For the past few years, issuers have been required to disclose in filings with the SEC certain information regarding director independence and other corporate governance matters. The commission has recently consolidated these requirements under a new Item 407 of Regulation S-K.

IRS Notice 2007-86, released October 22, 2007, responds to employer pleas by extending Code Section 409A transition relief for an additional year, to December 31, 2008.

In a decision announced in late September 2006, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit dealt a blow to California employers by reviving critical provisions of a California statute designed to prevent those wishing to do business with the state from resisting union organizing efforts.

Section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code imposes detailed requirements on "nonqualified deferred compensation plans," which are broadly defined to include such things as separation pay and certain stock rights in addition to traditional deferral arrangements.

In what the concurring judge and a member of the NLRB called a "somewhat peculiar" outcome, a divided D.C. Circuit recently held that undocumented workers are considered "employees" under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), even though it is unlawful for companies to employ such workers.

In the first Court of Appeal decision following the Supreme Court's recent decision in Prachaseisoraedj v. Ralphs Grocery Co., Inc., 42 Cal.4th 217 (2007), the Second District upheld a compensation plan that allowed an employee to direct his employer to purchase shares in the company's stock on his behalf with a portion of his cash compensation.

In Eicher v. Advanced Business Integrators, Inc., - Cal.Rptr.3d - (Cal. App. 3 Dist. June 12, 2007), a California Court of Appeal held for the first time that Labor Code § 1194 authorizes an award of attorney's fees incurred by an employee who prevails in a trial court "appeal" from a Labor Commissioner's denial of his administrative claim for overtime pay, even though the statute providing for such appeals, Labor Code § 98.2, does not expressly authorize fees under these circumstances.

The New York Court of Appeals may have just halted failed law firms’ efforts to recover fees from their former partners and those partners’ new firms.

On December 20, 2006, the U.S. Department of Labor issued Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2006-03 permitting temporary good-faith compliance with newly enacted requirements to provide periodic pension benefit statements to participants and beneficiaries of ERISA-covered pension plans.

On July 31, 2007, the National Labor Relations Board ("Board") issued a decision in Glens Falls Building and Construction Trades Council, 350 NLRB No. 42 (2007).

On January 17, 2006, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) unanimously agreed to propose significant revisions to its executive compensation disclosure rules. The proposals, which will appear soon in the Federal Register, address executive and director compensation, related party transactions, director independence and other governance matters.

On February 20, 2008, the United States Supreme Court held in LaRue v. DeWolff, Boberg & Associates, Inc. that an individual participant in a 401(k) plan may sue under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended ("ERISA") for lost-profits damages caused by the plan administrator's alleged breach of fiduciary duty.

This Employee Benefits Report is the fifth of a series being issued regarding the Pension Protection Act of 2006. This Report summarizes the new funding rules the Act provides for single and multiemployer defined benefit plans.

On July 12, 2006, the SEC issued new interpretative guidance on the scope of permissible commission practices under Section 28(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Section 28(e) provides a "safe harbor" for advisors pay higher than the lowest available commission rates in return for brokerage and research services.

On August 31, 2007, the AFL-CIO and other labor advocates obtained a Temporary Restraining Order against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the Social Security Administration (SSA). This order has delayed the September 14, 2007 implementation of the biggest anti-employer regulations to impact U.S. businesses in over 20 years.

On Thursday, January 18, 2007, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) voted to exercise for the first time its expanded authority granted under the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to impose civil penalties on entities that violate FERC rules and filed tariffs.

Dealing a rare blow to the disability access plaintiffs’ bar in California, the California Court of Appeal (4th District) held recently that the $4,000 minimum statutory damages under section 52 of the California Civil Code to redress violations of the Unruh Civil Rights Act are available only in cases of intentional discrimination.

It is critically important to have counsel involved in each Request for Proposal (RFP) process. Companies should not reuse a standard form of RFP without the involvement of counsel in every instance.

U.S. companies and their subsidiaries in China must have an adequate Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA") compliance program. Doing business in China may present special risks under the FCPA.

In a key ruling that clarifies years of confusion and conflict among the lower courts, the U.S. Supreme Court has reinstated the classic "Section 107" environmental cost recovery claim under the federal Superfund law, the Comprehensive Environmental Recovery, Compensation and Liability Act ("CERCLA").