Amid increasing scrutiny over privacy concerns due to its ties to China, TikTok is looking to separate from parent company, ByteDance, who received a proposal from several investors to transfer majority ownership. Another option is for TikTok to divest only US operations.
What goes into purchasing a business? Find out more in our Behind the Buy podcast: https://www.pashalaw.com/behind-the-buy/

HHS' Office for Civil Rights resolved a complaint filed against Staten Island University Hospital by a bearded medical student who requested to use alternate PPE instead of shaving his beard, due to religious observation. In this case, the student was able to utilize a power air-purifying respirator—PAPR—instead of an N95 mask, the use of which would have required him to shave his beard. The OCR found that the request for PAPR use fit as a reasonable accommodation under employment law for a protected right (religious).

Though things are coming along well, the journey would not be interesting if it was purely smooth sailing. After our buyer opens escrow, they are forced to push the closing date back when suddenly a letter from an attorney was received claiming the business, we are buying has a trade mark on the name!  Now it’s time to for our buyer to either back off or buck up and fight for our Trademark rights!

In most industries, client referrals are a normal course of business. However, in the healthcare industry, patient referrals are scrutinized especially if the referrer is compensated or if the referrer receives some kind of benefit from the referral. The federal Stark Law and Anti-Kickback Statutes generally applies to Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal healthcare programs. These laws are designed to discourage and punish compensation schemes that would amount to fraud and abuse of Medicaid and Medicare claims. The central intent of the two statutes is to protect federal healthcare program beneficiaries by preventing and punishing fraud and abuse, such as over utilization of medical services, increased costs, poor-quality medical services, and unfair competition.

As businesses prepare to reopen amid escalating cases of COVID-19, it is important for business owners to consider all potential outcomes and plan accordingly. In addition to mask requirements and social distancing protocols, customer liability waivers are a simple way to protect your business from potential threat of COVID exposure claims. Click here to learn more: https://pasha.bz/30aPY5r

With a significant shift in previous policy, the CDC has announced new guidelines which dissuade the need for negative COVID testing results in order for employees to go back to work. It is now believed that the virus is less-contagious after 10 days of symptom on-set, meaning that even if an employee tests positive after months of having contracted the virus, they are not likely to spread the virus at that point, and may return to work. https://pasha.bz/337Nx5M

While mandatory COVID testing seems like a logical step for protecting business owners and employees returning to work, no company seems interested in leading the way without clear guidance or legislation that would protect the employer from liability. However, the EEOC suggests that employers can require testing and recommends following CDC guidelines. Click here to read the full article: https://pasha.bz/covid-employers-test

Philip Martin McCaulay, a longtime fan of the Washington Redskins, has been criticized for purchasing multiple trademarks on potential replacement names for the team. He and his lawyer, Darren Heitner of Heitner Legal, claim his intention was to prevent others from creating obstacles in the process of choosing a new name; however, it is argued that he is hindering the process instead. In a letter to the Washington Redskins on July 4th, McCaulay offered the names to the team for free, but has yet to receive a response.

The Houston Rockets are suing their insurance provider for denial of their business interruption insurance on a $400 million policy. Insurance providers claim that such policies have a "virus" or "epidemic" clause, which would exclude coverage of loss during the COVID-19 pandemic. Businesses across the country are arguing that virus exclusions do not apply because the losses incurred were due to government shutdown orders, as opposed to the virus, and that "direct physical loss" would take effect as outlined in the policy.

As businesses begin reopening to customers and employees amid the seemingly unwavering coronavirus pandemic, we’ve seen growing concern from business owners regarding how to alleviate civil liability risks. Congress may make things easier for business owners, though, as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has proposed a plan to shield business owners from potential lawsuits in the event that their customers or employees contract the virus upon reopening.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has announced they will begin analyzing trends in the use of add-on testing, such as respiratory pathogen panel (RPP), allergy, and genetic testing, in order to locate patterns in billing that may indicate fraud. While relaxed rules put in place by the CARES Act and Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) allowing providers to conduct diagnostic COVID testing without an order from a treating physician are helpful to in-need communities, the Office of Inspector General states that these rules may open the door for improper billing related to add-on testing.

Turn of the tide: The misbegotten inclusion of a controversial 3rd party DRM (Digital Rights Management) software, Denuvo Anti-Cheat, turned out to be a bridge too far for many gamers; a bridge they would rather uninstall and burn than walk across. 

Though Doom was initially heralded as “a real delight” and “a triumph” by critics at release last March (2),  Bethesda decided to spite its corporate face and fix a problem many players never experienced.  To shore up an issue with multiplayer hacking,  Denuvo Anti-Cheat was included in its first patch, and in its wake a controversially invasive kernel-level driver, which caused a rapid sea change in playerbase opinion.