Excluding men from a paid, employer-sponsored conference plausibly caused harm under Muldrow , the court found, and a candidate-pool-expansion rationale did not support dismissal. A federal district court in New Hampshire denied dismissal of a Title VII suit challenging a beverage bottler's decision to send only women to a two-day professional forum, concluding that the EEOC plausibly alleged that excluded male employees suffered cognizable harm. The agency identified three alleged harms: lost…

Is the issue-exhaustion requirement satisfied if presenting the claim would be "clearly useless?" A respondent in a FINRA disciplinary action has asked the Supreme Court to weigh in on whether statutory issue-exhaustion requirements bar courts from hearing structural constitutional challenges to agency proceedings. The petition argues that the Sixth Circuit wrongly refused to consider his claim that the SEC's imposition of monetary sanctions violated his Seventh Amendment right to a jury…

Technology that hides the names of websites individuals visit should be enabled by federal government websites to protect website visitors from hackers and foreign adversaries, according to Sen. Ron Wyden (D., Ore.). In a letter sent yesterday to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and Office of Management and Budget, Sen. Wyden noted that federal government websites “nearly universally encrypt website data, protecting the contents of web pages from prying eyes.” “However,…

The extensive guidance clarifies eligibility of providers, the minimal content necessary for a disclosure report, and financial liability. The Office of Inspector General (OIG) supplemented preexisting guidance on the Provider Self-Disclosure Protocol (SDP) for healthcare fraud, specifying: (1) the providers and the conduct deemed eligible for self-reporting; (2) the information that must be included in a submission to the OIG; and (3) the OIG’s determination of settlement to resolve the…

A July alert urging banks to watch for fraud linked to student aid has been followed by the filing of nearly 100 suspicious activity reports, the Treasury said. The Treasury Department said its Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has identified about $270 million in suspicious financial activity potentially linked to fraud against federal student aid programs and has referred the findings to federal investigators. “Federal student aid is intended to expand educational opportunities,…

The court awarded no monetary damages or injunctive relief because the trademark owner failed to show any diversion of sales resulting from unauthorized use of the logo. The federal district court in Louisiana has concluded that while an organization that markets training programs to teachers and school districts improperly used a competitor’s “A+PEL” logo and trademark in violation of the Lanham Act, the court awarded no monetary damages or injunctive relief to the trademark owner. In…

The FTC alleges the deal would let Publicis use a dominant data connectivity provider to foreclose rivals in media agency and audience data services; a five-year order is designed to prevent that. The FTC issued an administrative complaint challenging Publicis Groupe S.A.'s proposed acquisition of LiveRamp Holdings, Inc. and simultaneously accepted for public comment, an Agreement Containing Consent Orders along with a Decision and Order and Order to Maintain Assets that would allow the…

The court affirmed dismissal for “impossibility” preemption; however, amendment was not certainly futile because the estate made a presentation of newly acquired information forming a basis for a label change. A state law complaint about the labeling of Aimovig, an Amgen Inc. biologic drug, could not withstand Amgen’s affirmative defense of “impossibility” preemption, held the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, in affirming dismissal. That Amgen could have proposed a different…

“Title VII, considering its remedial purpose, does not shield religious employers from liability for discrimination based on race, sex, or national origin even if the employment decision is also motivated by religious belief.” Affirming a district court’s judgments in favor of a gay IT analyst who sued Catholic Relief Services (CRS) under Title VII and the Maryland Fair Employment Practices Act (MFEPA) after it informed him that his husband’s enrollment in its dependent benefits program had…