2014

"The U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (""FCPA"") continues to be a major focus for U.S. regulators including the Department of Justice (""DOJ"") and the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (""SEC""). The first half of 2014 has included notable settlements totaling close to $500 million. At the same time, the Eleventh Circuit 's ruling in United States v. Esquenazi has adopted the broad interpretation set forth by the DOJ and SEC regarding what constitutes an ""instrumentality"" of a foreign government. These developments signal that government enforcement agencies do hold organizations accountable to the advice and standards set forth in the DOJ|SEC 2012 publication, A Resource Guide to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (""FCPA Guidance""). As noted in our prior report, the FCPA Guidance explains that, in the wake of an established FCPA violation and a pending determination of whether to take action against the organization, the DOJ and SEC take a ""common-sense and pragmatic approach"" to evaluating an organization 's compliance program by asking three fairly simple, albeit broad, questions: (1) Is the Company 's compliance program well-designed?, (2) Is it being applied in good faith?, and (3) Does it work? More recently, in November 2013, the World Bank and its partners released the Anti-Corruption Ethics and Compliance Handbook for Business (the ""Handbook""), which was developed ""by companies for companies"" to address the concern that ""a myriad of existing international principles for business can be confusing, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises with limited resources."" The Handbook attempts to define, from the perspective of companies, best practices in anti-corruption compliance. Source: A Special Report by: Jackson Lewis Corporate Governance & Internal Investigations Practice Group, August 14, 2014"

"Spokane Mayor David Condon said the city would join a nationwide trend to ""ban the box"" and no longer ask city job applicants about their criminal background. Condon said revising the city 's employment application would open ""another pathway to access"" for people with criminal pasts and give them ""more equal footing for meaningful employment."" With the move, Spokane joins almost 70 other cities and counties in choosing to ignore an applicant 's criminal history if it doesn 't pertain to the job at hand. The decision, which does not require City Council approval, is headed to the city 's human resources department and independent Civil Service Commission for review."

Effective January 01, 2015, the State of Illinois will impose a law that restricts employers in the state from asking about and inquiring into criminal record information. An employer or employment agency may not inquire about or into, consider, or require disclosure of the criminal record or criminal history of an applicant until the applicant has been determined qualified for the position and notified that the applicant has been selected for an interview by the employer or employment agency or, if there is not an interview, until after a conditional offer of employment is made to the applicant by the employer or employment agency.