Each week, you’ll find specially curated news articles to keep you up to date on the ever-evolving world of insurance and risk management. The articles are divided out between items relevant to Property & Casualty, Employee Benefits/Human Resources, and Compliance. We’ve included brief summaries of each item as well as a link to the original articles.
PROPERTY & CASUALTY
Viewpoint: D&O Market Conundrum — Softening Rates With Rising Claims Severity
“An uncertain economic landscape leading to a rise in claims, decreasing rates, and proposed US Securities and Exchange Commission regulations on environmental, social and governance disclosures (ESG) are just some of the challenges facing directors and officers liability insurance. AmTrust EXEC claims team members Dan Beatty and Erin Zimmerman look at key issues and trends in the sector.” Full Article
– Insurance Journal
EMPLOYEE BENEFITS, HUMAN RESOURCES, & COMPLIANCE
DOJ Continues Criminal Labor Antitrust Enforcement Despite Recent Prosecution Setbacks “With yet another criminal wage-fixing indictment filed this week, the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) signaled its continued commitment to prosecuting anticompetitive conduct affecting the U.S. labor markets, including within the health care industry.” Full Article – Hall, Render, Killian, Heath & Lyman PC
The Rising Importance of Trade Secret Protection in the Coming Era of Non-Compete Ban: Two Steps Your Business Needs to Take Now “To become and remain competitive in virtually any industry, businesses develop, execute, and hone strategies to win over and keep customers. These strategies become critical operational and business information. To keep this information from falling into competitors’ hands, businesses rely on several tools.” Full Article – Kane Russell Coleman Logan PC
The Speak Out Act: What Employers Need to Know “Employers should be aware of and immediately take measures to comply with the Speak Out Act, which took effect on December 7, 2022. The Act prohibits nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) and nondisparagement agreements designed to prevent current and former employees from discussing sexual harassment and assault.” Full Article – Hall Benefits Law, LLC
Pay Transparency Goes Primetime: Sweeping New Federal Legislation Proposed in Congress “New proposed legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives would require all employers nationwide – regardless of size or number of employees – to include the wage range in all job postings, provide wage ranges to applicants, and provide wage ranges to existing employees for their positions.” Full Article – Littler Mendelson P.C.
Workplace Violence: An Unfortunate Reality– Are you Prepared? “Mass shootings have been increasingly in the headlines in recent years, and many of these incidents have occurred in the workplace. Regardless of anyone’s politics, employers are having to face either the fear of, or the actual experience of, murder in their own offices, factories and schools. What steps should an employer take to keep their employees safe and help to ease the impact on their employees?” Full Article – Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP
Treasury Greenbook Includes Proposal to Alter Work Opportunity Tax Credit “On March 9, 2023, the U.S. Department of Treasury released the Greenbook (formally known as the General Explanation of the Administration’s Revenue Proposals) for FY 2024 to explain revenue proposals included in the Administration’s budget. One proposal is to increase the number of hours required to be worked by an individual for the employer to be eligible for the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC).” Full Article – Covington & Burling LLP
STATE & INTERNATIONAL COMPLIANCE
In addition to the RISQ Review, RISQ Consulting also provides a resource that features changes and updates to State and International Compliance measures. We’ve included brief summaries of each item below, and also provided links to the original articles if you’d like to read further.
Columbus, Ohio Prohibits Asking Applicants Their Salary History “Recently, the City of Columbus joined a growing number of states and municipalities that have passed laws prohibiting employers from inquiring into a job applicant’s salary history. In Ohio, Toledo and Cincinnati currently have such ordinances.” Full Article – Vorys, Sater, Seymour & Pease LLPOHIO
Pennsylvania Court Holds Employer Must Reimburse Out-of-Pocket Costs for Medical Marijuana “A Pennsylvania Court held that an employer violated the state Workers’ Compensation Act (WCA) by refusing to reimburse an employee for out-of- pocket medical marijuana expenses related to a workplace injury.” Full Article – Jackson Lewis P.C.PENNSYLVANIA
New York State Releases Updated Model Sexual Harassment Prevention Policy and Training “The New York State Department of Labor (“DOL”) has released its long- awaited updated model sexual harassment prevention policy that addresses issues such as gender identity, remote work, and bystander intervention.” Full Article – Proskauer Rose LLPNEW YORK
Colorado’s Pay Transparency Laws “Colorado’s Equal Pay for Equal Work Act (“EPEWA”) requires employers to include compensation and benefits information in all job postings and notifications of promotional opportunities. The EPEWA covers all employers, public or private, that employ at least one person in Colorado. Employees of covered employers must also comply with the pay transparency requirements of the EPEWA.” Full Article – Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLPCOLORADO
California Seeks to Ban Most Criminal Background Checks “California legislators met on April 11, 2023 to discuss a proposed overhaul of employment-related criminal background checks. Simply put, if the Fair Chance Act of 2023 (SB 809) is passed into law, California will have the most restrictive criminal background check law in the country, and will significantly limit the way California employers can vet applicants for employment.” Full Article – Baker & McKenzie LLPCALIFORNIA
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