FTC Red Flags Rules - Not Just Financial Institutions

In addition to straight forward employment law changes, the FTC Red Flags Rules apply to more companies and industries than originally thought. The Rules provide for the identification, detection, and response to patterns, practices or specific activities – known as “red flags” – that could indicate identity theft. The Rules apply to financial institutions and creditors with covered accounts. The definition of “creditor” is where most of the confusion lies when determining if the Rules apply to s specific business. Basically, if an individual’s or group of individual’s identify is stolen because a company failed to protect personally identifiable information they collected on clients, vendors, employees or applicants, under the Rules the company is liable if they have not complied with the many steps set forth in the Rules.

Employment - Law Run-Away-Train - ARRA

The American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009, also known as the Economic Stimulus Package has made sweeping changes to COBRA. The Act applies to both federal and state continuation laws. The changes were effective February 17, 2009 with an implementation date of March 1, 2009. Changes include but are not limited to an employer’s requirement to provide a subsidy to employees on their COBRA premiums; changes to enrollment provisions; additional notice requirements for plan administrators and new filing requirements for employers on their payroll tax returns.

Please contact me if you need help with this new and complicted facet of this law. www.TheWhitfordGroup.com