These are some recent compliance related stories that caught my attention:
Where the Bribes Are by the James Mintz Group
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, passed in 1977, has led to more than 200 cases covering activity in about 80 countries. On this map, the darker red that a country appears, the larger the total penalties assessed for FCPA violations in that country. Roll over a country to see the FCPA cases there (the bigger the box, the larger the penalty in that case). Click on each box for case details. Click on the sector list (lower left) for a breakdown by industry.
EEOC Advisory Opinion on Employer Use of Arrest & Conviction Records During Hiring Process in Littler’s Privacy and Data Protection Practice Group
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Office of Legal Counsel released an advisory opinion on employer use of arrest and conviction records during the hiring process. The non-binding letter provides some insight into the Commission’s current enforcement position and suggests the Commission: (1) will continue to differentiate between arrest and conviction records; (2) may not be prepared to adopt a presumption of disparate impact in this context; and (3) will in the event of a finding of disparate impact, closely scrutinize the employer’s policy with regard to both how long convictions are disqualifying and whether the underlying criminal conduct is related to the job duties for the position in question.
Louis XIV, the Old Pretender and Splitting the GC/CCO Roles by Tom Fox
Hence the War of the Spanish Succession and all may not be as it appears at first blush. This is because a GC often prefers to keep issues in-house and “not take on the responsibility of reporting to an enforcement agency.” Recognizing that such a decision is not made lightly or without thorough discussions, if the GC is also the CCO, “In difficult situations, a CCO’s perspective about a controversial transaction or event would obviously go unnoticed, if that person was also serving as the GC who happened to agree with executive management.” Hutchins concludes by noting, even the attorney who balances the two roles “will face the challenges of conflicts and the consequences of the silent compliance voice when defaulting to the professional responsibility obligations of the legal profession.”
12 Tips on How to Build a Comprehensive Anti-Corruption Compliance Program by William M. Sullivan, Jr. and G. Derek Andreson of Pillsbury
Legal Issues Surrounding Social Media Background Checks by Michelle Sherman in TOm Fox’s FCPA Complinace and Ethics Blog