Compliance Stuff

  The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) generally requires that employees be paid at least the Federal minimum wage, currently $7.25 per hour, for every hour worked and at least one and one-half times their regular rate of pay for each hour worked over 40 in a single workweek. 29 U.S.C. 206(a), 207(a). Since its enactment in 1938 through today, section 14(c) of the FLSA has included a provision authorizing the Department of Labor (Department) to issue certificates permitting employers to pay workers with disabilities at wage rates below the Federal minimum wage. The section 14(c) statutory provision, however, has always provided that such certificates may only be issued to the extent “necessary to prevent curtailment of opportunities for employment.” Employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities have vastly expanded in recent decades, in part due to significant legal and policy developments. Based on that evidence, the D epartment has preliminarily concluded that submini...

  Companies would be wise to take into consideration the potential outsized impact of DOGE as they develop public policy plans for the new administration. Takeaways DOGE is intended to serve as an advisory or consulting organization which, empowered by Trump, provides recommendations or strategies for government leaders to implement . DOGE’s mission will focus on three major kinds of reforms, including regulatory rescissions, administrative reductions and cost savings . According to DOGE leaders Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the organization will identify issues and make recommendations to the White House, agency leaders and Congress for actio n. Since the election, President-elect Trump has announced a flurry of initiatives for his next term in the White House, along with nominations of the government officials tapped to drive his agenda. As part of these announcements, Trump selected Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead a new entity dubbed “the Department of Government Efficien...

  2025 is set to be another year of expanded paid leave requirements for employers. While the results are still preliminary, employers should start preparing in the states that have voted in new leave laws. Missouri Voters passed  Proposition A , which raises the minimum wage from $8.60/hour to $13.75/hour and mandates paid sick leave starting May 1, 2025. The paid sick leave provisions require employers to provide one hour of sick leave for every 30 hours worked up to five days (employers with fewer than 15 employees) and seven days (employers with 15 or more employees). Proposition A lets employees carry over up to 80 hours of accrued but unused sick time from year to year. It also includes caps on sick leave an employee can take in a given year (40 hours for small employers, 80 for large employers), a prohibition against imposing a waiting time before an employee can use accrued hours, and exempting employers with a paid leave plan that meets or exceeds the minimum require...

  Key Points Companies should critically a ssess the strength of their cybersecurity defenses against evolving threats, including third parties’ vulnerabilities. Recent changes in regulatory expectations for cybersecurity have underscored the need for board oversight of this potential risk. Many boards are now revisiting whether and how to assign cybersecurity oversight to a board committee. A well-designed governance framework for managing cybersecurity risks can help minimize the legal risks companies and directors will face after an attack. Companies that implement policies and procedures for rapidly reporting, escalating and thoroughly documenting the board’s oversight of cybersecurity issues will be well positioned to defend against post-attack litigation. Cyber threats continue to grow as a result of increased digitization, widespread use of cloud computing, advanced connectivity and artificial intelligence (AI) , requiring boards of directors across all sectors to focus mor...

  On May 29, 1453 the walls of Constantinople had stood unbreached for more than a thousand years.  Yet on that day, the army of Sultan Mehmed II was able to force entry into the city through the Gate of St. Romanus.  The   Byzantine Emperor  Constantine XI Palaeologus  was killed and the city became Mehmed's new capital.  The moral of the story is that even the most impregnable defenses can be breached. When the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (aka the FinCEN)  adopted  its final rules implementing Section 6403 of the Corporate Transparency Act (aka the CTA), it estimated that 32.6 million business entities would exist on January 1, 2024 and be required to provide beneficial ownership information.  FinCEN estimated that there would be an additional 5 million reporting entities formed each year.  Under the rules, a reporting company must provide FinCEN with the following information about individual beneficial owners and compan...

  On November 15, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas overseeing the ongoing legal challenge to the CFPB’s Section 1071 small business lending rule (previously discussed   here ,   here ,   here , and   here ), issued an   order   denying the plaintiff trade groups’ motion to toll the deadlines of the rule while an appeal moves through the Fifth Circuit. In denying the motion to stay the rule, Judge Crane (who had previously granted the CFPB’s motion for summary judgment) acknowledged the possibility that the rule might be seen as ill-advised, but that alone did not make it unlawful. Since the rule is considered valid, the judge stated that the trade groups failed to show that delaying the compliance date was warranted.  He also pointed out that the Fifth Circuit Court has expedited the appeal process and that the case would likely be resolved before the compliance deadline. The rule requires lenders to provide data on small...

  In an increasingly digital world, the rise in cybercrime involving email scams has become a significant threat to individuals and organizations alike . These sophisticated attacks exploit human psychology and technological vulnerabilities, luring unsuspecting victims into divulging sensitive information or transferring funds. With the proliferation of Business Email Compromise (BEC) scams, and the fact that cybercriminals are continually refining their tactics, the urgency for businesses to be wary about protecting their assets has never been greater. Quick Hits According to the FBI,  Business Email Compromise (BEC) scams  often involve the spoofing of a legitimate, known email address or the use of a nearly identical address to appear as someone known to or trusted by the victim. Real Estate Wire Fraud is a subcategory of BEC, in which criminal actors target individuals or companies executing large wires related to real estate transactions. From 2020 to 2022, there was...