Resources

Client Alerts, News Articles, Blog Posts, & Multimedia

Everything you need to know about BMD and the industry.

CLIENT ALERT: The European Union's New Data Privacy Law Goes Into Effect

Client Alert
June 5, 2018

On May 25, 2018, the European Union’s (“the EU”) new data privacy law went into effect.[1]   The General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) concerns the processing of personal data that can be searched according to specified criteria such as geographical scope. 

Who it affects

The GDPR applies to all organizations that maintain offices or store data in the EU.  It also applies to many of the core organizations on the web.  For instance, it applies to social media, apartment rental, e-commerce, and internet search sites.  If your website conducts business in the EU, then the GDPR will apply.  Additional factors that would require a company to be GDPR compliant include sales or marketing to EU citizens, accepting any EU country’s currency, an EU country domain suffix, shipping services to the EU, or language translation or website in an EU language.

General global marketing does not require GDPR compliance.  If you use Google Adwords, and an EU citizen and resident visits your webpage as a result of this ad, the GDPR would not apply because there was no targeted interface with EU citizens.  The fact that an unsolicited EU citizen can and does visit your website does not require your organization to be GDPR compliant.  If you take no steps to interface with EU citizens, GDPR compliance is not required. 

Steps you should take now if your organization must be GDPR compliant

  • Provide customers and website visitors with detailed information on how data will be collected and used.
  • Redesign consent forms so that users must affirmatively agree to all uses of their data, and they can select those uses to which they agree and those to which they decline.
  • Create forms that distinguish between consent versus agreement to general terms and conditions.
  • Store customer preferences.
  • Audit data regularly, including where data is stored, why data is collected, how data is obtained, and how much duplication of data exists across multiple sites.
  • Audit your service providers’ data, and review their data procedures.
  • Understand whether your organization is a data processor or data controller. A processor processes personal data on behalf of a controller, whereas a controller determines the purpose and means of how data is processed.
  • Ask for explicit consent from consumers anytime you want to use data for ad targeting purposes.
  • Use “group data” that isn’t precise enough to target individual consumers.
  • Implement procedures and technology that ensures data can be permanently erased.
  • Appoint a Data Protection Officer who is knowledgeable about the GDPR to oversee compliance with respect to data collection, storage, and data processing.
  • Train all employees that have access to personal data on the GDPR requirements, including the requirement that internal data on employees must comply with the GDPR.
  • Prepare for data breaches by creating internal processes to detect, report, and investigate breaches in compliance with the GDPR.

What organizations should NOT do if you are required to be GDPR complaint

  • Rely on the E.U.-U.S. Privacy Shield to avoid compliance with the GDPR. Companies are still required to comply with the GDPR in order to receive Privacy Shield coverage, and the scope of the GDPR is much wider than the scope of the Privacy Shield.
  • Create exposure to the hefty penalties imposed by the GDPR for non-compliance. Companies are liable for 4% of their annual turnover or 20 million Euros, whichever is greater.
  • Risk reputational damage by receiving attention for non-compliance. The first companies to be penalized are more likely to receive significant media coverage for their noncompliance. 

There may be legal challenges to GDPR regarding applicability to non-EU companies 

This is a new, unprecedented law. The previous European data privacy law, the Data Protection Directive, was implemented in 1998, and was much narrower in scope.  The GDPR’s applicability and requirements are vast, and non-EU companies are likely to bring legal challenges in terms of its applicability to them. 

Who to contact with questions

Should you have any questions concerning the General Data Protection Regulation, please contact Matthew A. Heinle, Esq. (maheinle@bmdllc.com), who is a partner at Brennan, Manna & Diamond.

 

[1] General Data Protection Regulation, https://gdpr-info.eu/.

International Law
Client Alert

What Happens to a Pandemic Stimulus Payment Upon Death?

June 14, 2021On January 1, 2021, the federal government issued stimulus payments (also known as Economic Impact Payments) to American citizens – on paper. However, many of the stimulus payments were not received until several months later. Sometimes the stimulus payments did not arrive until after an individual died.Client Alert

The Masks Are Back: New OSHA Regulations for Healthcare Employers

June 11, 2021Employment Law After Hours is back with a News Break Episode. Yesterday, OSHA published new rules for healthcare facilities, including hospitals, home health employers, nursing homes, ambulance companies, and assisted living facilities. These new rules are very cumbersome, requiring mask wearing for all employees, even those that are vaccinated. The only exception is for fully vaccinated employees (2 weeks post final dose) who are in a "well-defined" area where there is no reasonable expectation that any person with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 will be present.Client Alert

New OSHA Guidance for Workplaces Not Covered by the Healthcare Emergency Temporary Standard

June 11, 2021On June 10, 2021, OSHA issued an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) for occupational exposure to COVID-19, but it applies only to healthcare and healthcare support service workers. For a detailed summary of the ETS applicable to the healthcare industry, please visit https://youtu.be/vPyXmKwOzsk. All employers not subject to the ETS should review OSHA’s contemporaneously released, updated Guidance on Mitigating and Preventing the Spread of COVID-19 in the Workplace. The new Guidance essentially leaves intact OSHA’s earlier guidance, but only for unvaccinated and otherwise at-risk workers (“at-risk” meaning vaccinated or unvaccinated workers with immunocompromising conditions). For fully vaccinated workers, OSHA defers to CDC Guidance for Fully Vaccinated People, which advises that most fully vaccinated people can resume activities without wearing masks or physically distancing, except where required by federal, state, or local laws or individual business policies.Client Alert

Employer Liability for COVID-19 Vaccine Side Effects

June 9, 2021As employers encourage or require employees to obtain a COVID-19 vaccine, they should be aware of OSHA recording obligations and potential workers’ compensation liability. Though OSHA has yet to revise its COVID-19 guidance in response to the latest CDC recommendations, OSHA has revised its position regarding the recording of injury or illness resulting from the vaccine. Until now, OSHA required an employer to record an adverse reaction when the vaccine was required for employees and the injury or illness otherwise met the recording criteria (work-related, a new case, and meets one or more of the general recording criteria). OSHA has reversed course and announced that it will not require recording adverse reactions until at least May 2022, irrespective of whether the employer requires the vaccine as a condition of employment. In its revised COVID-19 FAQs, OSHA states:Client Alert

The New Rule 1.510 - Radical Change for Summary Judgement Procedure in Florida

June 8, 2021In civil litigation, where both sides participate actively, trial is usually required at the end of a long, expensive case to determine a winner and a loser. In federal and most state courts, however, there are a few procedural shortcuts by which parties can seek to prevail in advance of trial, saving time, money and annoyance. The most common of these is the “motion for summary judgment”: a request to the court by one side for judgment before trial, generally on the basis that the evidence available reflects that a win for that party is legally inevitable and thus required. Effective May 1, 2021, summary judgment procedure in Florida has radically changed.
Older posts
Newer posts