Regulation

With the ever-increasing focus on security, wage and hour class actions create potential liability for a variety of employers, from airport vendors to power plants to retailers. Fortunately for these employers and others, the recent, yet limited, case law has held that such time is not compensable. Moreover, general wage and hour principles support this conclusion.

In December 2007, Lucent Technologies Inc. secured a non-prosecution agreement from the Department of Justice and settled an enforcement action with the SEC for conduct related to travel and entertainment expenses incurred on behalf of Chinese government officials and for the manner in which these expenses were booked. The Lucent settlement adds to a number of existing guideposts regarding permissible interactions with foreign officials under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. This article examines the Lucent settlement, prior FCPA enforcement activity related to travel and lodging, and offers some practical advice for compliance counsel.

On Dec. 20, FTC staff released for public comment proposed online behavioral-advertising privacy principles in an effort to guide self-regulation of this nascent industry. The release of these Principles followed a two-day Town Hall meeting the FTC held late last year on behavioral advertising, which itself followed the FTC's Tech-Ade Workshop in 2006.

There have been numerous developments in U.S. criminal antitrust law over the last half-decade ' in legislation, judicial opinions, and the publicly stated enforcement policy of the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ). While none have been watershed events individually, in the aggregate they fundamentally impact representation of companies or individuals under investigation for antitrust violations. This article outlines the cumulative effect of these developments and indicates how representation of companies under antitrust investigation has changed over this period.

Highlights of the latest franchising news from around the country.

Part One of this article described the background, key provisions and legal challenges to the 'No-Match' regulations. The conclusion herein offers strategies for employers.

Part One of this article began a discussion of the dramatic increase in cases alleging caregiver discrimination. Part Two herein discusses the most recent cases and guidelines involving this area of the law, and how employers can best protect themselves, given the explosion of family responsibility discrimination (FRD) cases and the open issues that could further impact the number of FRD filings.

In the wake of a failed attempt to negotiate legislation for comprehensive U.S. immigration reform with Congress, the Bush Administration recently announced a series of 'regulatory' reforms to tighten immigration enforcement. Perhaps the most significant and controversial of those reforms is the Department of Homeland Security's new regulation addressing 'no-match' letters. Although the new regulation has been temporarily enjoined pending a hearing in federal court, employers should begin considering how they will comply with it if an injunction is not granted.