Compliance Stuff

  Last week, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released a fact sheet entitled, “ Wearables in the Workplace: The Use of Wearables and Other Monitoring Technology Under Federal Employment Discrimination  Laws .” “Wearables,” defined as electronic or digital devices that contain sensors and are worn to track body movement, collect biometric information and track location, and include such tools as fitness trackers and smart watches. The EEOC fact sheet addresses issues that may arise when employers require employees to wear smart watches, rings, or helmets, for example, that track their movement and location and monitor their physical and emotional condition. In particular, the fact sheet discusses how federal employment discrimination laws apply when employers use wearables to collect and use this information, and their responsibility to provide reasonable accommodations in appropriate situations.   The Use of Wearables at Work Boeing, Ford Motor Company, ...

  In light of a recent federal court order, reporting companies are not currently required to file beneficial ownership information with FinCEN and are not subject to liability if they fail to do so while the order remains in force. However, reporting companies may continue to voluntarily submit beneficial ownership information reports. The Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) plays a vital role in protecting the U.S. and international financial systems, as well as people across the country, from illicit finance threats like terrorist financing, drug trafficking, and money laundering. The CTA levels the playing field for tens of millions of law-abiding small businesses across the United States and makes it harder for bad actors to exploit loopholes in order to gain an unfair advantage. On Tuesday, December 3, 2024, in the case of  Texas Top Cop Shop, Inc., et al. v. Garland, et al. , No. 4:24-cv-00478 (E.D. Tex.), the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, She...

Retirement plan administration mistakes require difficult conversations with participants, especially when the mistake involves an overpayment.  Changes in the law, specifically, SECURE 2.0 and IRS Notice 2024-77, give plan fiduciaries additional flexibility when addressing overpayments. Overpayment of Matching Contributions Consider the case of a 401(k) plan with an employer matching contribution on the first 6% of compensation that a participant contributes to the plan. The plan sponsor adds a Roth after-tax deferral feature to the plan and confirms that the match formula applies to Roth deferrals. Unknown to the plan sponsor, the payroll program applies the 6% compensation limit separately to traditional pre-tax deferrals and to Roth deferrals, resulting in a maximum match on 12% of compensation if the participant elected a 6% pre-tax deferral and a 6% Roth deferral.  In the course of correcting the error, the plan administrator determines that some affected participants te...

  Over the last six months, federal and state courts have been unwrapping the landmark Supreme Court of the United States decision in  Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo  and navigating a new legal landscape that challenges decades of established administrative law regarding agency interpretations of federal laws. Quick Hits Some federal courts applying  Loper Bright  have struck down agency rules. Sixteen states, as well as Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., have acknowledged  Loper Bright , though few states have addressed head-on its relation to their existing jurisprudence concerning the interpretation of state agency matters. While it largely remains to be seen how  Loper Bright  may be utilized at a state level,  Loper Bright  is likely to continue being used to challenge certain federal employment law rules or regulations in the future. The Wake of  Loper Bright In  Loper Bright , the Supreme Court overturned four decad...

  On October 7, 2024, the USCIS issued a reminder to all employers using E-Verify that they have until January 5, 2025, to download records for E‑Verify cases last updated on or before December 31, 2014 . The next day, on January 6, 2025, the USCIS will dispose of these E‑Verify records that are more than 10 years old. USCIS annually disposes of E-Verify employer records that are 10 years old or older per the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) records retention and disposal schedule. This reduces security and privacy risks associated with the U.S. government’s retaining personally identifiable information. Why is this Important? An employer needs to make sure it has the required information. If an employer faces an audit by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an investigation by the Department of Justice’s Immigrant and Employees Right’s (IER) Section, a request from the U.S. Department of Labor, or an audit/inspection from a state agency, employers must be a...

  In light of a December 23, 2024, federal Court of Appeals decision,  reporting companies, except as indicated below, are once again required to file beneficial ownership information with FinCEN . However, because the Department of the Treasury recognizes that reporting companies may need additional time to comply given the period when the preliminary injunction had been in effect, we have extended the reporting deadline as follows: Reporting companies that were created or registered prior to January 1, 2024 have until January 13, 2025 to file their initial beneficial ownership information reports with FinCEN. (These companies would otherwise have been required to report by January 1, 2025.) Reporting companies created or registered in the United States on or after September 4, 2024 that had a filing deadline between December 3, 2024 and December 23, 2024 have until January 13, 2025 to file their initial beneficial ownership information reports with FinCEN. Reporting companie...

  Around the country, the weather is turning wintery, but in the privacy arena, there will be a blizzard as five state comprehensive privacy laws become effective. Here is an overview of businesses needing to prepare. 1.  Delaware Personal Data Privacy Act (DPDPA) The DPDPA takes effect on January 1, 2025. It applies to entities doing business in Delaware or targeting Delaware residents. It covers businesses that process the personal data of at least 35,000 consumers or derive significant revenue from selling personal data. Notably, nonprofits are not exempt, and the law includes stringent requirements for handling sensitive personal information. 2.  Iowa Consumer Data Protection Act (ICDPA) The ICDPA also takes effect on January 1, 2025.  It is more business-friendly, with a high threshold for applicability. It targets businesses that control or process data of at least 100,000 Iowan consumers or derive over 50% of their revenue from selling personal data. The ICDPA...

Real World Impact:   Effective January 1, 2025, Connecticut’s paid sick leave law is expanded to cover all employees working for a company with more than 25 employees. As previously  reported  by FordHarrison earlier this year, Connecticut’s overhaul of its Paid Sick Leave Law takes effect on January 1, 2025. While Connecticut has had mandatory paid sick leave for “service workers” employed by companies with at least 50 employees for over a decade, as of January 1, 2025, the law is expanded to cover all employees working for a company with more than 25 employees. The number of employees slowly drops year over year so that on January 1, 2027, all employers who employ at least 1 employee must comply. Under the expanded law, paid leave accrues at a rate of 1 hour for every 30 hours worked, for a maximum of 40 hours per year. Employers may not seek documentation to justify the use of sick leave, which can be used for a wide variety of purposes, including mental health da...