Editor’s Note

With increasing regulation and legal regimes, seems like businesses are today caught in a swirl of compliance and ethics.. Compliance and ethics programs need to be embedded into an organization to avoid non-compliant conduct and to provide a mechanism to detect and deter it. In today’s global and economic environment, it is quite evident that corporate counsel understands that regulatory compliance is one of their highest legal risk areas. Moreover, when coupled with the increase in regulatory action, it now presents various challenges to legal departments, across the globe.

Legal and Compliance Excellence August 2015 Advertisers

Ethics Breach : 4 ways CECOs can prepare for such situations

Dealing with an organizational ethics breach is never a pleasant task for Chief Ethics and Compliance Officers (CECOs). However, when a CECO comes unprepared to handle an ethics breach, the incident only becomes more difficult to tame. In today’s fast-paced business environment, it’s vital that CECOs approach an ethics breach with a strategy in place.

Employment Faux Pas: The ‘Look Policy’

On June 1, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in EEOC v. Abercrombie & Fitch, Inc. and explained that an employer engages in unlawful religious discrimination if an individual can show that the individual’s need for religious accommodation was a motivating factor in the employer’s adverse employment action. The individual need not show that the employer had actual knowledge of the need for an accommodation.

OSHA And Workplace Violence: Tips for employers to keep OSHA in bay

Workplace violence has become a growing concern for employers and employees alike – and with good reason. Approximately two million workers report having experienced workplace violence each year. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, of the 4547 fatal workplace injuries reported in 2010, 506 of them were workplace homicides.

Employment Law Compliance: 5 pressing HR challenges that franchises face

These days, it is a challenge to be part of a franchise arrangement. The franchise model, and the very definition of employer, is under attack, specifically with regard to employee management and HR compliance issues. Small franchise owners, typically focused on running their business and putting out fires, generally focus on day-to-day employment challenges and struggle with staying current with legal and workplace trends. Many don’t have an HR function, but are still responsible for ensuring employment law compliance.

Lunch Break Unions: Is your business ready?

Your employees are on lunch break — and they’re using their smart phones to form a labor union. Sophisticated applications allow your employees to discuss unionization, gather employee signatures on representation petitions, determine the most appropriate bargaining unit in your workplace, solicit organizing advice from professional labor organizers, and even submit a representation petition to the National Labor Relations Board — all while you’re at your desk enjoying last night’s leftovers.

Process Safety Management: The 14-point OSHA PSM program

Further to best practices for Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspections, we thought we would add some comments on Process Safety Management (PSM). In terms of Environment, Health and Safety concerns, a process can be any given activity (or perhaps a combination of various activities). It can include the use of any substance that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) deems hazardous, whether the substance is manufactured on site or merely handled or moved from site to site.

Section 105 - Group Health Plans: Why this matters

If you are trying to wrap your head around the compliance requirements for a Section 105 medical reimbursement plan, here’s a good place to start: A Section 105 plan is a group health plan. In this article, I will discuss why Section 105 plans are considered group health plans, and why this is important to understanding compliance.

Performance Appraisal: The hidden risks

In an effort to reward good performance and correct poor performance, most organizations conduct some type of formal performance evaluation. Often on an annual basis, managers and employees look back over the prior year and assign a rating or ratings purportedly reflecting one’s job performance.