Employee Blogging
October 31, 2005
A growing number of employees are blogging (posting comments, photographs, and even audio streams, to an online diary or journal), both at work and at home. The proliferation of workplace-related blogging has created an additional legal minefield to be navigated by the growing number of employers whose workforce has access to computers, the Internet and related electronic information. This article provides an overview of some of the more significant legal and business issues facing employers whose employees engage in workplace-related blogging, and offers recommendations for such employers to consider in an effort to minimize the potential for legal liability associated with such blogging.
Supreme Court Outlook for 2005-2006
October 31, 2005
This term, the United States Supreme Court will consider a number of cases that may impact employers and employees. Here is an in-depth rundown.
Compliance Hotline
October 31, 2005
Recent rulings of importance to you and your practice.
Discount Stock Options As Deferred Compensation
October 31, 2005
Recent legislation has heralded a dramatic shift in the United States federal income tax treatment of nonqualified deferred compensation arrangements. One of the potentially more far-reaching aspects of the legislation is its effect on individuals who receive certain non-statutory stock options for their services. This article focuses on the circumstances under which the Act treats compensatory stock op-tions as nonqualified deferred compensation for federal income tax purposes, the consequences of such treatment, and the resulting practical considerations in dealing with the treatment of certain stock options as nonqualified deferred compensation.
Money Laundering Compliance Examinations
October 31, 2005
Last month, we pointed out that for money-laundering compliance officers, a classic Bob Dylan song offers a word of sound advice: "You better start swimming or you'll sink like a stone, for the times they are a-changin'." We said that the biggest change financial institutions face is the new, expanded-scope anti-money laundering (AML) regulatory examination, and the proliferation of Written Agreements, Memoranda of Understanding, or Cease and Desist Orders issued by bank regulatory agencies should the financial institution be found to be deficient. We explained that bank regulators are focused on multiple issues: Commitment to AML, SARS (suspicious activity reporting and detection) and Risk Ranking. In this article, we discuss the fourth concern: Policies and Procedures.
Focus on the Fringes
October 31, 2005
The IRS has just published proposed regulations seeking to clarify the interrelationship between the requirements for tax-exempt status and the imposition of intermediate sanctions. This against the backdrop of the Senate Finance Committee hearings on Charitable Organizations, the Committee staff's recommendations for legislative reform (published earlier this year), and the more recently published Final Report of the Panel on the Nonprofit Sector. This article assumes the reader's general familiarity with the above developments, and focuses on the developments' immediate impact regarding executive compensation paid to the executives of exempt organizations. Special attention is paid to the IRS's newly proposed intermediate sanction regulations as applied within the context of the so-called "excess benefit" rules.
Managing Digital Risk
October 31, 2005
Few areas of information security are as misunderstood, or as critical to understand and employ, as digital risk management. Some organizations see it as an information technology (IT)-only issue. Others view risk management as relevant to everything but IT. <br>But the truth is that digital risk management is one of the most important components of an effective information-security program. For many industries, including the legal profession, digital risk management is also an integral part of a business' strategy aimed at enabling revenue while reducing risk for clients and law firms. <br>And, for organizations involved in e-commerce, digital risk management can make the difference between futility and fortune.
