The Department of Justice filed a civil complaint against Walmart Inc. on Tuesday, December 22, stating the company “unlawfully dispensed controlled substances from pharmacies it operated across the country,” resulting in “hundreds of thousands of violations of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA)” during the peak of the opioid crisis in... Read More »
The Department of Labor announced a finalized rule on December 22, 2020, that will amend section 3(m) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to protect the tips of employees. This final rule clarifies how businesses must operate under the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) of 2018, an omnibus spending bill... Read More »
On December 4, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) made its first charge against a public company for misleading customers and investors on the real impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on business finances. The SEC accepted an Offer of Settlement by Cheesecake Factory Incorporated to consent to a Cease-and-Desist... Read More »
On December 10, 2020, a U.S. Department of State employee and his spouse pleaded guilty to trafficking counterfeit Vera Bradley goods into the United States through e-commerce third-party sites on computers owned and operated by the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, South Korea. According to the indictment dated December 11, 2019,... Read More »
A joint finalized rule by the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security will go into effect mid-January 2021 which will “streamline and enhance procedures for the adjudication of claims for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture (CAT) regulations.” The two Departments claim this... Read More »
After an investigation conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division (WHD), Clearwater Cylinder Head, Inc. was ordered to pay $13,133 in back wages for violating the Fair Labor Standards Act (FSLA). Twenty employees of the cylinder manufacturer based in Clearwater, Florida, will receive $656.65 as compensation... Read More »
The Department of Justice finalized a decision amending the current law on immigration appeals that will further restrict which cases can be appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) and the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR). In the name of “consistency, efficiency, and quality of adjudications,” the Department... Read More »
The Trump administration outlined a plan for federal executive agencies to design, develop, and use “trustworthy Artificial Intelligence” to assist in accomplishing their missions. Executive Order 13960, signed on December 3, 2020, recognized that Artificial Intelligence (AI) has improved the “operations, processes, and procedures” of agencies and businesses already. This... Read More »
On December 7, 2020, the Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract and Compliance Program (OFCCP) released a finalized rule that allows federal contractors to cite "religious freedom" as their reasoning behind not hiring certain applicants. The rule expands the definition of religious organizations to now include for-profit organizations, which... Read More »
Two drug industry trade groups filed lawsuits to challenge the Trump administration’s finalized rule to lower drug prices. The administration’s policy will enforce the Department of Health and Human Services authority to create and implement a new payment model based on the “most favored nation” price that will lower the... Read More »
The District Court of Nevada filed a decision in favor of a transgender man regarding his right to obtain a U.S. passport in his identifying gender. Oliver Bruce Morris had been denied a passport in 2018 for not submitting certification from a doctor that he had completed the medical treatment... Read More »
Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law three new laws authored by James Ramos, the first member of a Native American tribe to serve in the California state legislature. The three laws promote the rights of Native Americans in the state and will go into effect on January 1, 2021. James... Read More »
At a news conference on the steps of the federal courthouse in Central Islip on Wednesday, December 2, Seth DuCharme, acting United States Attorney in Brooklyn, announced the indictment of six individuals in connection with a “birth tourism” scheme in Long Island, New York. DuCharme stated, “the indictment unsealed today... Read More »
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit recently affirmed a 2019 lower court decision that continued to grant undocumented immigrants the right to obtain a standard driver’s license in New York. The plaintiff, Michael Kearns, sued the state by arguing that he had the "impossible task of choosing... Read More »
On November 23, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit overturned a 2017 district court decision that granted the right of individual plaintiffs to challenge a Texas state decision to disqualify Planned Parenthood from its Medicaid program. The overruling decision now allows Texas and Louisiana to exclude... Read More »
