This article was first published by www.seyfarth.com. Attorneys: Anthony S. Califano, Ariel D. Cudkowicz, Frederick T. Smith Seyfarth Synopsis: On May 23, 2017, in Callaghan v. Darlington Fabrics Co., a Rhode Island Superior Court issued a unique decision regarding employer obligations to medical marijuana users. The judge who penned the decision began his analysis by quoting a 1967 ...
Refusal to hire medical pot users just got riskier – at least in Rhode Island
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Fantastic beast sighting in the District of Massachusetts — motion to strike allowed
This article was originally published by www.nutter.com. The District of Massachusetts recently issued something of a legal unicorn; it granted a plaintiff’s motion to strike two of the defendant’s affirmative defenses. This uncommon result offers some insight into the importance of careful pleading. The Pet Ramp Dispute In PetEdge, Inc. v. Yahee Technologies Corp., PetEdge accused ...
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Governor Baker signs into law the Massachusetts Pregnant Workers Fairness Act
This article was originally published by www.seyfarth.com. Attorneys: Robert A. Fisher, Timothy J. Buckley, Alison H. Silveira Seyfarth Synopsis: Effective April 1, 2018, Massachusetts will expand its anti-discrimination statute to specifically prohibit the discrimination against, refusal to hire, and the termination of individuals due to pregnancy or pregnancy-related conditions (including lactation or the need to express breast milk ...
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Massachusetts temporarily imposes employer assessments for the commonwealth’s Medicaid program
This article was originally posted by www.seyfarth.com. Attorneys: Anne S. Bider, Kristin G. McGurn Seyfarth Synopsis: On August 1, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker signed into law a measure intended to help the state pay for the costs of the Commonwealth’s Medicaid program, referred to as MassHealth, which covers nearly 2 million low income, minor and ...
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SEC report on ICOs and Token Sales – “If it sounds too good to be true…”
This article originally ran on www.foleyhoag.com. On July 25, 2017, the SEC issued an investigative report to advise those who have used or may consider using a virtual organization or capital raising entity that uses distributed ledger or blockchain technology to facilitate capital raising that these activities are subject to U.S. federal securities laws. The SEC also ...
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Struggling to keep up with employee summer vacation time?
Published in NH Business Review (8/16/2017) and posted on www.mclane.com. Neither federal nor New Hampshire law requires that employers provide paid time off to employees. The reality is that paid time off is an assumed benefit of employment resulting from social and economic pressures. More recently, employers are recognizing that employees’ work performance is better and ...
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Three lessons from Federal Circuit ruling on computer implemented inventions
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit revisited the often unclear question of subject matter eligibility under 35 U.S.C. § 101 in Visual Memory LLC. v. Nvidia Corp. In the 2-1 decision, the Federal Circuit reversed the district court’s determination that the claims at issue were directed to an abstract idea. The fate of subject ...
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EEOC’s collection of pay data delayed
On Tuesday, August 29, 2017, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) initiated a review of the EEOC’s pay data collection rule. As a result, the EEOC’s collection of pay data, which was to have begun on March 31, 2018, has been stayed indefinitely. The EEOC adopted the pay data collection rule in ...
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Object lesson on how not to respond to consent and enforcement actions
In late-August, the DFS announced an enforcement action and charges against the NY Branch of Habib Bank, a Pakistani bank that had been doing business in NY for almost 40 years. Summary of the Facts The Branch had been operating under the terms of a written agreement with the DFS and the Federal Reserve since ...
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Filed v. furnished, what’s the difference?
When disclosing information in a filing with the SEC, it is important to know whether such disclosure and any related exhibits should be “filed” or “furnished”. To non-lawyers, this may seem like semantics or another technical difference among lawyers, but there is a distinct and important difference, which is oftentimes the cause behind the questions ...
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Dismissal of case against UPenn good news for 403(b) plan sponsors
Colleges and universities have finally received some encouraging news in the recent spate of class action suits against higher education 403(b) plans. Last week a federal judge dismissed all claims against the University of Pennsylvania, marking the first time that one of these recent law suits has been be dismissed in full. See Sweda v. Univ. of ...
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DOE issues new title IX interim guidance
On September 22, 2017, the Department of Education (“DOE”) issued new interim guidance for Title IX, formally withdrew prior guidance documents, including the April 4, 2011 Dear Colleague Letter and the Questions and Answers on Title IX Sexual Violence dated April 29, 2014, and announced its intention to engage in formal rulemaking. Guidance documents do not carry the force of law, but the ...
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Workers’ compensation ruling given preclusive effect in discrimination lawsuit
Seyfarth Synopsis: In Ly v. County of Fresno, the Court of Appeal held that correctional officers’ claims for race, ethnicity, and national origin discrimination were barred because the claims had been previously denied in workers’ compensation proceedings. The Facts Three Laotian correctional officers—Va Ly, Travis Herr, and Pao Yang—alleged racial and national origin discrimination, harassment, and retaliation by ...
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What employers need to know about employment-based green card interviews
Based on President Trump’s Executive Order 13780, “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States,” USCIS has implemented a new policy to interview all employment-based adjustment of status applicants where the application was filed after March 6, 2017. For applications filed prior to that date, USCIS appears to be randomly selecting some ...
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Non-compete legislation update: Why choices of law and forum are a big deal
On October 31, 2017, the Joint Committee on Workforce and Development once again held a hearing to discuss the possibility of legislative changes to Massachusetts non-competition and trade secrets laws. There were several bills up for discussion. One significant provision in most of the bills that is not receiving as much attention as it perhaps ...
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340B hospitals file suit in wake of hospital outpatient cuts
On November 13, 2017, a group of hospital trade associations (the American Hospital Association, the Association of American Medical Colleges, and America’s Essential Hospitals), along with two health system providers, filed suit against the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. In the lawsuit, the ...
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Supreme Court considers the constitutionality of the IPR statute
The Supreme Court has considered the constitutionality of the IPR statute in a lively hour-long oral argument before a packed courtroom. The case, Oil States Energy Services, LLC v. Greene’s Energy Group, LLC, asks whether the invalidation of patents in an IPR by the non-Article III judges of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board violates the separation of ...
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DOJ announces new FCPA policy to further incentivize corporate voluntary self-disclosure and cooperation
The U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act turned forty this year. The Department of Justice is marking that anniversary by announcing a new Corporate Enforcement Policy specific to FCPA matters. The new Policy makes explicit that when a company has voluntarily self-disclosed misconduct, fully cooperated in the government’s ensuing investigation, and appropriately remediated the situation and made restitution ...
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SEC issues cease and desist order and further guidance on ICOs
Summary On December 11, 2017, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a cease-and-desist order to Munchee Inc. (Munchee), a company that was in the process of a $15 million initial coin offering (ICO), for selling unlicensed securities. The SEC found that the ICO targeted investors, with the expectation of future profits, rather than ...
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Massachusetts SJC limits Wage Act liability for board members and investors
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) has issued an important decision limiting the scope of personal liability under the Massachusetts Wage Act. In Andrew Segal vs. Genitrix, LLC, the SJC held that personal liability under the Wage Act violations extends only to a company’s president, treasurer and “officers or agents having the management” of the company. ...
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