Fowler White - Employment & Immigration eNews

Seven Habits of Highly Effective General Counsel in Conducting Internal Investigations

LT Lafferty, White Collar Crime, Government Investigations and Corporate Compliance and Ethics Practice Leader for Fowler White Boggs, recently presented, "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective General Counsel in Conducting Internal Investigations," to the Association of Corporate Counsel West Central Florida Chapter members. Crafted along the same lines as the book, "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People," by Stephen Covey (1989), Mr. Lafferty's presentation outlined the necessary skills for general counsel to be not only effective but achieve greatness in conducting internal investigations as part of their organizational compliance and ethics programs. Mr. Lafferty is a former ten-year federal prosecutor in Tampa and proactively represents organizational and individual clients in all aspects of government investigations and regulatory enforcement proceedings. For more information, or to request a personalized presentation for your organization, please contact LT Lafferty.

The Power of Experience

Melissa A. Dearing is a shareholder in the Jacksonville office practicing in the areas of employment and immigration law. She was named a Florida Rising Star by Florida Super Lawyers Magazine in 2009 and 2010. Prior to joining Fowler White Boggs, she was a shareholder with Coffman Coleman Andrews & Grogan in Jacksonville. Ms. Dearing received her B.A., With Honors, from the University of Florida and her J.D., With Honors, from the University of Florida College of Law.

Law and Order: Workplace Edition (Penalties, Liabilities and Enforcement...oh my!)

Board Certified immigration attorney, Jennifer G. Roeper, will be a panelist at the South Palm Beach County Bar Association's Labor and Employment Law Committee seminar on September 29, 2010 at the Boca Raton Marriott at Boca Center. The seminar will focus on the possible fines, penalties and other actions that can be imposed against employers by various state and federal agencies. Click here for more details.

Government Makes Hiring Foreign Employees Tougher

Companies had hoped comprehensive immigration reform would make it easier to hire foreigners. In the absence of action by Congress, though, the federal agencies in charge of approving employment visas are making them harder to get, according to immigration lawyers and advocacy groups.
Read full story at Bloomberg Businessweek.

SEC OKs Rules Allowing Labor More Power Over Corporate Boards

The Securities and Exchange Commission handed labor and social-activist groups a big victory by approving rules making it easier for them to put allies on corporate boards throughout the country. Business groups insisted that the measure will damage corporate decision-making by bringing fights over politics and radical social agendas into the boardroom, but shareholder groups said it merely gives them minimal rights that investors in other developed countries already have.
Read full story at The Washington Times.

Government to Give $5B to Help Firms with Retiree Health Costs

The Obama administration will deploy $5 billion to help defray companies' costs for health insurance provided to early retirees who leave the U.S. workforce at ages 55 to 64. The program, created with the health overhaul signed by President Barack Obama in March, will pay 80 percent of health insurance costs, up to $90,000 a year, for each early retiree.
Read full story at Bloomberg.

Use of Medical Marijuana Creating New Employment Concerns

Residents in 14 states and Washington can now appeal to their doctors for prescriptions for medical marijuana to help them with their pain, but their employers may not be so understanding. Though the number of such cases appears to be small, they are exposing a new legal gray area, with workers complaining of rights violations and company officials scratching their heads over how to enforce a uniform policy for a drug that the federal government has not recognized as having a legitimate medical purpose.
Read full story at The New York Times (free reg. req'd).

Moves to Give Employees Title Instead of Raise Could be Risky

As the weak economy drags on, some employers are tempted to give workers a new, more important sounding title if there's not enough money for pay raises. That gesture could have legal risks for the business.
Read full story at The Orange County Register.

Social Media Sites Change Job Hunting Landscape

Like everything else in business, the job-search process has undergone a revolution since the advent of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social networking sites. Job hunters today must learn to navigate the sometimes slippery social mores of online discourse -- for instance, learning to promote themselves without coming off as self-involved.
Read full story at The New York Times (free reg. req'd).

DOL Increases Enforcement Efforts on Hospitality Industry

The unemployment rate around the country may be flirting with double digits, but that isn't preventing the U.S. Department of Labor from tight enforcement of employment laws. The hospitality industry is under the microscope.
Read full story at Lincoln Tribune.

Judge Allows Weight Bias Suit Against Hooters to Proceed

Hooters remains potentially on the hook for alleged weight discrimination. A Michigan judge ruled that two former waitresses who filed a weight discrimination case against the restaurant chain could proceed with their cases.
Read full story at The Wall Street Journal.

Poor Travel Visa Process Harming U.S. Business Competitiveness

Businesses and trade groups fear their competitive edge is hurt by the U.S. visa approval process at a time when other countries are eager to woo foreign customers. U.S. companies say a growing number of foreign business travelers -- particularly from robust emerging markets such as China, India and Brazil -- are avoiding coming to the U.S. because they don't want to deal with the cumbersome, time-consuming process.
Read full story at USA Today (free reg. req'd).

More Companies Allow Workers to Nap at Work to Boost Productivity

With Americans averaging fewer than seven hours of sleep per night -- and around 20 percent suffering from sleepiness during the day, according to a recent Stanford University study -- many companies have turned to the humble nap in an attempt to stave off billions in lost productivity each year.
Read full story at Bloomberg Businessweek.