As we noted in late January 2020, the spread of infectious disease raises particular concerns for healthcare workers who want to do their jobs and care for their patients, while also protect themselves and their families....more
3/19/2021
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Data Breach ,
Hackers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Information Technology ,
Medical Records ,
Third-Party ,
Unauthorized Access ,
Vaccinations ,
Vendors ,
Virus Testing
Individuals and organizations that want to play a role in administering countermeasures to combat a disease or combat a public health emergency, such as COVID-19, worry about the potential legal exposure. The choice to...more
3/10/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Immunity ,
Liability ,
Nurses ,
Physicians ,
Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP Act) ,
Vaccinations
Last year presented many challenges, and 2021 offers a fresh start. In this issue of the Class Actions Trends Report we review the most significant developments of 2020 and take a look forward to what a new year and a new...more
2/2/2021
/ 401k ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Arbitration ,
Biden Administration ,
Biometric Information Privacy Act ,
Business Interruption ,
Class Action ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Fluctuating Workweek ,
Higher Education Act ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Code ,
Layoffs ,
Pregnancy Discrimination ,
Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) ,
Ridesharing ,
SCOTUS ,
Sexual Harassment ,
TCPA ,
Trucking Industry ,
Wage and Hour
As employers continue to grapple with a safe return to the workplace, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued new guidance for businesses and employers on SARS-CoV-2 testing of employees, as part of a...more
1/28/2021
/ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employee Privacy Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Informed Consent ,
New Guidance ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
In honor of Data Privacy Day, we provide the following “Top 10 for 2021.” While the list is by no means exhaustive, it does provide some hot topics for organizations to consider in 2021...more
1/28/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
ATDS ,
Biometric Information ,
California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) ,
California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) ,
Consumer Privacy Rights ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
European Data Protection Board (EDPB) ,
European Economic Area (EEA) ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Internet of Things ,
OCR ,
Schrems I & Schrems II ,
Standard Contractual Clauses ,
TCPA
As employers continue to grapple with a safe return to the workplace, on January 21, the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued new guidance for businesses and employers on SARS-CoV-2 testing of...more
While its rollout has been slow, the vaccine is being administered across the U.S. and in other countries. As of January 15, 2021, nearly 36 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine have been administered, just over 11 million in...more
In April of this year, which seems far longer than eight months ago, we posted about an alert from federal agencies warning that cyber threat actors were exploiting the coronavirus pandemic to fuel phishing and other attacks....more
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to alter work lives in profound ways, employers are confronted with additional liability risks. The pandemic has created a wave of litigation that is unlikely to ebb until well after the...more
11/3/2020
/ ABC Test ,
Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Class Action ,
Collective Actions ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Due Diligence ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Furloughs ,
Hybrid Plan ,
Independent Contractors ,
Mitigating Factors ,
Remote Working ,
USERRA ,
Wage and Hour ,
WARN Act
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have issued a joint cybersecurity advisory stating they have...more
10/30/2020
/ Best Practices ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Cybersecurity ,
Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
FBI ,
Multi-Factor Authentication ,
Passwords ,
Ransomware ,
Remote Desktop Protocols ,
TTP
As organizations aim to return to some type of normalcy, and help ensure a healthy and safe workplace, many have implemented COVID-19 screening programs that check for symptoms, and an employee’s recent travel and potential...more
New York and New Jersey release “COVID Alert NY” and “COVID Alert NJ,” apps designed to alert their users when they have been exposed to someone who tested positive for COVID-19. These apps follow those released in...more
The City of Portland, Oregon becomes the first city in the United States to ban the use of facial recognition technologies in the private sector citing, among other things, a lack of standards for the technology and wide...more
Since March of this year, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has released guidance on a near-monthly basis addressing various FAQs concerning COVID-19 issues. The guidance has focused on disability-related...more
9/9/2020
/ ADEA ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Confidential Information ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
GINA ,
Remote Working ,
Screening Procedures ,
Title VII ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
Employers continue to grapple with an ongoing, unprecedented public health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and its after-effects, which have profoundly disrupted the nation’s economy and U.S. workplaces. In this issue,...more
8/6/2020
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Best Practices ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Class Action ,
COBRA ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retention ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Furloughs ,
Layoffs ,
No-Poaching ,
OSHA ,
Personal Protective Equipment ,
Pregnancy Discrimination ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Remote Working ,
Telecommuting ,
Wage and Hour ,
WARN Act ,
Workplace Safety
Despite several attempts, Congress has struggled to push forward a federal consumer privacy law over the past few years. But the COVID-19 pandemic, which has raised concerns regarding location monitoring, GPS tracking and use...more
8/3/2020
/ Consumer Privacy Rights ,
Contact Tracing ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Data Collection ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Reporting ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Economic Stimulus ,
GPS ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Public Health ,
Public Health Emergency
As the COVID-19 pandemic presses on, privacy and security matters continue to be at the forefront for federal and state legislature. We recently reported that Washington D.C. updated its data breach notification law. Now, the...more
States are reopening – find out which ones here. As they do, organizations will begin and/or continue adhering to a complex set of distancing, screening, capacity, sanitization, mask, posting, reporting, and other guidelines...more
As the COVID-19 pandemic presses on, legislators and regulators continue to remind the public of the importance of data security and privacy protections. On April 30th, U.S. Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss), Chairman of the...more
As organizations work feverishly to return to business in many areas of the country, they are mobilizing to meet the myriad of challenges for providing safe environments for their workers, customers, students, patients, and...more
5/11/2020
/ Best Practices ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Health and Safety ,
Infectious Diseases ,
OSHA ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Public Health ,
Risk Management ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety
Just over a month ago, we provided a high-level checklist to help organizations think about critical issues as employees begin working from home to reduce the spread of COVID19. Consistent with “shelter-in-place”/”stay at...more
In the US, many organizations anxiously awaiting assistance under the CARES Act are becoming the targets of cyberattackers looking to feed off of the massive relief being provided by the US treasury. Yesterday, the United...more
On April 3, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued an alert to covered entities and business associates. Evidently, one or more individuals are posing as OCR Investigators and contacting HIPAA covered entities and business...more
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has been moving swiftly to provide guidance on addressing key regulatory issues to aid in the fight to contain and defeat COVID-19. Some of the latest developments include exercising its...more
Stopping the spread of coronavirus is critical to overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic. As testing is ramping up around the country, some states and localities have imposed health screening requirements in an effort to identify...more