Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that it has recovered $1,914,681.50 in back wages and fringe benefits allegedly owed to 147 workers of a Nevada-based company that provided construction services as a subcontractor at the Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project, a federally supported solar power development located near Tonopah, Nevada. The DOL
October 2014
FCC Expands Application of Customer Privacy Provisions with $10 Million Fine Against Carriers
By Caleb Skeath
Last Friday, the FCC announced that it intends to fine two telecommunications carriers — TerraCom, Inc., and YourTel America, Inc. — a total of $10 million for failing to protect certain customer data. According to the FCC, the two carriers, which provide discount phone services to low-income individuals, posted customer “proprietary information”…
Senators Identify Concerns and Call for Guidance on Pension De-Risking
The Chairs of the two Senate committees that govern pensions sent a letter last week to the heads of government agencies overseeing pensions requesting additional guidance on pension de-risking. The letter was written by Senator Wyden (D-Or), as Chair of the Committee on Finance, and Senator Harkin (D-IA), as Chair of the Committee on Health,…
E-Health Take Note: Standards Published for Personal Data in the Cloud
Our colleagues at the InsideEULifeSciences blog recently posted a summary of new standards jointly adopted by the International Standards Organization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) governing the processing of personal data in the cloud — ISO/IEC 27018 (“ISO 27018”). These are the first privacy-specific international standards for the cloud.
A Consequence of Falling Oil Prices
Oil prices have plunged in the last few months. For example, Brent futures traded at over $110 per barrel in June, and fell below $85 last week. This is a fall of over 20%, and the market price for crude oil is now at its lowest level since 2010.
Oil prices impact activities in…
European Parliament Nominates New European Data Protection Supervisor
On October 21, 2014, the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (“LIBE Committee”) voted the Italian Giovanni Buttarelli as top candidate for the post of European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS). Mr. Buttarelli spent the last five years as Assistant Supervisor to the current EDPS, Mr. Peter Hustinx.
Referred to as the…
New EU Commission Confirmed
By Jean De Ruyt
The new European Commission presided by Jean Claude Juncker was confirmed by the European Parliament on October 22 with 423 votes (on 751) and will start functioning as foreseen, from November 1.
Juncker presented his new team on September 10, “ in common accord” with the Council of Ministers, representing the Member States, but the…
AMA Recommends Improvements to Meaningful Use Program
On October 14, 2014, the American Medical Association (AMA) outlined its vision for the Electronic Health Record (EHR) Meaningful Use (MU) Program in a letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. Despite the MU program’s achievements since its creation in 2009,…
FCC Issues “Enforcement Advisory” Warning Political Campaigns and Promoters Against Robocall Abuse
Yesterday, the Federal Communications Commission’s Enforcement Bureau issued an advisory reminding political campaigns about the restrictions placed on the use of autodialed calls, prerecorded calls, and text messages by the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) and the FCC’s corresponding rules. The Enforcement Bureau warns that it is “closely monitoring this space” and will “rigorously enforce…
Ebola Spurs Global Cooperation to Prevent, Detect and Respond to Future Health Crises
By Covington
This post was authored by Anne Pence.
Well before Ron Klain was named as the U.S. Ebola czar, the USG was urging the international community to confront the fact that the world is not ready for a deadly pandemic of any sort, much less one as daunting as Ebola. Aware that Ebola alone could…