The end of another week means the release of another LexBlog Top 10 in Law Blogs, where we compile our favorite and most relevant posts from the week. This week’s highlights include a post from Andrew Levad and Jason Gordon of Reed Smith LLP on a newly upheld ruling that prohibits New Yorkers from taking ballot-box selfies; a discussion about sexual harassment in the cannabis industry workplace, by Robert McVay, a partner at Harris Bricken; and an update from Amanda Sanders, Norton Rose Fulbright’s Senior Knowledge Lawyer, about the EAT’s dismissal of Uber’s appeal about the worker status of its drivers.
Cannabis Workplace Sexual Harassment – by Robert McVay on the Canna Law Blog: Over the past few weeks, story after story has come to light of sexual assault and sexual harassment in the entertainment industry. But though high profile actors, directors, and producers are getting most of the press attention right now, the vast majority of workplace sexual harassment is experienced by low-wage hourly employees, often in small businesses. Employers in every industry should take advantage of the current wake-up call to make sure their policies and procedures are effective in preventing sexual harassment in the workplace. View Full Post
Save Local Business Act Passes House: Legislative Narrowing of a Judicial Doctrine – by Mark Tabakman on Wage & Hour – Developments & Highlights: I recently blogged about this possibility and now it has come to fruition. The House of Representatives has passed a proposal to walk back the Obama USDOL initiative to expand the doctrine of joint employer status/liability for violations of labor law. The vote was 242-181 and followed (mostly) party lines. The new law would amend the National Labor Relations Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act to state that one entity would be jointly liable for another entity’s labor law violations if that first entity had “direct control” of the second entity’s employees. View Full Post
New York Ballot Selfie Ban Upheld… For Now – by Andrew Levad and Jason Gordon of AdLaw by Request: In the first iteration of what is expected to be a hot constitutional issue, a Federal court in New York upheld New York’s ban on ballot-box selfies. The court found the law triggered strict scrutiny as the result of its suppression of voters’ political expression, but that it was sufficiently narrowly tailored to further compelling government interests in accordance with First Amendment precedent. View Full Post
Is Cruising to the Middle East Safe? – by Jim Walker on Cruise Law News: Bloomberg published an article today titled Why the Cruise Industry Is Booming in the Middle East. The lighthearted article casually mentions that passengers on the “fancy, all-inclusive Seabourn Encore were enjoying martinis and opera around the pool” off the coast of Somalia “where pirates occasionally hijack cargo ships” when an alarm sounded indicating that a small motorboat approached their cruise ship. “Onto the cruise ship climbed several burly security guards with cases of ‘conventional weapons,’ which would provide, as the captain explained, an added layer of protection for a potentially tricky passage.” View Full Post
DYKES ON BIKES No Longer Idling After Matal v. Tam – by Jessica Gutierrez Alm on the Duets Blog: Simon Tam wasn’t the only one barred by the Lanham Act from reclaiming a historically derogatory term. Dykes on Bikes is a nonprofit lesbian motorcycle organization. According to their website, the group’s mission is to “support philanthropic endeavors in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and women’s communities, and to reach out to empower a community of diverse women through rides, charity events, Pride events, and education.” In 2015, Dykes on Bikes tried to register their logo as a service mark for entertainment. The application was put on hold pending the outcome of Matal v. Tam, as the Supreme Court considered whether Simon Tam could register his band name—The Slants. In view of the Court’s landmark decision holding the disparagement provision of the Lanham Act unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination, Dykes on Bikes will move forward with its trademark application as well. View Full Post
Are Short-Term Rentals Permitted In Your Neighborhood? – by Aaron S. Marines of the Lancaster Law Blog: Short-term vacation home rentals – such as Airbnb, HomeAway, VRBO and others – are becoming more and more common today. They are present not only in traditional vacation spots such as the Poconos, but more and more in every kind of neighborhood. Many of these short-term rentals are happening in relatively “normal” suburban or urban communities. Very often, these neighborhoods are not equipped to deal with vacationing out-of-towners using, and all too frequently abusing, one of their neighbor’s homes every week. So the question remains “are these short-term rentals violations?” View Full Post
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act-Tax Reform May Drastically Change Executive Compensation* – by Ryan J. Liebl of the Benefits and Compensation Blog: On November 2, 2017, H.R.1 or the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “House Bill”) was introduced in the House of Representatives. The House Bill initially proposed to make sweeping changes to executive compensation provisions in the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”). View Full Post
Uber appeal – Drivers have worker status – by Amanda Sanders on Global Workplace Insider: The EAT has dismissed Uber’s appeal against the employment tribunal’s decision that its drivers are ‘workers’ within the meaning of S.230(3)(b) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA 1996) and the equivalent definitions in the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 (NMWA 1998) and the Working Time Regulations 1998 (WTR 1998). The EAT held that the employment tribunal was entitled to reject the characterisation by Uber of its business in the written contractual documentation and to look at the situation as a whole. View Full Post
Extension of Property Tax Discount in Miami-Dade and Potentially Other Counties – by Brian S. Adler and Elise Holtzman of Bilzin Sumberg’s New Miami Blog: On September 4, 2017, Governor Scott issued Executive Order 17-235 in response to anticipated severe damage across Florida due to Hurricane Irma. The Executive Order granted the Florida Department of Revenue authority to issue an Emergency Order to waive and extend the local taxing authorities’ compliance deadlines related to the budget process and associated setting of millages and special assessment rates. View Full Post
Blowin’ In the Wind – by Ed Adrian of Freedom & Ethics: The Caladonian Record ran an interesting piece this past weekend entitled “Public Records Request: Blittersdorf Says Standard Will Cost Him $1 Million.” Although the Record is behind a paywall, the gist of the article was relatively straight forward in that it called into question the ways in which lobbyists seek to influence lawmakers. The article was in part premised on a public records request made by Annette Smith, the Executive Director of the group “Vermonters for a Clean Environment” or VCE. The records request, results of which are posted on the VCE Blog asked for records from the State Senators and Representatives on the legislative committee overseeing the new wind turbine regulations. View Full Post
* A post from a new blog that launched this week