Regulatory/Compliance

Subscribe to Regulatory/Compliance

With every new Presidential administration comes new policy priorities, few more anticipated (for good or ill) than tax policy.  Major tax legislation passed in the last administration doubled the exclusion from federal estate tax from $5 million adjusted for inflation ($5.49 million per individual in 2017) to $10 million adjusted for inflation ($11.7 million per…

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (“PADEP”) recently announced the availability of a process for requesting temporary suspensions of environmental permitting and regulatory compliance obligations.  Regulated entities experiencing difficulties in meeting the terms and conditions of their environmental permits or complying with environmental regulatory provisions due to COVID-19 should…

In the past few months, we have seen significant changes to the laws governing employee benefits, from the new hardship withdrawal regulations for 401(k) participants, to the SECURE Act, to the new individual coverage health reimbursement arrangement (“HRA”).  Here is what you need to know for 2020:

Starting December 20, 2019:

  • Qualified Plan loans may

…

As we mentioned in our blog of last August, under the authority granted to the Trump Administration under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, the Commerce Department found that U.S. imports of automobiles and certain auto parts threatened the national security by affecting the global competitiveness of American Companies and undermining their ability to…

For decades, federal wage and hour regulations have required that non-discretionary bonuses paid to employees be included in the recipients’ “regular rate” for purposes of calculating their overtime premiums.  In other words, if an employee earns a base rate of $10/hour and also earns a non-discretionary weekly productivity bonus in the amount of $50 during

…

Under a recent Eastern District Court ruling, Pennsylvania debt collectors must be licensed by the Department of Banking and Securities in order to collect on deficiency judgments from retail installment sales contracts or face violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

In the decision from Judge Kearney in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Wyche…

Corruption in the transportation industry has been a problem for many years.  From Volkswagen’s diesel scandal, to the most recent investigation into illegal payments made by Fiat Chrysler to United Auto Workers’ former vice president, the auto industry has struggled with keeping things honest.  In an industry focused increasingly on innovation and adaptation, the “old…

Auto dealerships and service centers often utilize storage tanks for fuel, waste oil, and wastewater oil-water separators.  They should closely review and understand Pennsylvania’s regulation of aboveground and underground storage tanks, especially important changes issued in late December 2018.  Many new requirements became effective at that time, yet the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (“PADEP”)…

When we think of financing motor vehicles in the auto industry, our minds often draw to compliance with consumer protection laws and avoiding the attention of enforcement agencies on both the state and federal level—states’ attorneys general, the Federal Trade Commission, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Department of Justice all may investigate and…