Tag:Regulation
Developments Surrounding ERISA Preemption
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”) regulates the administration of employee benefit plans. ERISA aims to protect the interest of employee-beneficiaries by setting minimum standards for employee benefit plans and voluntarily established pensions. The Act’s preemption clause works to prevent states from regulating these same plans. Initially, a state statute was considered to violate the preemption clause when it possessed, “a connection with, or reference to, covered employee benefit plans.” A few years later the standard was modified, states were considered to have violated ERISA preemption if the state, “mandates employee benefit structures or their administration.”
Colorado’s New Employment Regulations Provide More Protections to Employees During the Pandemic
Colorado Overtime and Minimum Pay Standards Order (“COMPs Order”) #37 has replaced COMPS Order #36 (2020), which substantially expanded coverage in meals and break requirements, minimum wage and overtime requirements to almost every private employer in Colorado. The changes are designed to provide consistency between minimum wage, overtime and paid sick leave standards under the new Colorado Healthy Families and Workplaces Act (“HFWA”). Some changes include increasing Colorado’s minimum wage, making exemptions to COMPs #37 more stringent, and continuing paid sick leave benefits through 2021 due to the pandemic. These new employee-friendly adjustments have been adopted and became effective on January 1, 2021.
McKinsey Reveals Management Issues in Rejecting Top Partner’s Bid for Reelection
In February 2021, McKinsey and Company’s 650 global partners turned down Kevin Sneader’s bid for a second three-year term as the firm’s lead partner. The rejection marked the first time in 40 years the storied consulting firm has opted not to offer its leader a second term. The vote came as McKinsey struggles to reconcile its lucrative business model with a series of ethical lapses that have been widely reported in the press, litigated in the courts, and questioned by some of the firm’s next generation of leaders.
An Update on the Gamestop Frenzy: Calls for Regulation and a Congressional Hearing
Cora Leeuwenburg Associate Editor Loyola University of Chicago School of Law, JD 2022 The controversy surrounding the unprecedented movement by retail investors and Gamestop has not died down in the last month following the stock’s meteoric rise in price and dramatic fall. The wildly volatile stock has lost hedge funds millions and resulted in …
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Illinois House Bill 3498: Telehealth Expansion and Payment Equality
The Coalition to Protect Telehealth and State Representative Deb Conroy of the Illinois 46th House District have introduced legislation that would permanently expand access to telehealth services for Illinoisans. The legislation also details provisions that promote telehealth payment rate partity between telehealth services and in-person care. In a direct response to the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth providers have been granted temporary waivers to align their payment rates with those prescribed for traditional care in health care facilities. These waivers have served as stabilizing financial mechanisms for many practitioners experiencing revenue loss due to the restrictions on elective procedures and non-emergency care. The proposed legislation would give patients more freedom to utilize telehealth services by removing the patient responsibilities to demonstrate hardship or access issues.
The Revised Lead and Copper Rule – Will it make an impact?
In 1991, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act to control lead and copper in drinking water, referred to as the Lead and Copper Rule (LCR). The Rule was created to protect public health by minimizing lead and copper levels in drinking water, primarily by reducing water corrosivity through corrosion control treatment. While implementation of the LCR has resulted in major improvements in public health, there is still much that needs to be done as research continues to show cities today see higher than normal levels of lead in their drinking water.
Secret Shoppers Not Just in Stores: Use of Secret Shopping in Higher Education
Federal Student Aid (FSA), and the office of the Department of Education, announced on March 14th their plans to better monitor and enforce universities’ practices such as enrollment and the use of federal student aid to ensure that all regulations are being complied with. Secret shopping is used by enforcement agencies to scope out violations and get a better idea of how organizations, institutions or businesses are non-compliant with regulations. FSA hopes that this plan will incentivize universities to follow procedures and policies accordingly and will help determine which schools are being predatory by not complying with regulations. The main goal of sending out secret shoppers is to protect current and future students from harmful and predatory practices that are prohibited.
TikTok’s Time is Ticking
TikTok is making American headlines once again. Calls to ban the app have been revived by groups of bipartisan legislators. President Biden has threatened to ban TikTok from American digital markets over concerns for how the social media app handles domestic data. Former President Donald Trump attempted to ban the app in the US in 2020, but the ban was ultimately unsuccessful. However, pundits continue to debate whether regulators, legislators, or the President have the power to enforce a TikTok ban
U.S. Regulators are Employing New Strategies to Crack Down on Historically Challenging Insider Trading Cases
In the past, insider trading cases have been considered difficult to prove and prosecute. These cases usually require extensive evidence-gathering coupled with a high burden of proof. However, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Justice Department are now turning to new developments in technology and regulatory efforts that have led to an increased focus on investigating and prosecuting insider trading cases. Why were these cases hard to prove in the past and what exactly are these new technologies?
FTC Continues Investigation into Twitter’s Privacy Practices
Sophie Shapiro Associate Editor Loyola University Chicago School of Law, JD 2024 Over the past few months, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has begun an investigation against Twitter, specifically into Elon Musk’s personal role in various high-profile decisions including massive layoffs, rapid changes to Twitter’s features and the sharing of internal company records with journalists.