On July 12, 2016, the European Commission announced its final approval of the EU-US Privacy Shield (the “Shield”).  Once signed by both the EU Minister of Justice and the US Secretary of Commerce, the Shield will replace the US Department of Commerce Safe Harbor Program, one of several mechanisms that allowed companies in the EU to transfer personal data from the EU to the US.  Previously, the Safe Harbor registration created a comparatively streamlined way for US companies to...

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"Brexit" is coming: In the referendum on 23 June 2016, 51.9 percent of Britons spoke out in favor of the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union (EU). Admittedly, the result of the referendum does not yet constitute a formal step towards withdrawal and there is speculation about whether the withdrawal proceedings pursuant to Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) are going to be initiated in the short term or not. Regardless of that,...

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The world is in dire need of vision correction – especially in less developed nations. The Vision Impact Institute is a research partner to an exciting and productive coalition called EYElliance, comprised of public, private, non-governmental organizations and other partners who are working together to meet the world’s need for eyeglasses. At the recent World Economic Forum in China, EYElliance, a coalition of public, private and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) released a report outlining how the outlook for the world population’s...

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Littler's Workplace Policy Institute Insider Report details key labor, employment, and benefits news and events at the federal, state, local, and global levels. The July edition of the Insider Report includes a discussion of legislative and litigation efforts to block recent federal agency rulemaking, White House and DOL initiatives to promote equal pay and target sex discrimination, key end-of-term Supreme Court actions, and new state-level employment laws and ballot initiatives. The Report contains the following sections: Insider Briefing . In the weeks...

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In one of those weird 21st century fads (think "virtual pets") people around the US are taking to the streets, looking for Pokémon characters through their smartphone apps. (Didn't they know they've been lurking in Times Square for years?) The game was launched by Nintendo whose stock price was up more than 30% yesterday based on the popularity of the game. For the last several years, investors have seen yields on government bond go from real to virtual. Yesterday, investors might...

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