to help?
This week is Homelessness Week, which is an important opportunity to recognise the hardship faced by so many Australians who are currently experiencing homelessness across the nation. This annual event raises awareness for one of our country’s most pressing social issues, homelessness.
August 5, 2019
New York Joins the Wave of States Requiring Businesses to Adopt Reasonable Cybersecurity Safeguards to Protect Private Information
New York is the latest state to adopt a law that requires businesses that collect private information on its residents to implement reasonable cybersecurity safeguards to protect that information. New York now joins California, Massachusetts and Colorado in setting these standards. New York’s law mandates the implementation of a data security program, including measures such as risk assessments, workforce training and incident response planning and testing. Businesses should immediately begin the process to comply with the Act’s requirements effective March 21, 2020. Notably, New York’s law covers all employers, individuals or organizations, regardless of size or location, which collect private information on New York State residents.
Welcome to ILN-terviews, a series of profiles of ILN member firm attorneys, designed to give a unique insight into the lawyers who make up our Network. For our latest interview, we chose ILN member, Arthur Li of our member firm Lee and Li in Taiwan, China. In one sentence, how would you describe your practice?...… 
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