Date: February 2017

Corporate compliance training educates employees and staff about how to comply with external laws and internal policies, like company values and codes of conduct. According to Professor Donald C. Langevoort in his article Monitoring the Behavioral Economics of Corporate Compliance with Law, “By most accounts, compliance begins with education” and “effective communication.” Staff, employees, and agents […]

Office romances have increased, according to a recent survey. For many organizational leaders, this prompts a quandary. How should your organization’s policy address amour in the workplace in a fair and inclusive manner? Although there are many questions employers should consider when building or reviewing workplace romance (a.k.a., non-fraternization) policies, this article will focus on […]

The instigating role of tech in accelerating income and housing inequality has been a hot button topic for quite a while. Two companies are challenging that perception by making it easier for low-income students to access funds for higher education. Scholly and Raise.me are startups that believe in the capacity for tech to shrink the […]

Despite the passing of more than 50 years since Congress banned sex discrimination in hiring under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, many organizations still struggle with maintaining a gender-inclusive workforce, let alone gender diversity. Recent examples are numerous, including: In January of 2017, mining conglomerate Foresight Energy paid $4.25 million to […]

We aren’t as rational as we think we are. Multiple studies in behavioral economics have shown that flawed human perception and judgment prevent us from acting in our rational self-interest. This blog post explores one kind of irrationality and how it affects corporate culture and anti-corruption efforts of modern ethics and compliance programs. Herd behavior […]

A former Lockheed engineer was awarded $51.5 million by a federal court jury in New Jersey after the jury found that in laying the employee off, Lockheed had engaged in age discrimination. Pursuant to the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), the employee was awarded $520,000 in back pay, which was doubled because the jury […]

A truck-tank washing facility was fined by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for safety violations after a supervisor was hurt by chemical fumes. The facility claimed a good-faith defense because it had a safety policy in place, but the Court denied the defense because the facility had failed to take action in the past […]

As part of the government’s second settlement of a multi-million-dollar anti-bribery enforcement action against the Las Vegas Sands Corp. in less than a year, the casino and resort operator must ensure it has an effective compliance program that meets detailed specifications set forth by the authorities. In addition to a mandated beefing-up of its compliance […]

Despite the uniqueness of its criminal convictions and sentencing, the PG&E pipeline explosion provides valuable ethics and compliance lessons for any large business. There’s a lot of blame to go around, but the focus is looking at how an unethical culture propagated such a tragedy. First, the tragedy. On September 9, 2010, a “fireball . […]

In January 2017 the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) released guidance on recommended practices for anti-retaliation programs. The guidance is intended to help employers keep their workplaces free from retaliation, both generally and for the 22 whistleblower laws enforced by OSHA. OSHA notes that retaliation against employees who raise or report concerns is […]