With the COBRA subsidy having expired, Congress has moved ahead to extend the subsidy. Section 1010 of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2010 extends the COBRA subsidy program for six more months, moving from a nine month subsidy to a 15 month subsidy. It also extends the eligibility for workers from December 31, 2009 … Read more »
Who Said Government Ethics Wasn’t Funny?
You might think that the United States Office of Government Ethics would be overly serious and lack a sense of humor. You would be wrong. Check out the poem at the end of their Reminder about Holiday Gifts & Fundraising (.pdf) The holiday season – a time for good cheer! For egg nog, for parties, … Read more »
Compliance Bits and Pieces for December 18
Here are some interesting stories from the past week: “Mr. Ruehle, You Are a Free Man”: Judge Carney’s Dramatic Dismissal of the Broadcom Backdating Criminal Case by Kevin M. LaCroix in The D&O Diary There has been widespread news coverage of the dramatic December 15, 2009 decision of Central District of California Judge Cormac Carney to … Read more »
Credit Suisse Settles OFAC Charges for $536 million
The Credit Suisse Group has reached a settlement with U.S. authorities related to U.S. dollar payments involving parties subject to U.S. sanctions. The $536 million global settlement with Credit Suisse represents by far the largest sanctions settlement in the history of US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. The settlement arises out of Credit Suisse’s … Read more »
SEC Approves New Custody Rule
The Securities and Exchange Commission adopted the proposed Custody Rule for investment advisers originally proposed last May. (See: SEC Releases Proposed Custody Rules for Investment Advisers) As is typical with the SEC, they announced the rule was approved before they made the final version of rule available. The rule amendments will be effective 60 days … Read more »
SEC Historical Society
The Securities and Exchange Commission Historical Society has launched a new gallery exploring the SEC during the mid to late 1970s: In the Midst of Revolution: The SEC, 1973-1981. “From 1973 to 1981, the securities industry and the SEC experienced revolutionary change that created enormous upheaval, provided new economic opportunity and made the task of … Read more »
Computer Files for Employees in France
France has strict laws on the ability of a company to monitor its employees’ computers. But a recent French decision found that files created by an employee on a computer issued by the company for work purposes are presumed professional unless the employee identified them clearly as personal. So the company can open these files … Read more »
Supreme Court to Hear Case on Employer Access to Worker Messages
How much privacy do workers have when they send text messages from company accounts? Users of text-messaging services “have a reasonable expectation of privacy” regarding messages stored on the service provider’s network, 9th Circuit Judge Kim Wardlaw said in Quon v. Arch Wireless Operating Company, Inc., 529 F.3d 892 (9th Cir. 2008). In that case … Read more »
COBRA Subsidy Expiring
Congress continues to health care reform while the emergency COBRA subsidy is set to expire. To help out the wave of workers laid-off, downsized and outsourced, Congress included a health insurance subsidy as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The government would pay 65 percent of the COBRA premium for eligible … Read more »