By Amy Weston Washington State is on track to pass a far-reaching new piece of legislation in the upcoming weeks. The “My Health My Data” Act (House Bill 1155), if signed into law, will take effect starting on March 31, 2024. The title of the law implies that it will only apply to health care related industries, when in fact the law applies to any entity that conducts business or targets customers in Washington State. As a result, many companies are racing to understand the implications of the new law. Here are the highlights. At a high level, the law protects consumer health data collected by ..read more

By Lucinda Luke March 2023 A new case recently decided by the National Labor Relations Board held that “an employer violates Section 8(a)(1) of the [National Labor Relations] Act when it proffers a severance agreement with provisions that would restrict employees’ exercise of their NLRA rights.” McLaren Macomb, 372 NLRB No. 58, slip op. at 7 (2023). “Such an agreement,” reasoned the NLRB, tends “to restrain, coerce, or interfere with the exercise of Section 7 rights by employees…” Id. This decision covers almost all private sector employers, not just unionized workplaces.  Howe ..read more

by Lucinda J. Luke 12/28/22 Amendments to Washington’s Equal Pay and Opportunity Act (EPOA) go into effect January 1, 2023 (with no grace period) and require most employers who engage in business in Washington state to include pay ranges and benefits information in their job postings. The Washington Department of Labor and Industries has recently released its administrative guidance on the amendments. The following are a few of L&I’s guidance points: Definition of “Employer” and “Applicant”. The law covers any employer that “engages in any business, industry, profession, or activity” in ..read more

Authored by: Joshua D. Brittingham  March 2023 Severance agreements have traditionally included confidentiality clauses that allow employers to keep the terms of the agreement, including the amount paid, confidential. This is particularly true when an employee has asserted claims that are waived as part of the severance agreement. However, recent legislation in Washington, known as the Silenced No More Act (RCW 49.44.211), and a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decision in McLaren Macomb, 372 NLRB No. 58 (2023), place new restrictions on such confidentiality clauses, requiring change ..read more

Authored by: Lauren Fricke In 2021, the Washington State legislature enacted a new tax on the sale of long-term capital assets. In March 2022, the Douglas County Superior Court ruled the new tax is invalid because it violates the state constitution. That decision has been appealed to the Washington State Supreme Court, but while we await its decision, taxpayers have been uncertain about whether and when they may need to file and pay the tax. However, on November 30, 2022, the Washington State Supreme Court granted a stay on the lower court’s ruling. The effect of this stay is that the Departme ..read more

Welcome back to the Carney Law Privacy team’s blog on all things privacy-related.  This post follows up on the steps needed to update Standard Contractual Clauses.  As you have likely heard, in response to the Schrems II decision invalidating the Privacy Shield and to reflect Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), on June 4, 2021, the European Commission released the updated Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs).   As a reminder, the SCCs (old and new) are the mechanism permitting the transfer ..read more

Welcome back to Shhhh…(a Privacy Blog).   Lots have happened in the privacy world in the past few months, and we thought we’d catch our readers up on the biggest headlines.  Updated Standard Contractual Clauses The first part of Step 2 involves taking the country list from Step 1 and determining whether the European Commission has found the privacy protections of those countries adequate under GDPR.  Remember: this is for data exports outside of the European Economic Area versions.  As a quick reminder, the SCCs continue to be the most common and, for many U ..read more

Readers of our first post, GDPR update in this series, have already worked through Step 1: Transfer Mapping.  Part of that step was determining what countries you’re exporting data to.  Now, we move onto step 2: Transfer Tools.  Truth be told, Step 2 is really two parts.  So, go grab your country list from your transfer mapping project and get ready to review! Step 2.a – Determining Whether the Countries You Export Data to Have Adequate Protections in Place The first part of Step 2 involves taking the country list from Step 1 and determining whether the European C ..read more

Last week the European Commission announced that the Standard Contractual Clauses (the “SCCs”) are being updated.  These changes primarily apply to entities exporting data out of the European Economic Area.  Starting in 2021, whether you’re a controller or a processor (or both!), you’ll need to make certain your SCCs and your data export policies are compliant with the new laws.  The good news is that data exporters will have all of 2021 to align with these new obligations.  To ensure data exporters don’t have to start from scratch, the European Commission ha ..read more

You have an idea for a new startup. One of your first google searches will probably be about how/where to incorporate your business. There’s some good advice out there and some bad advice out there. In the interest of cutting through the noise, here’s the advice we typically give our clients. Welcome to Delaware If you’re a high growth startup and plan on taking investment from angel investors and VCs, Delaware is the safe choice. Hi, I’m in Delaware. Here’s why Delaware is great: No one will ever ask, and you will not have to begrudgingly answer, “Why didn’t you incorporate in Delaware?” A l ..read more