Audit, Compliance and Risk Blog

Knowing CASL’s exemptions is key to learning how it applies to your business.

Many organizations have mailrooms that receive posted mail, and packages shipped using parcel and express services. In some of these organizations, mailrooms also serve as the entry point for deliveries of goods and products by other venders. If your organization has a mailroom, it offers entry into your workplace for potentially dangerous materials, including those sent without harmful intent but also without appropriate packaging, and those sent in order to harm individuals or the organization.

Boards of directors are responsible for governing their corporations. Many boards divide their work among committees that are assigned specific tasks. Standard committees include an “audit committee,” with responsibilities that may include:

New anti-spam regulations that go into effect July 1 will do more than prevent spamming within Canada by Canadian businesses. Canada’s Anti-Spam Law (CASL) is a catch-all net that covers all forms of electronic messaging, from email and newsletters to social media and software downloads. Businesses that don’t comply face fines of up to $10 million.

On June 2, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a new Clean Power Plan, in which the agency will apply its authority under the Clean Air Act (CAA) to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from fossil fuel-fired electric generating units (EGUs). EPA calculates that these power plants account for roughly one-third of all domestic GHG emissions in the US. Advocates on opposite sides of this controversial proposal claim this Plan would either become the most important US initiative to address climate change, and/or would crash economies through much of the US heartland by strangling coal-fired electricity production. Let’s hope we end up closer to the optimistic scenario!

Working as a Senior Editor at Specialty Technical Publishers, I edit environmental manuals each day. It is not only my job to read about ecological issues, I also really care about protecting our environment.

It's nearly time to start worrying that outdoor work in the summer sun will lead to heat illness. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) provides some guidance to employers and their workers, while the Sun Belt California's Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) administers detailed regulatory requirements promulgated under state law. If you have outdoor workers in California you must comply with the following requirements, while if you're anywhere else you should at least consider them.

In an unusual five judge ruling, the Ontario Court of Appeal reconsidered its decision in Sharma v. Timminco (2012 ONCA 107). This case held that a failure to obtain leave to commence an action under the secondary market liability provisions of the Ontario Securities Act (s.138.3) within the three year limitation period provided in the Securities Act was fatal to the action, despite provisions of the Ontario Class Proceedings Act (CPA s. 28) that provide for a suspension of limitation periods for claims asserted in a class proceeding (Green v. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, 2014 ONCA 90).

Mobile technology is changing our lives, including how we drive and maintain our vehicles, where we get gas and how much we pay for it, to which route we take to work every day. There are apps to record your service history and even ones designed to help you complete simple car fixes on your own. Below are examples of some useful vehicle maintenance and repair apps for businesses and individuals.

Corporate directors and chief executive officers (CEOs) benefit from variety of legal rights, set forth in state corporation codes, company articles of incorporation and bylaws, and in their individual employment contracts. In addition, they may be able to access additional “equitable rights” to fair dealing, based on common law principals. But as a dethroned CEO just learned from the Delaware Supreme Court, these equitable rights can be limited by the equitable rights of other parties.