Paley Rothman shares this library of resources with clients and friends of the firm to help them stay ahead of legal and business developments and trends. Here, you will find helpful tips and tools written by our attorneys. The information in the blogs and articles is not a substitute for legal advice and should not be relied on as such. Should you have any questions or want legal advice, please contact the attorney who wrote the blog or article.
Departing from precedent, a recent decision by the First Circuit Court of Appeals has posed new questions about the limits to the discretion wielded by plan administrators in interpreting and administering employee benefit plans.
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In a decision issued March 27, 2013, the Supreme Court, by a 5-4 vote, rejected an antitrust class action suit filed by Comcast subscribers. The case has clear implications for how employers may defend against class actions.
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For the many companies that utilize arbitration clauses in their independent contractor agreements or employment agreements, a recent decision from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia serves as an important reminder of the care that must be taken in crafting these provisions. Otherwise, what was meant to provide a cost-savings mechanism for dispute resolution may end up actually increasing litigation expenses significantly. As this case demonstrates, the litigants spent substantial time (and no doubt expense) litigating the enforceability of the arbitration provision even before getting to the merits of the case.
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The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) took a rare action on March 12, 2013, filing suit against Toys “R” Us under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) for failure to provide a reasonable accommodation to, and failure to hire, a profoundly deaf job applicant. The statistics highlight how rare this suit really is: In 2012, the EEOC received 99,412 charges alleging some form of employment discrimination. Of those 99,412 charges, the EEOC brought merit suits in just 122 cases. Only 45 involved ADA claims.
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It has been several years since the enactment of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA) that significantly increased the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s (CPSC) regulatory powers. It also dramatically increased the civil and criminal penalties that the Commission can assess for violations.
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