Member News

Mandatory Use of New Form I-9 for Employment Eligibility Verification to Begin Soon

By Jorge R. Lopez  Shireen A. Judeh  Sean M. McCrory As a reminder, on July 17, 2017, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released a revised version of the Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, which employers must begin using no later than September 18, 2017. Many of the changes are subtle, focusing on revising the form’s instructions and wording, and clarifying the list of acceptable documents. Key revisions include: Addition of Form FS-240, Consular Report of Birth Abroad to List...

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Member News

In-Person Interviews Mandated for Employment–Based Green Card Applicants and Others

By Rebecca L. Sigmund  (Greenville) On August 25, 2017, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) confirmed that, as part of President Trump’s “extreme vetting” directives, potential legal immigrant workers will be required to undergo in-person interviews with USCIS. The interview requirement will apply to anyone moving from an employment-based visa to lawful permanent residency. The new mandate will also require visa holders who are family members of refugees or individuals who receive asylum to undergo an in-person interview when they...

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Chapter News

ECB’s Monetary policy decisions

At today’s (September 7, 2017) meeting the Governing Council of the ECB decided that the interest rate on the main refinancing operations and the interest rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility will remain unchanged at 0.00%, 0.25% and -0.40% respectively. The Governing Council expects the key ECB interest rates to remain at their present levels for an extended period of time, and well past the horizon of the net asset purchases. Regarding non-standard monetary policy measures,...

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Member News

Dutch Competition Authority publishes market study into online video streaming platforms

By Floris ten Have On 22 August 2017, the Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) published a study into the market for online video streaming platforms. Although the study did not find any indications of anticompetitive conduct or dominant market power, the authority warned that it will keep a close eye on developments in this sector. On 22 August 2017, the Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) published a study into the market for online video streaming platforms. Although...

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Member News

France’s Employment Reforms to Go Into Effect in September

By Karine Audouze |Ogletree Deakins As President Emmanuel Macron had promised, major employment reforms are under way in France and the related ordinances have been published on August 31, 2017, after extensive negotiations with national unions, concerning, in particular, the following issues: Capping Damages Awarded by Employment Tribunals in Unfair Dismissal Cases Damages will now be capped at three months’ salary for employees with two years of seniority (employees with fewer than two years of seniority will be entitled to an award equal...

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Member News

Monitoring of e-mail and internet: ECHR urges for caution

BY MARGA CAPRONI On September 5th, the Grand Chamber of European Court of Human Rights has announced a judgment in the Bãrbulescu case. Mr Bãrbulescu was terminated after his employer had discovered through monitoring that he had been using Yahoo Messenger during working hours for personal purposes, which was prohibited by a company policy. The termination was confirmed by the Romanian employment tribunal. The ECHR has now ruled that the national courts had violated Mr Bãrbulescu’s right to privacy (article 8 of...

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Member News

FINRA Convenes U.S. Regulators to Discuss Distributed-Ledger Technology

By Susan Gault-Brown and John Sullivan The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) sponsored a symposium in July 2017 at which U.S. regulators discussed the use of distributed-ledger technology (also referred to as blockchain) in the financial services industry and the regulatory significance of blockchain. The U.S. regulators in attendance included FINRA, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Federal Reserve Board. Prior to the symposium, FINRA...

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Member News

Processing Employee Personal Data – Five Key Tips for Employers

In June 2017, the Article 29 Working Party - the collective group of European data protection authorities - (“WP29”) adopted new guidance on data processing in the workplace. This guidance complements previous WP29 opinions on the processing of data in an employment context and on electronic surveillance in the workplace. The new guidance seeks to address the increase in the amount of personal data collected in the workplace. It also focuses on the rise of new forms of data processing...

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Member News

Key New Takeaways from Uber’s Privacy and Data Security Settlement with the FTC

BY Christopher Olsen and Edward Holman On August 15, 2017, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it had reached an agreement with Uber Technologies to settle allegations that the ride-sharing company had deceived consumers by failing to live up to its privacy and data security promises.1 Specifically, the FTC levied two deception counts against Uber: (1) that the company had failed to consistently monitor and audit internal access to consumers’ personal information, despite public promises to do so; and...

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Chapter News

Partnership Framework on Migration: Joint management of migration shows positive results

The Fifth progress report on the Partnership Framework on Migration, presented today by the Commission and the High Representative, shows that measures put in place to better manage migration along the Central Mediterranean Route and with partners in Africa are starting to bear fruits. The number of tragic deaths at sea has significantly decreased over the summer months, alongside a substantial reduction in the number of migrants crossing the Central Mediterranean. Jointly with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the...

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