Alert
Published 06/18/2021
By Levi R. Schy, Kathryn Beaumont Murphy, Patrick F. Nugent, Joshua W.B. Richards
Industries Higher Education
On June 16, 2021, the U.S. Department of Education’s (the “Department”) Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) issued a Notice of Interpretation explaining that it will enforce Title IX's prohibition of discrimination on the basis of sex to include: (1) discrimination based on sexual orientation; and (2) discrimination based on gender identity. [1] The move is the latest action by OCR in carrying out President Biden’s Executive Order on Guaranteeing an Educational Environment Free from Discrimination on the Basis of Sex, Including Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity , [2] and follows an April 2021...
Article
Published 06/17/2021
Industries Cannabis Law
Alert
Published 06/16/2021
By Joshua W. B. Richards, Zachary B. Kizitaff
Industries Higher Education
The Department of Justice recently filed a Statement of Interest in Thomas v. Bd. of Regents of the University of Nebraska , a case pending in the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska asserting peer harassment and retaliation claims under Title IX. Following a motion to dismiss and opposition briefing, DOJ (with co-signature from Department of Education attorneys) filed a Statement of Interest , seeking to “explain the legal standards governing peer sexual harassment and retaliation claims for damages under Title IX.” The Statement of Interest stakes out a number of DOJ...
Blog Post
Published 06/16/2021
By Zachary Kimmel
Article
Published 06/14/2021
Services Labor and Employment
Alert
Published 06/14/2021
By Alexander Bilus | Patrick Hromisin | Jillian Walton
Services Cybersecurity and Privacy
On June 4, 2021, the European Commission adopted new sets of Standard Contractual Clauses (New SCCs) that organizations can use when transferring personal data protected by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to countries outside the European Union (EU). The New SCCs were long overdue, but their issuance creates a number of tasks for the multitude of organizations that have used the current versions of the SCCs to lawfully transfer personal data from the EU to non-EU countries in the years since the GDPR went into effect. The prior versions of standard contractual clauses that the...
Alert
Published 06/11/2021
By Marshall Paul, Rick Carroll
Services Corporate
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the Department of Treasury (FinCEN) has made it clear that the reporting obligations imposed on corporations, LLCs, and other “similar” entities under the new Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) are anything but clear. The CTA, which likely will present a significant filing burden for many small and medium-sized businesses, was part of the National Defense Authorization Act, passed by Congress on January 1, 2021. Among other things, the CTA makes FinCEN responsible for collecting data surrounding the ownership of corporations and other entities. The...
Alert
Published 06/09/2021
By Bruce D. Armon, Samatha R. Gross, Patricia Varona Garcia
Industries Health Care | HIPAA / Health Information Privacy and Security
On June 2, 2021, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), announced that the Diabetes, Endocrinology & Lipidology Center, Inc., (DELC) agreed to pay $5,000, enter into a Resolution Agreement, and adopt a Corrective Action Plan (CAP) to settle a violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule. According to its web page, DELC has one (1) health care provider and their sole office is located in Martinsburg, West Virginia. Two years ago, OCR announced the HIPAA Right of Access Initiative, which...
Blog Post
Published 06/09/2021
By Jason Tremblay, Alexander Reich
Blog Post
Published 06/08/2021
By Jason Tremblay, Alexander Reich
Alert
Published 06/07/2021
By Patrick M. Hromisin, Kelsey Marron
Services Cybersecurity and Privacy | White Collar and Government Enforcement
On June 3, 2021, the Supreme Court drastically narrowed the reach of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 (“CFAA”), a federal statue prohibiting individuals from “exceeding authorized access” to computers and computer systems. In Van Buren v. United States , the Court grappled with the meaning of “exceeding authorized access”– does this phrase cover those who misuse computer access that they otherwise lawfully have, or only those who obtain information on a computer to which they do not have lawful access? In a 6-3 majority opinion authored by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, the Court held...
Alert
Published 06/07/2021
By Darius C. Gambino, Zachary B. Kizitaff
Services Intellectual Property
By now, you have likely heard about Non-Fungible Tokens, or NFTs, which have taken off considerably in the last year. NFTs are a form of crypto asset, similar to popular crypto currencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. The main difference is that Bitcoins are fungible assets, meaning you can trade one Bitcoin for another and have an exchange of equal value. NFTs, on the other hand, are unique and thus cannot be the basis for an equal-value exchange. This uniqueness allows for an immutable and unalterable digital record on any blockchain network. Importantly, the blockchain stores the entire...
Alert
Published 06/04/2021
This month’s Friday Five highlights both circuit and district court opinions on the scope of ERISA preemption, discretionary review and exhaustion of administrative remedies. The Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr Employee Benefits/ERISA Litigation Team June 4, 2021 | By Amy Kline , Caitlin Strauss and Erin Westbrook Ninth Circuit Confirms ERISA Does Not Preempt State-Run IRA Savings Program. In a dispute over a California law that creates a state-managed individual retirement (“IRA”) program for employees without access to a tax-qualified retirement savings plan through their employer, the Ninth...
Blog Post
Published 06/04/2021
By Anna Maria Tejada, Zachary Kimmel
Videos
Published 06/04/2021
Industries Financial Services
Partner Steven Malitz discusses the elements of a fraud claim and advises business owners on how to defend against such a claim.
Alert
Published 06/03/2021
By Kathryn Beaumont Murphy, Rob Duston, Levi Schy
Industries K-12 Schools
On May 10, 2021, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children ages 12-15, expanding the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) originally issued on December 11, 2020 for individuals ages 16 and older. This development may require K-12 schools to quickly firm up their position on vaccinations for students for the upcoming 2021-22 school year. (A school’s approach to vaccinations for employees requires a different legal and practical analysis, which Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr has analyzed in this blog .) For private schools, whether to require, or...
