Dear Littler: Considering the recent passage of the federal Speak Out Act limiting the use of pre-dispute nondisclosure and non-disparagement clauses involving sexual assault and sexual harassment claims, what impact will this have on our template releases, separation agreements, and litigation settlement agreements? How do you recommend we revise those documents? —Revising Releases Dear Revising, This is a great question, and one that employers across the country are dealing with after President Biden signed the Speak Out Act last week. The statute...

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The Canadian M&A landscape is one of reserved optimism as 2022 comes to a close and we look ahead to a new year. Despite the uncertainty in the marketplace, Canada remains home to attractive assets and dynamic dealmakers. We expect M&A transactions in 2023 to see impressive activity in sectors such as technology and software, renewable and alternate sources of energy (particularly wind, solar, hydrogen and energy storage), battery metals in the mining sector, healthcare and agribusiness. Canada's mid-market remains...

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Sika posts sales of CHF 10.49 billion in 2022 Sales growth of 15.8% in local currencies (+13.4% in CHF) Further growth platforms secured with acquisitions of Sable Marco (Canada) and UGL (USA) Closing of MBCC acquisition targeted for first half of 2023 New plants opened in Tanzania, Ivory Coast, Bolivia, USA, and China Record EBIT and an EBIT margin of 15% anticipated for the 2022 fiscal year Confirmation of 2023 strategic targets for sustainable, profitable growth Sika performed well...

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Given that cyberattacks continue to be sophisticated and severe, and cybersecurity continues to be a top concern for regulators, consumers, business partners, and investors, companies should be proactive and devote adequate resources to their security practices and incident response. In addition to the litigation and reputational risks that companies face if they are perceived as having inadequate security practices, regulators are imposing significant fines for data breaches, increasingly calling for greater board oversight of cybersecurity and holding top officials...

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When you read news stories about financial crimes and business corruption, you might get the impression that businesses can get away with anything. It seems like banks will lend them huge sums of money after asking a few questions about what they will do with the money. A new federal law aims to increase business transparency by forcing the corporations to identify their decision-makers. To find out whether your company is required to submit a report to the Department of...

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Key insights The massive $1.7 trillion federal spending bill President Biden signed into law at the end of December includes even more significant changes to the U.S. retirement system. Changes include requiring most employers to automatically enroll employees in their retirement plan at a rate of at least 3%. Embrace data-driven management philosophies to help reduce waste and assess program effectiveness. It also increases the age required minimum distributions start from 72 to 73 in 2023 and then to...

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On January 3, 2023, USCIS published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to adjust certain benefit request fees that haven’t changed since 2016. Fee changes could dramatically increase both L-1 and H-1B filings, among other categories, with the proposed fees representing a 40% overall weighted average increase with no improvement to overall USCIS processing times. The proposal from the USCIS was published in the federal register on January 4, 2023, and will accept public comments for a 60-day period. ...

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Healthcare and Tech Converge Further – We will continue to see the convergence of technology with health care resulting in the proliferation of digital health. Telemedicine, wearables, and remote surgery will continue to attract investment, and pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies will take advantage of technology to address regulatory hurdles and data privacy issues. Investors Flock to “Wild West” of the Metaverse – Not since the internet’s early days have we seen a frontier mentality in the digital world. The...

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In this week’s Roar: setting the supply chain table for 2023, improved schedule reliability, opinions on the West Coast port situation, the state of truck driving jobs in the US, and the effect of climate change on the future of manufacturing. Some are optimistic 2023 will be the year to put the supply chain woes of the last few behind us. We’ll see about that. 2020 to 2022 taught us a few things, one of them being that global trade wasn’t...

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