As Employers Plan to Require COVID-19 Vaccinations, EEOC Offers Guidance to Protect Employees with Disabilities and Religious Objections
As the first Americans are administered the COVID-19 vaccine, many employers plan to require vaccination as a condition of continued employment. While everyone can agree that safety in the workplace is of paramount concern, mandated vaccinations have the potential to infringe upon the rights of employees with disabilities or who have religious ...
Top Officials Depart the SEC
On December 22, 2020, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") announced that the head of its investment management division, Dalia Blass, will depart the agency in January. Blass is credited with modernizing numerous regulatory frameworks by implementing rules and guidance for exchange-traded funds, fund-of-funds, valuation practices, ...
Supreme Court To Revisit Class Certification Factors For Securities Fraud Cases
On December 11, 2020, the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari in a shareholder securities class action against Goldman Sachs ("Goldman") to resolve whether "materiality" and stock price-impact determinations may be made at the class certification stage. Arkansas Teacher Ret. Sys. v. Goldman Sachs Grp., Inc., 955 F.3d 254 (2d Cir. ...
Energy Trader Vitol To Pay $163 Million To Resolve Bribery Charges
According to The Wall Street Journal, Swiss-based energy firm Vitol recently agreed to pay $163 million to settle charges that its employees paid bribes to gain an advantage when bidding for oil in Brazil, Mexico, and Ecuador. The deal includes a deferred-prosecution agreement with the Department of Justice ("DOJ"), a $90 million fine to the ...
Florida to Raise Minimum Wage to $15 Per Hour
On November 3, 2020, over 60% of Floridians voted to amend Florida's Constitution, increasing the state minimum wage from the current rate of $8.56 to $15.00 over the next six years. Employers must pay all non-tipped employee's hourly rates according to the following schedule: • Through December 31, 2020 - $8.56• Beginning January 1, 2021 ...
Colorado Passes Paid Family and Medical Leave Law
On November 3, 2020, Coloradans overwhelmingly voted for the Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance Act ("PFML") by a margin of 57% to 43%, securing Colorado workers up to 12 weeks of paid leave to address a variety of personal and family caregiving obligations. Colorado joins 8 other states and Washington, D.C. in enacting legislation that ...
SHAREHOLDER VOTING PARTICIPATION INCREASES AMID COVID-19 PANDEMIC
On November 10, 2020, Broadridge Financial Solutions in conjunction with PwC published their latest ProxyPulse (the "Report"). The Report analyzes shareholder proxy voting of 3,844 public companies from January 1, 2020 through June 30, 2020 and provides insight into how shareholders may engage on certain matters in the future. The Report also ...
Merck’s Second Bid for Arbitration Denied in Rotavirus Vaccine Antitrust Case
Judge J. Curtis Joyner denied Merck's renewed bid to force a class of direct purchasers to arbitrate their antitrust claims related to Merck's alleged vaccine bundling scheme. The Third Circuit had reversed and remanded the court's initial order denying Merck's motion to compel arbitration last year and allowed for limited discovery on the ...
FIRST CIRCUIT UPHOLDS CONVICTIONS OF PHARMA EMPLOYEES
On Friday, the First Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the insider trading convictions of two biotech employees finding that the pieces of evidence at trial "fit neatly together" to show that the insiders profited by trading stock based on nonpublic information. U.S. Circuit Judge Thompson rejected attempts by former Akebia Therapeutics Inc. ...
The Catastrophic and Cascading Effects of California Proposition 22 on Gig Workers’ Rights
As the dust continues to settle after Joe Biden's election as the next President of the United States, the passing of a controversial ballot measure in California – Proposition 22 – has flown somewhat under the radar, despite its potential to reshape the landscape of wage-and-hour law for gig economy workers not only in California, but ...
Ninth Circuit Clarifies Loss Causation Pleading Standards
On October 8, 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed and remanded a district court's dismissal of a securities fraud class action against Bofl Holding, Inc. ("Bofl"), finding that in the Ninth Circuit, a whistleblower lawsuit filed by a former company insider could be a potential corrective disclosure. Bofl shareholders ...
Hallmark Suit Claims Rival Didn’t Care Enough To Send The Very Best
Hallmark Cards, Inc. was founded in Kansas City, Missouri in 1910. It is the oldest and largest manufacturer of greeting cards in the United States. Dickens Inc. is a rival greeting card company founded in 1982 which credits itself with the invention of "Musical Cards", the introduction of "LED Lighted Cards" and "Sound Effect Cards." In 2017, ...
CALIFORNIA ENACTS LAW MANDATING INCLUSION OF UNDERREPRESENTED COMMUNITIES ON PUBLIC COMPANY BOARDS
On September 30, 2020, the Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, signed California Assembly Bill No. 979 ("Bill 979"). Bill 979 amends California's General Corporation Law and, inter alia, requires publicly held corporations that maintain principal executive offices in California to have a minimum of one director from an underrepresented community ...
Congress Seeks Clearer Regulatory Path For Digital Tokens
Regulators have recently introduced two congressional bills intended to provide additional clarity regarding the status of cryptocurrency tokens and their trading platforms. The Securities Clarity Act, sponsored by Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn. and the Digital Commodity Exchange Act, sponsored by Rep. Michael Conway, R-Texas, both seek to create ...
Federal Judge Finds NYC in Violation of Americans with Disabilities Act for Lack of Blind Friendly Crosswalks
On October 20, 2020, Southern District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer found that New York City was liable for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA"), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the New York City Human Rights Law for its failure to provide accessible signals for blind pedestrians. According to Disability Rights ...
Court Plucks Unjust Enrichment Claims from Turkey Price-Fixing Suit
On October 26, 2020, an Illinois federal judge tossed unjust enrichment claims and some state claims in the proposed class action brought by an indirect purchaser of turkey products against turkey wholesalers, including Perdue, Tyson, and others, accusing them of illegally trading confidential information to limit supply of turkeys and inflate ...
SEC Charges John McAfee With Securities Fraud
The Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") recently charged infamous celebrity businessman John McAfee with the fraudulent promotion of cryptocurrencies in several initial coin offerings. The complaint alleges that McAfee was paid over $23 million to make false and misleading statements that pumped the value of "virtually worthless" cryptocurrencies ...
Andeavor LLC Fined $20 Million For Controls Violations Related To Stock Buyback Plan
On October 23, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") announced a $20 million settlement with Andeavor LLC for "controls violations relating to a stock buyback plan it implemented while it was in [confidential] discussions to be acquired by Marathon Petroleum Corp. in 2018." By way of background, a stock buyback "occurs when ...
SEC Rule Amendments Add Additional Hurdles for Shareholders
Recently, the SEC adopted amendments to its shareholder proposal rule, Rule 14a-8, in order to "facilitate engagement among shareholder-proponents, companies and other shareholders, including preserving the ability of smaller shareholders to access the proxy statements of the companies in which they have demonstrated a continuing interest." ...
PILGRIM’S PRIDE FINED $110.5 MILLION FOR PRICE FIXING
On October 13, 2020, Pilgrim's Pride Corporation ("PPC") announced that it had entered into a plea agreement with the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice ("DOJ") with respect to the DOJ's investigation into the sales of broiler chicken products in the United States. PPC agreed to pay a $110.5 million fine after striking a ...