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Latest from Reed Smith LLP

Employment Law Watch

New York State and City expand Human Rights Law protections to freelancers and independent contractors

By Mark S. Goldstein & Alexandra Manfredi

January 24, 2020

Independent contractors have long been excluded from the protections afforded by traditional workplace anti-discrimination laws. That is no longer the case in New York State and City. In recent months, legislators in both Albany and Manhattan have extended substantial workplace-related protections – once only afforded to traditional employees – to freelancers, consultants, and the like (that is, independent contractors). We will discuss these measures below. New York State Effective October 2019, the antidiscrimination provisions of…

Technology Law Dispatch

The ICO’s draft Direct Marketing Code of Practice: What you need to know

By Elle Todd

January 24, 2020

The UK Information Commissioner’s Office has published a draft Code of Practice on Direct Marketing, which is now out for consultation. Here we discuss the context for this and key takeaway points from its 120+ pages. Read more about this topic in our recent client alert. …

Technology Law Dispatch

New year, new laws: Washington re-introduces comprehensive privacy act among flurry of 2020 consumer privacy bills

By Kimberly Gold, Sarah Bruno & Jim Barbuto

January 23, 2020

Washington state’s lawmakers started the 2020 legislative session with a renewed focus on consumer privacy through the introduction of ten privacy-related bills across the state House and Senate on January 13. Chief among these proposals was the comprehensive Washington Privacy Act (WPA), a new version of which was re-introduced in the Senate after the previous bill died in the House in 2019. The WPA continues to draw comparisons to the now-effective California Consumer Privacy Act…

Life Sciences Legal Update

Health care and life sciences companies may gain clarity from proposed amendment to California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)

By Kimberly Gold & Alexis Cocco

January 23, 2020

Proposed amendment AB 713, if passed, would hopefully provide clarity to businesses working with clinical research data. The amendment proposes matching CCPA de-identification standards to those set forth in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), in addition to equally important clarifications for life sciences companies, health care providers and medical researchers. In particular, AB 713 covers five major principles: HIPAA De-identification Privacy Disclosure Business Associates Medical Research Product and Medical Device Tracking…

AdLaw By Request®

NCAA’s Consideration of Training Expenses for Olympic Athletes and Name, Image and Likeness Debate to Take Center Stage at Annual NCAA Convention

By Jason Gordon & Erika Auger

January 23, 2020

Last week, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (“NCAA”) proposed a new rule allowing elite Olympic and Paralympic athletes to have “additional training expenses” paid without jeopardizing their NCAA eligibility. Athletes designated “elite” by the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and national sport governing bodies would be allowed to receive “developmental training expenses, including travel for parents, guardians, coaches and sports experts” under the proposed legislation, which is to be voted on at the NCAA 2020…

Drug & Device Law

General Causation Experts Excluded In Viagra/Cialis MDL

By Steven Boranian

January 23, 2020

The Ninth Circuit has not been great for us on Daubert. I suppose it is more accurate to say that the Ninth Circuit has not been great for those who oppose the introduction of unreliable scientific expert opinions. But that is usually us, the defendants resisting plaintiffs’ efforts to get to juries with scientific theories that are nothing more than that—theories, or sometimes worse. In 2014, we saw the district court in Merrick v. Novartis…

Technology Law Dispatch

Proposed CCPA amendment would provide significant clarity to health care and life sciences companies

By Alexis Cocco & Kimberly Gold

January 22, 2020

Despite intensive lobbying from industry groups, multiple amendments before its effective date, and extensive proposed regulations from the California attorney general, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) went into effect earlier this month with still many questions left unanswered: What compromises will be made regarding employee and business-to-business data? Will there be further insight into loyalty programs? Does the use of third-party cookies constitute a sale? What is the extent of the health care and …

Employment Law Watch

New Jersey law requires severance pay in mass layoffs

By John T. McDonald & Saranne Weimer

January 22, 2020

Governor Phil Murphy signed legislation yesterday, January 21, 2020, amending New Jersey’s mini-WARN law, the Millville Dallas Airmotive Plant Job Loss Notification Act (the “Act”). Most notable among the changes is the requirement that companies with 100 or more employees (now including part-time workers) pay severance to employees impacted by a mass layoff. A “mass layoff” is considered any plant closing or transfer resulting in 50 or more employees losing their jobs. Pursuant to the…

Employment Law Watch

EEOC rescinds longstanding policy statement on mandatory binding arbitration

By Betty S.W. Graumlich & Noah Oberlander

January 22, 2020

Last month, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) surprisingly announced that it was formally rescinding its longstanding “Policy Statement on Mandatory Binding Arbitration of Employment Discrimination Disputes as a Condition of Employment,” which took the position that mandatory arbitration provisions between employers and employees were contrary to federal antidiscrimination laws. Originally issued in July 1997, the EEOC’s policy statement expressed its position that mandatory arbitration agreements could have “chilling effects” on charge…

Drug & Device Law

The Defense Strikes Back – with a RICO Suit

By Stephen McConnell

January 22, 2020

What a virile week we’re having. Tomorrow the blog will discuss a viagra product liability lawsuit. Today we reach back to a case from last March involving a battle between sellers of other male, um, performance products. Put all that together with last week’s post on cannabis and we are reminded of the scene from one of our favorite films, Dr. Strangelove, in which the pilot of a B-52 about to go down in the…

Reed Smith LLP

Reed Smith LLP Blogs

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New York State and City expand Human Rights Law protections to freelancers and independent contractors

The ICO’s draft Direct Marketing Code of Practice: What you need to know

New year, new laws: Washington re-introduces comprehensive privacy act among flurry of 2020 consumer privacy bills

Health care and life sciences companies may gain clarity from proposed amendment to California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)

NCAA’s Consideration of Training Expenses for Olympic Athletes and Name, Image and Likeness Debate to Take Center Stage at Annual NCAA Convention

General Causation Experts Excluded In Viagra/Cialis MDL

Proposed CCPA amendment would provide significant clarity to health care and life sciences companies

New Jersey law requires severance pay in mass layoffs

EEOC rescinds longstanding policy statement on mandatory binding arbitration

The Defense Strikes Back – with a RICO Suit

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