INSIDE COMPLIANCE – Page 14 – Loyola University Chicago School of Law

CPS’ Covid Priorities: 1) Punish Teachers and 2) Deny Students a FAPE

February 9, 2021Uncategorized

On November 17, 2020, Chicago Public School (“CPS”) announced that in January 2021, CPS would have its first week of in-person learning since March of 2020. Upon the announcement, CPS parents had mixed reactions to the district’s plan to bring some students back, where some expressed excitement about the positive effect of in-person learning on their kids social and mental health, while others like the Grassroots Education Movement voiced concerns that the district had not done enough to make schools COVID-19 safe.

The return to in-person learning has been controversial and filled with conflict between teachers and the Chicago Teachers Union (“CTU”) versus the district. CTU expressed that it does not trust the district to keep the teachers and students safe, and the CTU released a statement that 71 percent of its teachers voted to continue remote learning instruction. Even with these concerns, CPS made the return by teachers mandatory. During its first week in-person, over 150 educators have been AWOL, having not shown up to school. Since then, the teachers’ protest has only become louder. CPS responded by docking the pay and locking teachers out of their remote learning platforms. Intense debate surrounds the topic, but the underlying legal principle remains, CPS cannot deny students a Free Appropriate Public Education (“FAPE”), guaranteed by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (“IDEA”), while CPS engages in a labor dispute with the CTU.

EducationEmployment

How a Failing Video Game Store Exposed the Fragility of the Market

February 9, 2021Uncategorized

Failing video game company, Gamestop has broken the internet this week, but not for anything that they intended to do. Their stock has been the center of controversy after a group of internet investors banded together to outsmart hedge funds at their own game. By causing a hedge fund to short squeeze their investment in Gamestop offerings, they have brought to light the possible need for regulation in the market.

InvestorsJournal of Regulatory Compliancestock marketSecurities & Exchange CommissionSEC

The Lack of Support the Payment Protection Program Has Given to Restaurants

February 8, 2021Uncategorized

We are now in the heart of winter, and many restaurants have not made it since Covid first shut-down Chicago in March 2020. When dining resumed in June, it came back as outdoor only. However the fear was, what would happen once it cooled down and outdoor dining wasn’t feasible? Chicago, like many other cities, has had to be creative and many restaurants have made it work. From dining igloos and greenhouses, to shutting down streets for more patio space, Chicago has been very creative. For the restaurants that have managed to survive, it has not been an easy path. The restaurant industry has been hit especially hard compared to other businesses, and they are not receiving the same protections and support as other industries. The Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) was designed to support small businesses, however restaurants have not been protected as they should have been.

Journal of Regulatory ComplianceRegulation

Politicizing a Pandemic: Emergency Use Authorizations for COVID-19

February 8, 2021Drugs & Devices

The Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) is one regulatory agency that has been on the forefront of the American fight against COVID-19. Historically, the agency has been highly respected for its success in apolitical operation despite its mission of (1) protecting the public health and (2) innovating in the development of medical products. One of its most important tools in the face of a public health crisis is the once obscure regulatory mechanism called the Emergency Use Authorization (“EUA”). But as public trust in the FDA falters, Americans are surely wondering how effective a protective measure can be when it seems to be used as political ammo.

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Bitcoin, Tesla, and GameStop: Regulatory Challenges Posed by the New Retail Investor

February 2, 2021Finance & Banking

GameStop started 2021 with a stock price below $20 but saw its stock price skyrocket to well above $300 a share towards the end of January. The rally would be hard to explain by solely relying on the company’s financial reports or underlying fundamentals. Instead, the rally has to be explained through a combination of external factors involving a popular fintech company’s app, manic speculation by retail investors, and Reddit. Although at first glance this may seem like a new phenomenon, the same factors have been at play for years with a huge interest in Tesla and Bitcoin – and they pose a risk to the markets that regulators and Wall Street together can’t ignore.

BitcoinJournal of Regulatory ComplianceGameStopTeslastock marketSECRegulationRobinhood

Vertical Healthcare Companies Merging Compliance Programs

February 1, 2021Uncategorized

Vertical Healthcare Companies Merging Compliance Programs Perri Nena Smith Senior Editor Loyola University Chicago School of Law, JD 2021 In 2020, The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) released guidelines for vertical mergers to give clarity to companies so they can avoid harmful mergers. Healthcare companies are an industry that has been …
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compliance programsenforcementAntitrustmergers and acquisitionsJournal of Regulatory ComplianceOIGFTCFTC enforcementHealth Insurancehealthcare compliance programshealthcare antitrust compliancehealthcare antitrustvertical mergersRegulation

Federal Relief of Regulatory Oversight Burdens in Medicaid Final Rule

December 2, 2020Uncategorized

he Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) refined the Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (“CHIP”) Managed Care final rules. CMS originally released the final rules in 2016 and another revision in 2018. After several cumulative comments on 2016 and 2018 final rules, CMS attempted to create more flexibility for States with managed care delivery methods. CMS’s third version of the final rules is more of an attempt to clarify and fix technical errors than giving States more flexibility to operate their managed care organizations.

CMS regulationCenters for Medicare and Medicaid Servicesmanaged careManaged Care Final Rulemanaged care organizationMedicaid Final RuleMedicaidJournal of Regulatory ComplianceHealth Insurance

Final Rule and Updates to Non-discrimination Regulations of the ACA

February 16, 2021Uncategorized

The Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) finalized revised regulations that implemented Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) in June of 2020. This section prohibits discrimination within health programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance based on race, color, sex, age, disability, and national origin. In comparison to the Obama-era regulations issued in 2016, the new final rule does away with gender identity and sexual orientation nondiscrimination protections not only under Section 1557, but under ten other federal regulations as well. This also includes a roll back of certain health insurance coverage protections for transgender individuals.

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Robinhood Fined $65 Million for Misleading Customers

February 17, 2021Fraud & Abuse

On December 17, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) charged Robinhood Financial, LLC (“Robinhood”) with material misrepresentation and misleading its users about its revenue sources, specifically Robinhood’s receipt of payments from certain principal trading firms for routing its customer orders to them. The SEC charges against Robinhood also relate to certain statements about the execution quality Robinhood achieved for its customers’ orders and Robinhood’s failure to satisfy its duty of best execution. Robinhood agreed to pay $65 million to settle the charges.

Journal of Regulatory CompliancePrivacy & SecuritySECRobinhood

How the Biden Administration will tackle Special Education Failures during COVID-19

February 25, 2021Uncategorized

The incoming Biden administration includes Dr. Miguel Cardona as the new Secretary of Education. Advocates for students with disabilities recently met with Dr. Cardona to voice concerns about issues ranging from school discipline to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on special education services. In this meeting, Cardona stressed the importance of inclusivity in public schools and the need to promote the rights of people with disabilities, as well as to increase civil rights law enforcement by Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”). Providing a “free appropriate public education” or FAPE during this time came with tremendous costs to budgets and other burdens for school administrators who, in “good faith” tried to meet these standards. However, after the DOE initiated four investigations in the past month over concerns districts nationwide have failed to provide appropriate services to students with disabilities during the coronavirus pandemic. These investigations will be one of the first tasks Dr. Cardona will take on as Secretary of Education.

EducationJournal of Regulatory Compliance