In March of 2020, Congress passed the CARES Act which, among other things, allowed employers to defer the payment of their share of Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) taxes for their employees for periods March 27, 2020, through December 31, 2020. The employer FICA tax is a 6.2% payroll tax on the first $137,700 of an employee’s wages paid during the calendar year. Employers who elected to defer paying their FICA taxes are required to pay half of the deferred...

On November 10, 2021, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (UKSC) issued its landmark judgment dismissing a US-style, opt-out, “class-action” against Google LLC. (Google). In doing so, the UKSC rejected the Claimants’ argument that the loss of control of personal data has an intrinsic value capable of compensation. Instead, the UKSC held that each Claimant must establish that they have personally suffered material damage (i.e., financial loss or mental distress) resulting from an alleged breach of the Data...

Who Needs to Know Private companies with 100 or more employees. Why It Matters On November 4, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced an emergency temporary standard (ETS), containing the anticipated COVID-19 vaccination rule covering private companies with 100 or more employees. The ETS became effective immediately on November 5 upon its publication in the Federal Register. On November 6, the Fifth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals granted an emergency motion to stay enforcement of the ETS effectively nationwide, pending further...

Key Notes: DoD announced CMMC 2.0, which is intended to streamline and clarify information security compliance obligations. CMMC 2.0 decreases the number of compliance “Levels” and allows for self-assessments for certain contractors. DoD will not impose any CMMC 2.0 requirements until future rulemaking is complete and it will suspend the current CMMC piloting efforts. A virtual CMMC 2.0 “Town Hall” is scheduled for November 9, 2021 to address its scope and changes. The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) recently announced significant changes to...

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) final rules on healthcare interoperability and “information blocking” present complex clinical, operational and security challenges. Hospitals, health IT vendors and other stakeholder organizations will need to strategize around how to maximize the benefit from these policies while also balancing continued investment in and commitment to technical infrastructure. Title IV of the 21st Century Cures Act (Cures Act) was “designed, to advance interoperability; support the access, exchange, and use...

With the COP26 climate conference up and running, world leaders have been strong in climate action rhetoric, but have so-far lacked setting out strong actions on how to achieve them. Despite the devastating report presented by the IPCC earlier this year, the pledged delivered so far would still put the world on track to reaching 2.7°C according to the UN. With its newly proposed “Fit for 55” climate and energy package, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen sought to...

On November 1, the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets (PWG), along with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, issued a “Report on Stablecoins” (Report) that provided background on stablecoins, identified regulatory gaps related to such digital assets, and offered recommendations for addressing those gaps. After outlining the risks and deficiencies in the current regulatory landscape as it relates to stablecoins, the Report recommended that Congress enact legislation requiring that stablecoins...