News

Congress Moves to Assist Renewable Development on Government Land

By EsqSocial Corporation 04/08/14

Congress recently considered three bills intended to facilitate renewable energy development on federal lands. On July 29, the House Natural Resources Committee’s Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources considered H.R. 596, the Public Lands...

Employment Fissuring in Franchising: NLRB pursues McDonald's

By EsqSocial Corporation 04/08/14

On July 29, the General Counsel (GC) of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced that, absent settlement, he has directed the issuance of complaints in 43 unfair labor practice (ULP) cases, alleging that McDonald’s franchisees and their...

Immigration Update: State Department Announces Longer Delay in Visa Processing Times

By EsqSocial Corporation 04/08/14

Last week, the U.S. Department of State’s (DOS) visa processing database, which controls the issuance of visas and passports at the U.S. consulates abroad, experienced system performance issues (including outages) leading to worldwide delays in visa...

Another Federal Appeals Court Finds Availability of Class Arbitration Is Question for Court

By EsqSocial Corporation 04/08/14

In a footnote in Sutter, SCOTUS hinted that the question of whether an arbitration agreement allowed for class arbitration may be one of the “gateway” questions of arbitrability that are presumptively for courts to decide. Last year, the Sixth...

Beware of H-1B Wage Law Violations: Company to be Debarred, Ordered to Pay Over $120,000 in Penalties and Back Pay for H-1B/LCA Violations

By EsqSocial Corporation 04/08/14

A recent case before the Office of Administrative Law Judges (ALJ) is a compelling reminder that violations of H-1B wage requirements can result in significant financial penalties and fines. Moreover, violations of H-1B program rules also can lead to...

CFPB, FTC, And State Authorities Coordinate Action Against Foreclosure Relief Companies

By EsqSocial Corporation 04/08/14

On July 23, the CFPB, the FTC, and 15 state authorities coordinated to take action against foreclosure relief companies and associated individuals alleged to have employed deceptive marketing tactics to obtain business from distressed borrowers. The...

Inbound U.S. Tax Planning With Inversions

By EsqSocial Corporation 04/08/14

With all of the recent negative publicity focused on the outbound restructuring of U.S. multinationals engaging in so-called “inversion” transactions (see prior blog “Corporate Inversions Showing No Signs of Slowing Down”), little, if any attention,...

SLCC Punk: San Diego Tries to Muscle Rights to 'Comic Con'

By EsqSocial Corporation 04/08/14

The Salt Lake Comic Con is experiencing its first year, but the convention already generating some potential legal battles with its larger comic con brethren.

The State Regulatory Registry Proposes Pre-Licensure Education Expiration Policy

By EsqSocial Corporation 04/08/14

The State Regulatory Registry LLC, through NMLS, recently published a proposal to create a uniform time frame for the expiration of pre-licensure education (PE) for state licensed Mortgage Loan Originators (MLO). The comment submission deadline is...

Department Store Units Decided Under Specialty Healthcare

By EsqSocial Corporation 04/08/14

This week the NLRB decided two cases involving union organizing in large department stores. In each case an NLRB regional director applied the Board’s Specialty Healthcare test to determine whether the bargaining unit requested by the union was...

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