The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) filed a complaint on January 14 challenging the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on its final rule published earlier in the month upholding a repeal of Obama-era net neutrality rules. The finalized rule, “Restoring Internet Freedom; Bridging the Digital Divide for Low-Income Consumers; Lifeline and... Read More »
Rebekah Jones, the founder of Florida’s official coronavirus database, turned herself in to state law enforcement Monday after authorities issued a warrant for her arrest on Sunday. The warrant alleges she accessed Florida’s computer systems without authorization, a violation of the Florida Computer Crimes Act. Following a raid of her... Read More »
Just days before President Trump is to leave office, his administration published a finalized rule amending the process by which U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) selects applicants for H-1B visas. In one of the final attempts to leave the administration’s lasting mark on the U.S. immigration system, the new... Read More »
Matthew Ryncarz, owner and operator of Fusion Health and Vitality LLC (doing business as Pharm Origins) was halted from continuing to sell Vitamin D products that he claimed were certified treatments for the COVID-19 virus and other diseases. This permanent injunction from the U.S. District Court of the Southern District... Read More »
Tracy Chapman, an American singer-songwriter, filed a lawsuit against Nicki Minaj, an American-Trinidadian rapper, in 2018, claiming Minaj’s song “Sorry” took “both lyrics and vocal melody” from Chapman’s 1988 hit “Baby Can I Hold You.” Earlier this month, Chapman accepted Minaj’s offer to settle the suit by paying Chapman $450,000... Read More »
The Department of Justice Antitrust Division charged Surgical Care Affiliates LLC with two counts of collusion with the labor market on January 7, 2021. The indictment claims the company “enter[ed] into and engag[ed] in two separate bilateral conspiracies with other health care companies to suppress competition between them for the... Read More »
Jason Joey Berry and Xuan Cahn Nguyen were extradited from Canada to stand first trial and arraignment in North Dakota in early January 2021. The two are alleged to be part of an international fentanyl trafficking organization responsible for moving more than 500 grams of Schedule I and Schedule II... Read More »
On December 30, 2020, just days after President Trump signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) 2021 into law, the Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration published guidance for states on implementing unemployment insurance programs. After waiting weeks for Congress to agree on the finalized budget for 2021, the stimulus... Read More »
In July, Oregon state legislators had agreed to allocate portions of the money the state received from the CARES Act Coronavirus Relief fund for specific groups within the state. One group receiving a portion of this earmarked allotment are those who “self-identify as Black.” However, by the end of October... Read More »
The Department of Labor announced two opinion letters on December 31, 2020, addressing compliance issues with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) raised by two separate employers. One of the two letters addresses compensation for travel time occurring on partial telework days; the other on “whether certain overtime payments based... Read More »
Laura Luz Maria Torres pleaded guilty to three counts of conspiracy on December 28, 2020, in Palm Beach, Florida, for her involvement in a multilayered scheme to defraud the United States Immigration and Citizenship Services (USCIS) and the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Torres is indicted with three charges, including... Read More »
The United States District Court for the District of Maryland issued an injunction blocking the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from implementing an interim final rule, reducing certain drug prices beginning January 1. 2021. The Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) filed a formal complaint against the interim... Read More »
In late December, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into a law a moratorium on the use of facial recognition in New York’s public k-12 schools. The two years mandated by the bill will allow the New York legislature to undertake an official study into the technology to explore all... Read More »
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued a proposed revision on how federal agencies prioritize workers when implementing reduction-in-force (RIF) policies, or federal layoffs. The proposed amendment will “prioritize performance over length of services when determining which employees will be retained in a RIF.” OPM is the federal agency responsible... Read More »
On December 15, 2020, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) concluded implementing the Asylum Cooperative Agreement (ACA) with El Salvador. Nicknamed the “Safe Third Country” program, the agreement will return certain migrants apprehended at the U.S. southern border to apply first in El Salvador for asylum or select other... Read More »
