Welcome back to another Top 10 in Law Blogs, LexBloggers. Only three more before the end of 2018! This week, Jeff Nowak writes on the importance of employers understanding Family and Medical Leave Act nuances, especially as the holidays approach. Brian Slagle reports on a former CFPB Ombudsman’s new nonprofit dedicated to ending student loans. LexBlog’s Founder and CEO, Kevin O’ Keefe, announces the campaign to grow our legal blogging network—and the passionate people behind that effort. Happy reading! Paying Out a Year-End Bonus or an Incentive Payment: Can an Employer Withhold the Money from the Employee Who Took FMLA Leave? – By Jeff Nowak: It’s the end of the year, which means bonus time. Or perhaps instead you want to offer a pay incentive to employees to improve attendance or production? Take, for instance, a point-based attendance bonus policy in which employees are assessed points for every tardiness or absence (even for FMLA or ADA-covered leave), which, in turn, disqualifies…View Full Post Word from the Industry’s Mouth – By Tamar Devdevani, Airina Rodrigues, and Michael Geller: Interview with Melissa Schoffer Farber, SoulCycle’s Senior Director of Legal Affairs: To describe New York-based SoulCycle as a company offering indoor cycling classes is a serious understatement. While SoulCycle does tout 90 locations in the US and Canada, with a growing international presence, the business has morphed from an indoor cycling company into a powerhouse…View Full Post Where Is the HIPAA Right to Defend One’s Self? – By Adam H. Greene and Rebecca L. Williams: When a patient publicly disparages a health care provider, HIPAA leaves the health care provider in a seemingly impossible situation. If the health care provider does not respond and dispute the allegation, then its reputation – a precious commodity to an organization that relies on patients to trust it with their lives – may take a significant hit….View Full Post Australia’s landmark Modern Slavery Act passes into law – By Rachel Bernasconi and Geoffrey Beinart-Smollan: After several years of reports and recommendations, the Australian Parliament has passed the Modern Slavery Act 2018—carrying an imperative for businesses in Australia to take action on their modern slavery risks and responsibilities.The Modern Slavery Bill generated impassioned debate in both the House and Senate, passing with bipartisan support and several amendments to the legislation…View Full Post Former CFPB Student Loan Ombudsman Creates Student Loan Advocacy Group – By Brian Slagle: Former CFPB Student Loan Ombudsman Seth Frotman, who abruptly resigned from the Bureau in August, has formed a nonprofit organization to advocate for additional oversight of the student loan industry. Called the Student Borrower Protection Center (SBPC), the group describes itself as “leading a nationwide effort to end the student debt crisis in America.”…View Full Post GM’s Planned Cuts Require Action by Its Suppliers – By Ann Marie Uetz, Mark A. Aiello, and Nicholas J. Ellis: In the face of what General Motors’ CEO Mary Barra calls a “fast-changing market,” this week General Motors announced its plans to end the production of certain vehicles, reduce its North American work force by more than 10%, and idle five plants in the United States and Canada…View Full Post Financial Institutions Targeted by “London Blue” Hackers Group – By Steve Snyder: A cyber threat detection company has identified a Nigerian-based hacking group that is engaging in a spearphishing campaign against financial institutions. Spearphishing is a directed email phishing campaign that is typically aimed at those with responsibilities relating to financial transactions. In this case…View Full Post FCC to Radio Licensees: We’re Watching You (or at Least Your Public Files) – By Davina Sashkin and Seth Williams: With the whirl of the holiday season upon us, most broadcasters rightly thought they could put off looking ahead to the next license renewal cycle until 2019. Au contraire, says the FCC, which began sending out blast emails to certain radio licensees on December 6, warning that FCC internal audits have revealed that many stations’ online public files (OPIF) are not up to snuff….View Full Post When Lettuce Becomes Unhealthy, it’s Time to Rethink Food Safety in the U.S. – By Erik Olson and Lena Brook: We live in partisan times, as anyone who had to sit through Thanksgiving dinner with distant relatives can probably attest. But even your crazy uncle would agree that the safety of our food shouldn’t be a partisan issue. No one wants their child to get sick from eating a hamburger, chicken, or—in the case of the current E. coli outbreak…View Full Post Campaign underway to grow LexBlog’s worldwide legal blogging network – By Kevin O’ Keefe: A campaign got underway today to grow LexBlog’s worldwide legal blogging network. This morning, two members of LexBlog’s publishing team began reaching out to legal bloggers in the United States whose blogs are not already in LexBlog’s legal news and commentary network. LexBlog announced a few months ago the launch of a first of its kind legal news and commentary network…View Full Post