October 2021
TRACKERS
Prohibited Transactions Exemptions Tracker
ERISA prohibits plan sponsors, fiduciaries, and other parties in interest from self-dealing and using plan assets in a manner that would be contrary to the interests of the plan participants and beneficiaries. Exemptions are now tracked in the new Prohibited Transactions Exemptions Tracker, which provides a searchable and filterable database of all class exemptions, individual exemptions from 2011 to present, and EXPRO (Expedited Exemption Procedure) authorizations from 2014 to present.
You can filter by PTE document number, document type, current status, agency action, agency publication date, and effective date. The tool also allows you to set alerts for new agency actions, add tracker searches to dashboards and/or workspaces, email search results, and output search results to Excel spreadsheets. Available on the Benefits & Executive Compensation Practice Center and the Trackers homepage.
PRACTICAL GUIDANCE
Influencers & Endorsements
New Practical Guidance documents on influencer marketing and similar endorsement agreements are now available. Sample clauses provide annotated examples of language commonly used in contracts covering endorsement-related issues such as Federal Trade Commission (FTC) compliance, endorsement rights, sponsorship exclusivity, and morals. New checklists and overviews offer guidance on complying with the FTC’s guidelines on endorsements, online advertising disclosures, native advertising, and consumer reviews.
Company sponsors use these agreements to provide something of value to a recognized expert, celebrity, or other influencer in exchange for endorsing a brand, product, or service. Available on the Practical Guidance homepage in the Commercial Transactions tile, Engagement & Services Agreements topic page.
Employee Handbook Toolkit
A redesigned Employee Handbook Toolkit makes more than 400 policy-related Practical Guidance documents accessible using either a search widget that lets users search across all Practical Guidance documents or target specific resources, or a drop-down menu that allows users to browse Bloomberg Law’s policy resources by topic. In addition to sample policy documents and related resources, it includes a new checklist to help users ensure employee handbooks are complete, and links to documents designed to help users understand the process of creating and reviewing policies.
Privacy Comparison Table
A new Comparison Table examines frequently asked questions related to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (VCDPA), and the Colorado Privacy Act (CPA).
Comparisons can be made on issues such as whose data is protected, what types of data are protected, who is exempt, and additional topics.
General Counsel Toolkit
The General Counsel Toolkit now includes a more intuitive and user-friendly layout of materials and the addition of tiles covering new high-value content such as example searches and links to relevant collections of Practical Guidance. Available on the Corporate Practice Center and the Practical Guidance homepage.
IN FOCUS
Surprise & Balance Billing
A refreshed In Focus: Surprise and Balance Billing page includes a timely update in the runup to the federal No Surprises Act, effective January 1, 2022.
The updated page provides easy access to a range of resources, including feeds for federal regulatory, state legislative, and state regulatory developments. Added resources include a new Reference Materials tile listing books and treatises touching on this topic, as well as new tiles for relevant Chart Builders and Law Firm Client Alerts and a new curated search for court opinions. In addition, the map highlighting state-level protections against surprise and balance billing has been revamped.
Available on the Health Practice Center and the In Focus homepage.
POINTS OF LAW
Points of Law for case law research isolates language critical to a court’s reasoning. It enables you to quickly determine which cases are most cited by date and jurisdiction for a particular Point of Law. A recent Bloomberg Law enhancement shows drop-down suggestions of relevant Points of Law in the GO Bar on the Bloomberg Law homepage based on your search words.
ALM EXPERT WITNESS PROFILES
Finding expert witness profiles on Bloomberg Law just got easier. You can now enter the name of an expert witness in the GO Bar on the Bloomberg Law homepage. Results from our database of ALM Expert Witness Profiles will appear in the drop-down list. See results with the EXPERT designation. The link will take you directly to the profile.
BLOOMBERG BNA ANALYSIS
Analysis: Covid-19 Mandates in the M&A Context. Vaccination policies are a central consideration for companies mandating return-to-work plans. Expect explicit references to vaccinations to make a widespread entry into M&A contract drafting in the near term.
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