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The Data Made Me Do It: New DOL guidance warns employers to address Artificial Intelligence (AI) risks in the workplace (US)

In the rapidly developing world of AI, federal regulators are again signaling that businesses and HR managers cannot depend on a “data made me do it” defense to employment decisions made with the help of AI systems. Expanding on guidance it released in May, the US Department of Labor (DOL) issued new guidance on October … Continue Reading

Is your use of AI in the workplace compliant and guided by policies? (Germany)

The recent decision of the Hamburg Labour Court concerning a German works council’s attempt to enforce a ban on the use of AI in a workplace makes it clear once again that employers cannot simply let the use of AI run its course unchecked. Employers are well advised to take a moment check their current … Continue Reading

Does permitting the use of AI in employment call the works council into action? Not necessarily, says the German Labour Court

The use of ChatGPT and its peers to make work easier and faster – whether permitted, tolerated or prohibited – is already part of everyday working life in many companies. However, the spread of that technology has raced far ahead of the law so the legal consequences of that use (employment rights and obligations, data … Continue Reading

New GCC rules for employers, Part 3 – revised KSA Personal Data Protection Law (KSA)

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has issued legislation to regulate the collection and processing of personal data in the country (the PDPL). While the law was originally due to come into force on March 23 last year, the enforcement date has been postponed until March 17 of this year (as of the date of this … Continue Reading

State Law Roundup: 2022 Year-End Edition (US)

State and local legislatures were active throughout 2022 in passing laws and ordinances that will impact employers of all sizes and all industries in 2023. Click HERE for our summary of these laws and related developments, including important developments in California, Colorado, Illinois, New York, and elsewhere! If you haven’t already, you might also want … Continue Reading

Summer State/Local Law Round-Up, Part 1 of 2: California through New York (US)

Now that we’re almost half-way through 2022, it’s time again to cover all of the development in state and local labor and employment laws. It’s been a busy time in the state legislatures and city councils, with lots of new laws and amendments to existing laws. In fact, due to the large number of updates, … Continue Reading

Saudi Arabia’s new personal data protection law – key points for employers

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has enacted a new comprehensive data protection law (the PDPL), which comes into force on 23 March. The first standalone data protection law of its kind in KSA, the PDPL is a significant development and seeks to develop the Kingdom’s legislative landscape in a way consistent with its 2030 Vision … Continue Reading

New York Latest State to Provide Additional Employee Privacy Protections With Electronic Monitoring Law (US)

From Labor & Employment Partner Katharine Liao and our Data Privacy & Cybersecurity colleague Kristin Bryan, below is a post from Squire Patton Boggs’  Consumer Privacy World blog covering recent legal developments involving electronic monitoring of employees in New York State. Beginning on May 7, 2022, employers in New York State who engage in electronic … Continue Reading

Returning to the workplace – Part 4: Now you see me, now you don’t … Monitoring teleworkers’ productivity (Belgium)

The pandemic has given an enormous boost to working from home, in particular (to state the obvious) when it was mandatory. Where roles permitted it, even those employers and employees most vigorously opposed to it simply had no choice but to accept it. When quizzed about the reasons why they oppose WFH, most employers’ main … Continue Reading

Spain’s new decree on remote working

A new decree (Royal Decree-law 28/2020) was passed on 22 September to regulate remote working in Spain. As for many countries worldwide, Spain has recently seen a marked increase in the number of employees working from home as part of its bid to decrease physical contact between individuals and curb the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to … Continue Reading

California Privacy Rights Act Makes it to the November Ballot (US)

As California employers continue to grapple with compliance with employee-related portions of the California Consumer Privacy Act, it is worth keeping an eye on a follow-on law, the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), which now has enough signatures to be on California’s November 3, 2020 ballot. Of particular concern to employers should be the fact … Continue Reading

The Australian Government wants workplaces to be “COVID-safe”, but this doesn’t mean employers can require employees to download the COVIDSafe App

In a bid to reawaken the Australian economy, the Federal Government is developing a return to work health and safety “toolkit” and is encouraging workplaces to become “COVID-safe”. At the same time, the Government is continuing to encourage the public to download its COVIDSafe digital contact-tracing App.… Continue Reading

Employer’s Guide to Return-to-Work Issues: COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (US)

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) public health emergency has changed life as we know it, including by severely disrupting business on a nationwide scale.  In some cases, employers have been forced to temporarily close their doors and cease operations, while others have had to make radical changes to the workplace in order to maintain operations. … Continue Reading

Top 10 Employee Benefits Issues in a Slowing Economy (US)

The changes in the economy brought on by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), commonly known as the “coronavirus,” present challenges to employers trying to manage their greatest resource – employees. A cross-practice team involving our Tax Strategy & Benefits, Labor & Employment and Data Privacy & Security lawyers have published this alert that identifies some of … Continue Reading

Welcome pragmatism from UK’s ICO on disclosure of employees’ virus exposure

Some new clarification from the Information Commissioner’s Office yesterday about that grey area between individual privacy rights on the one hand and the public interest on the other. Against the background of the Coronavirus crisis (and perhaps recognising that any other position would be politically terminal), the ICO has made it clear that even though … Continue Reading

More Handbook Guidance: NLRB Shows When It Will Uphold Policies Regarding Confidentiality, Cell Phones, and Email Usage

Since the National Labor Relations Board issued the precedent-changing Boeing Company decision in late 2017, the Board has continuously illustrated when employment policies will survive scrutiny under the National Labor Relations Act.  Recently, in Argos USA LLC, the Board clarified its position about three common types of employment agreements or policies, i.e., those concerning confidentiality, … Continue Reading

Private investigations video doesn’t leave employer in dire straits (EU)

In January 2018 we wrote about Ribalda –v- Spain, a European Court of Human Rights case in which a number of supermarket employees were awarded compensation for breach of their privacy rights. They had been stealing quite handsomely from their employer over some months, as they freely admitted, but nonetheless thought it entirely improper that … Continue Reading

New York Strengthens Data Privacy and Security Protections: Employers Must Adopt Safeguards (US)

Joining the growing list of states enacting privacy and data security laws, on July 25, 2019, New York’s governor signed into law the “Stop Hacks and Improve Electronic Data Security” Act (the “SHIELD Act”), amending the state’s data breach notification and cybersecurity law. The SHIELD Act applies to “any person or business that owns … … Continue Reading

When employee consent is the start of the problem, not the end – the GDPR shows some teeth

The Greek Data Protection Authority has imposed a 150,000 EUR fine on PriceWaterhouseCoopers Business Solutions SA for – get this – asking their employees’ consent to process their personal data. It may strike you as counterintuitive (and going against everything your mother ever told you) that asking consent could get you into trouble, but where … Continue Reading
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