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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

BY BANNOCKBURN GLOBAL FOREX , LLC   The USD was mixed in August, losing a little ground against a strong EUR but gaining modestly against GBP and the CAD. After initially recovering slightly after heavy losses in July, the USD made new lows both against the EUR and on a trade-weighted basis at the end of the month in the aftermath of the central bank symposium at Jackson Hole. Market hopes that ECB president Draghi would indicate concern at the strength...